Towards vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all: learning from the last 30 years to inform the next 30 years

Steven J Cooke¹, Elizabeth A Fulton^{2

3}, Warwick H H Sauer⁴, Abigail J Lynch⁵, Jason S Link⁶, Aaron A Koning⁷, Joykrushna Jena⁸, Luiz G M Silva⁹, Alison J King¹⁰, Rachel Kelly³, Matthew Osborne¹¹, Julia Nakamura¹², Ann L Preece², Atsushi Hagiwara¹³, Kerstin Forsberg¹⁴, Julie B Kellner^{15

16}, Ilaria Coscia¹⁷, Sarah Helyar¹⁸, Manuel Barange¹⁹, Elizabeth Nyboer¹, Meryl J Williams²⁰, Ratana Chuenpagdee²¹, Gavin A Begg²², Bronwyn M Gillanders²³

Affiliations

¹ Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6 Canada.
² CSIRO Environment, Hobart, 7001 TAS Australia.
³ Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 7001 TAS Australia.
⁴ Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
⁵ National Climate Adaptation Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192 USA.
⁶ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA USA.
⁷ Global Water Center, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV USA.
⁸ Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan-II, Pusa, New Delhi, 110012 India.
⁹ Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH-Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, La Trobe University, Wodonga, 3690 Vic Australia.
¹¹ Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Northern Territory Government, Darwin, 0800 NT Australia.
¹² Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, University of Strathclyde Law School, Glasgow, UK.
¹³ Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8521 Japan.
¹⁴ Planeta Océano, Lima, Peru and Migramar, Olema, CA USA.
¹⁵ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Falmouth, MA 02453 USA.
¹⁶ International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 1553 Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁷ School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT UK.
¹⁸ School of Biological Sciences/Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
¹⁹ Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale Delle Terme Di Caracalla S/N, 00153 Rome, Italy.
²⁰ Aspley, 4034 QLD Australia.
²¹ Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NFLD Canada.
²² Department of Primary Industries and Regions, PO Box 120, Henley Beach, 5022 SA Australia.
²³ School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005 SA Australia.

PMID: 37122954
PMCID: PMC9985478
DOI: 10.1007/s11160-023-09765-8

Towards vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all: learning from the last 30 years to inform the next 30 years

Steven J Cooke et al. Rev Fish Biol Fish. 2023.

. 2023;33(2):317-347.

doi: 10.1007/s11160-023-09765-8. Epub 2023 Mar 4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6 Canada.
² CSIRO Environment, Hobart, 7001 TAS Australia.
³ Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 7001 TAS Australia.
⁴ Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
⁵ National Climate Adaptation Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192 USA.
⁶ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA USA.
⁷ Global Water Center, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV USA.
⁸ Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Krishi Anusandhan Bhawan-II, Pusa, New Delhi, 110012 India.
⁹ Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH-Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, La Trobe University, Wodonga, 3690 Vic Australia.
¹¹ Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Northern Territory Government, Darwin, 0800 NT Australia.
¹² Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, University of Strathclyde Law School, Glasgow, UK.
¹³ Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8521 Japan.
¹⁴ Planeta Océano, Lima, Peru and Migramar, Olema, CA USA.
¹⁵ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Falmouth, MA 02453 USA.
¹⁶ International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 1553 Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁷ School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT UK.
¹⁸ School of Biological Sciences/Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
¹⁹ Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale Delle Terme Di Caracalla S/N, 00153 Rome, Italy.
²⁰ Aspley, 4034 QLD Australia.
²¹ Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NFLD Canada.
²² Department of Primary Industries and Regions, PO Box 120, Henley Beach, 5022 SA Australia.
²³ School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005 SA Australia.

PMID: 37122954
PMCID: PMC9985478
DOI: 10.1007/s11160-023-09765-8

Abstract

A common goal among fisheries science professionals, stakeholders, and rights holders is to ensure the persistence and resilience of vibrant fish populations and sustainable, equitable fisheries in diverse aquatic ecosystems, from small headwater streams to offshore pelagic waters. Achieving this goal requires a complex intersection of science and management, and a recognition of the interconnections among people, place, and fish that govern these tightly coupled socioecological and sociotechnical systems. The World Fisheries Congress (WFC) convenes every four years and provides a unique global forum to debate and discuss threats, issues, and opportunities facing fish populations and fisheries. The 2021 WFC meeting, hosted remotely in Adelaide, Australia, marked the 30th year since the first meeting was held in Athens, Greece, and provided an opportunity to reflect on progress made in the past 30 years and provide guidance for the future. We assembled a diverse team of individuals involved with the Adelaide WFC and reflected on the major challenges that faced fish and fisheries over the past 30 years, discussed progress toward overcoming those challenges, and then used themes that emerged during the Congress to identify issues and opportunities to improve sustainability in the world's fisheries for the next 30 years. Key future needs and opportunities identified include: rethinking fisheries management systems and modelling approaches, modernizing and integrating assessment and information systems, being responsive and flexible in addressing persistent and emerging threats to fish and fisheries, mainstreaming the human dimension of fisheries, rethinking governance, policy and compliance, and achieving equity and inclusion in fisheries. We also identified a number of cross-cutting themes including better understanding the role of fish as nutrition in a hungry world, adapting to climate change, embracing transdisciplinarity, respecting Indigenous knowledge systems, thinking ahead with foresight science, and working together across scales. By reflecting on the past and thinking about the future, we aim to provide guidance for achieving our mutual goal of sustaining vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all. We hope that this prospective thinking can serve as a guide to (i) assess progress towards achieving this lofty goal and (ii) refine our path with input from new and emerging voices and approaches in fisheries science, management, and stewardship.

Keywords: Assessment; Fisheries; Food; Freshwater; Management; Marine; Threats.

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

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Figures

**Fig. 1**
Achieving sustainable and vibrant fish populations and fisheries

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References

1. About the Marine Recreational Information Program | NOAA Fisheries. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/recreational-fishing-data/about-marine-re.... Accessed 4 Jan 2022
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Towards vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all: learning from the last 30 years to inform the next 30 years

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Towards vibrant fish populations and sustainable fisheries that benefit all: learning from the last 30 years to inform the next 30 years

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