Biomass management targets and the conservation and economic benefits of marine reserves

The establishment of no‐take marine reserves has been increasingly promoted as a key measure to achieve conservation and sustainability goals in fisheries. Regardless of the wide range of benefits cited, the effectiveness of reserve establishment depends critically on fisheries management outside the reserves. We construct a bioeconomic model of a fishery that allows for the establishment of a no‐take marine reserve and evaluate how the choice of the off‐reserve management target influences the effectiveness of reserve establishment. We evaluate two biomass targets: (i) B_MSY or the biomass that produces the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and (ii) B_MEY or the biomass that maximizes the net present value of the returns to fishing. The parameterized model shows that, for a wide range of scenarios, the fishery will be better off in terms of both conservation and economic objectives when the no‐take reserve is established in conjunction with the B_MEY target rather than with the B_MSY target. Model results further show that the opportunity cost of securing additional fish biomass, in both deterministic and stochastic environments, is lower when the reserve size is increased under the B_MEY target. This finding is important because marine reserves have been established as a key measure to restore depleted fish stocks, and the results suggest that this objective can be achieved with lower economic costs in a B_MEY managed fishery.     

Optimal economic fishing efforts in Korean common octopus Octopus minor trap fishery

The Korean Government is in the process of establishing a plan for managing fishing effort by setting up the maximum fishing gear usage per fishery type for the recovery of fishery resources. This will aid settlement of disputes between fishery sectors over fishing gears, and the stability of fishing business conditions. Especially in the setting up of the maximum fishing gear usage, economic standards as well as biological standards are being considered as significant factors to promote the sustainable and economically viable development of fisheries. This study is, thus, to analyze the optimal economic fishing gear usage (E_MEY) as the most economically efficient usage for the common octopus trap fishery, one of the most controversial sectors in establishing maximum fishing gear usage. Data from logbooks per trip were used for estimation of E_MEY per trip because it was considered there were limitations of data available for analyses. As a finding drawn from the analyses, the E_MEY of common octopus trap vessels per trip has to be decreased by approximately 13%. That is, reducing the trip trap usage up to the level of E_MEY can lead to the reduction of trip fishing costs, thereby resulting in increased trip profits.     

Generic harvest control rules for European fisheries

In European fisheries, most stocks are overfished and many are below safe biological limits, resulting in a call from the European Commission for new long‐term fisheries management plans. Here, we propose a set of intuitive harvest control rules that are economically sound, compliant with international fishery agreements, based on relevant international experiences, supportive of ecosystem‐based fisheries management and compatible with the biology of the fish stocks. The rules are based on the concept of maximum sustainable yield (MSY), with a precautionary target biomass that is 30% larger than that which produces MSY and with annual catches of 91%MSY. Allowable catches decline steeply when stocks fall below MSY levels and are set to zero when stocks fall below half of MSY levels. We show that the proposed rules could have prevented the collapse of the North Sea herring in the 1970s and that they can deal with strong cyclic variations in recruitment such as known for blue whiting. Compared to the current system, these rules would lead to higher long‐term catches from larger stocks at lower cost and with less adverse environmental impact.     

Quantifying uncertainty in the wild‐caught fisheries goal of the Ocean Health Index

Sustainability indices are proliferating, both to help synthesize scientific understanding and inform policy. However, it remains poorly understood how such indices are affected by underlying assumptions of the data and modelling approaches used to compute indicator values. Here, we focus on one such indicator, the fisheries goal within the Ocean Health Index (OHI), which evaluates the sustainable provision of food from wild fisheries. We quantify uncertainty in the fisheries goal status arising from the (a) approach for estimating missing data (i.e., fish stocks with no status) and (b) reliance on a data‐limited method (catch‐MSY) to estimate stock status (i.e., B/B_MSY). We also compare several other models to estimate B/B_MSY, including an ensemble approach, to determine whether alternative models might reduce uncertainty and bias. We find that the current OHI fisheries goal model results in overly optimistic fisheries goal statuses. Uncertainty and bias can be reduced by (a) using a mean (vs. median) gap‐filling approach to estimate missing stock scores and (b) estimating fisheries status using the central tendency from a simulated distribution of status scores generated by a bootstrap approach that incorporates error in B/B_MSY. This multitiered approach to measure and describe uncertainty improves the transparency and interpretation of the indicator and allows us to better understand uncertainty around our OHI fisheries model and outputs for country‐level interpretation and use.     

A new role for MSY in single-species and ecosystem approaches to fisheries stock assessment and management

In 1977, Peter Larkin published his now‐famous paper, ‘An epitaph for the concept of maximum sustained yield’. Larkin criticized the concept of single‐species maximum sustained yield (MSY) for many reasons, including the possibility that it may not guard against recruitment failure, and the impossibility of maximising sustainable yields for all species simultaneously. However, in recent years, there has been a fundamental change in the perception of the fishing mortality associated with MSY (F_MSY) as a limit to be avoided rather than a target that can routinely be exceeded. The concept of F_MSY as a limit is embodied in several United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) agreements and guidelines, and has now been incorporated into the US Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. As a result, the United States now requires the development of overfishing definitions based on biological reference points that treat the F_MSY as a limit reference point and must also define a lower limit on biomass below which rebuilding plans with strict time horizons must be developed. This represents a major paradigm shift from the previously mandated (but often unachieved) objective to simply maintain fishing mortalities at levels below those associated with recruitment overfishing. In many cases, it requires substantial reductions in current fishing mortality levels. Therefore, the necessity of the new paradigm is continually questioned. This paper draws on examples from several fisheries, but specifically focuses on the recent US experience illustrating the practical difficulties of reducing fishing mortality to levels below those corresponding to MSY. However, several studies suggest that even more substantial reductions in fishing mortality may be necessary if ecosystem considerations, such as multispecies interactions, maintenance of biodiversity and genetic diversity, and reduction of bycatch and waste, are taken into account. The pros and cons of moving beyond single‐species assessment and management are discussed. A US plan for improving stock assessments indicates that even a ‘basic’ objective such as ‘adequate baseline monitoring of all managed species’ may be extremely costly. Thus, the suggestion of Larkin (1983, 1997) that the costs of research and management should not exceed 10–20% of the landed value of the catch may preclude comprehensive ecosystem management. More importantly, neither single‐species nor ecosystem‐based fisheries management is likely to improve appreciably unless levels of fishing capacity are aligned with resource productivity, as is currently being promoted by FAO and several individual nations.     

Identifying spawner biomass per‐recruit reference points from life‐history parameters

Analysis of spawning biomass per‐recruit has been widely adopted in fisheries management. Fishing mortality expressed as spawning potential ratio (SPR) often requires a reference point as an appropriate proxy for the fishing mortality that supports a maximum sustainable yield—F_MSY. To date, a single generic level between F_30% and F_40% is routinely used. Using records from stock assessments in the RAM Legacy Database (RAMLD), we confirm that SPR at MSY (SPR_MSY) is a declining function of stock productivity quantified by F_MSY. We then use general linear models (GLM) and Bayesian errors‐in‐variables models (BEIVM) to show that SPR_MSY can be predicted from life‐history parameters (LHPs, including maximum lifespan, age‐ and length‐at‐maturation, growth parameters, natural mortality, and taxonomic Class) as well as gear selectivity. The calculated SPR_MSY ranges from about 13% to 95% with a mean of 47%. About 64% of the stocks in the RAMLD require SPR_MSY > 40%. Modelling SPR_MSY reveals that LHPs plus Class explain 61% of the deviance in SPR_MSY. Faster‐growing, low‐survival, and short‐lived species generally require a high SPR. With equal LHPs, elasmobranchs require about 20% higher SPR_MSY than teleosts. When F_MSY is estimated from fisheries that harvest older fish, increasing the vulnerable age by one year leads to about an 8% increase in SPR_MSY. The BEIVM yields smaller variance and bias than the GLM. The models developed in this study could be used to predict SPR_MSY reference points for new stocks using the same LHPs for calculating F_x%, but without knowledge of the stock‐recruitment parameters.     

Revisiting safe biological limits in fisheries

The appropriateness of three official fisheries management reference points used in the north‐east Atlantic was investigated: (i) the smallest stock size that is still within safe biological limits (SSB_pa), (ii) the maximum sustainable rate of exploitation (F_msy) and (iii) the age at first capture. As for (i), in 45% of the examined stocks, the official value for SSB_pa was below the consensus estimates determined from three different methods. With respect to (ii), the official estimates of F_msy exceeded natural mortality M in 76% of the stocks, although M is widely regarded as natural upper limit for F_msy. And regarding (iii), the age at first capture was below the age at maturity in 74% of the stocks. No official estimates of the stock size (SSB_msy) that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) are available for the north‐east Atlantic. An analysis of stocks from other areas confirmed that twice SSB_pa provides a reasonable preliminary estimate. Comparing stock sizes in 2013 against this proxy showed that 88% were below the level that can produce MSY. Also, 52% of the stocks were outside of safe biological limits, and 12% were severely depleted. Fishing mortality in 2013 exceeded natural mortality in 73% of the stocks, including those that were severely depleted. These results point to the urgent need to re‐assess fisheries reference points in the north‐east Atlantic and to implement the regulations of the new European Common Fisheries Policy regarding sustainable fishing pressure, healthy stock sizes and adult age/size at first capture.     

A tale of two seas: a meta‐analysis of crustacean stocks in the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea

Meta‐analysis of marine biological resources can elucidate general trends and patterns to inform scientists and improve management. Crustacean stocks are indispensable for European and global fisheries; however, studies of their aggregate development have been rare and confined to smaller spatial and temporal scales compared to fish stocks. Here, we study the aggregate development of 63 NE Atlantic and Mediterranean crustacean stocks of six species (Nephrops norvegicus, Pandalus borealis, Parapenaeus longirostris, Aristeus antennatus, Aristaeomorpha foliacea and Squilla mantis) in 1990–2013 using biomass index data from official stock assessments. We implemented a dynamic factor analysis (DFA) to identify common underlying trends in biomass indices and investigate the correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. The analysis revealed increasing and decreasing trends in the northern and southern NE Atlantic, respectively, and stable or slowly increasing trends in the Mediterranean, which were not related to NAO. A separate meta‐analysis of the fishing mortality (F) and biomass (B) of 39 analytically assessed crustacean stocks was also carried out to explore their development relative to MSY. NE Atlantic crustacean stocks have been exploited on average close to F_MSY and remained well above B_MSY in 1995–2013, while Mediterranean stocks have been exploited 2–4 times above F_MSY in 2002–2012. Aggregate trends of European crustacean stocks are somewhat opposite to trends of fish stocks, suggesting possible cascading effects. This study highlights the two‐speed fisheries management performance in the northern and southern European seas, despite most stocks being managed in the context of the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy.     

Examining the knowledge base and status of commercially exploited marine species with the RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database

Meta‐analyses of stock assessments can provide novel insight into marine population dynamics and the status of fished species, but the world’s main stock assessment database (the Myers Stock‐Recruitment Database) is now outdated. To facilitate new analyses, we developed a new database, the RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database, for commercially exploited marine fishes and invertebrates. Time series of total biomass, spawner biomass, recruits, fishing mortality and catch/landings form the core of the database. Assessments were assembled from 21 national and international management agencies for a total of 331 stocks (295 fish stocks representing 46 families and 36 invertebrate stocks representing 12 families), including nine of the world’s 10 largest fisheries. Stock assessments were available from 27 large marine ecosystems, the Caspian Sea and four High Seas regions, and include the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. Most assessments came from the USA, Europe, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Assessed marine stocks represent a small proportion of harvested fish taxa (16%), and an even smaller proportion of marine fish biodiversity (1%), but provide high‐quality data for intensively studied stocks. The database provides new insight into the status of exploited populations: 58% of stocks with reference points (n = 214) were estimated to be below the biomass resulting in maximum sustainable yield (B_MSY) and 30% had exploitation levels above the exploitation rate resulting in maximum sustainable yield (U_MSY). We anticipate that the database will facilitate new research in population dynamics and fishery management, and we encourage further data contributions from stock assessment scientists.     

Effects of flood and drought events on multi‐species,multi‐method estuarine and coastal fisheries in eastern Australia

Abstract Multivariate patterns in commercial fisheries landings, effort and revenue from three adjacent estuarine and coastal systems were examined in eastern Australia between 9‐month periods of flood (September 2000–May 2001) and drought (September 2002–May 2003). Patterns in species landings, methods of fishing effort and revenue per species were significantly different between flood and drought. Spearman’s rank correlations between Bray–Curtis similarity matrices for landings, effort and revenue indicated that patterns in fisheries metrics represented a mixed signal of ecological response and fishers’ harvesting behaviour. Flood and drought events were associated with shifts in the species composition of landings that were reciprocated between estuarine and coastal systems. Estuarine migrant species (e.g. school prawn Metapenaeus macleayi Haswell) primarily contributed to landings during flood, whilst marine estuarine‐opportunist species (e.g. yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis Owen) primarily contributed to landings during drought. Flood and drought events redistributed fisheries resources between estuarine and coastal systems, modifying the bioeconomic productivity of commercial fisheries. Results indicated that flood and drought events influence commercial fisheries by modifying landings composition, fishers’ harvesting behaviour and revenue generation.     

东南太平洋竹?鱼资源评估与捕捞控制规则模拟研究

以东南太平洋智利竹鱼为对象、以资源量动态模型为基础,使用模拟方法构建了"真实"的智利竹鱼种群及其渔业,评估了观测误差和过程误差对智利竹鱼资源评估和管理的影响。模拟的"真实"的智利竹鱼种群及其渔业结果显示,1997—2014年太平洋智利竹鱼资源量总体上呈逐年下降趋势,且远低于B_(MSY)的50%;捕捞死亡系数波动剧烈,仅在2012—2014年低于F_(MSY)且相对稳定。渔业资源评估模拟结果显示,观测误差和过程误差使资源量和B_(MSY)被低估,捕捞死亡系数和F_(MSY)被高估,且随机误差越大,资源量、B_(MSY)被低估,而捕捞死亡系数、F_(MSY)被高估的程度越大。渔业管理模拟的结果表明,捕捞控制规则采用恒定捕捞死亡系数时,未来10年基于50%2014年捕捞死亡系数的管理措施为最佳管理措施。由于捕捞死亡系数被高估,最佳管理措施实施后使得年总可捕捞量高于预期,而年资源量低于预期,资源量增长或恢复的速度变慢,资源可能同时处于过度捕捞状态和正遭受过度捕捞。过度捕捞的风险与随机观测误差和过程误差的大小成正比。     

Gleaner,fisher, trader,processor: understanding gendered employment in fisheries and aquaculture

Most research on gender difference or inequities in capture fisheries and aquaculture in Africa and the Asia‐Pacific focuses on the gender division of labour. Emerging research on globalization, market changes, poverty and trends in gendered employment within this sector reveals the need to move beyond this narrow perspective. If gleaning and post‐harvesting activities were enumerated, the fisheries and aquaculture sector might well turn out to be female sphere. A livelihoods approach better enables an understanding of how employment in this sector is embedded in other social, cultural, economic, political and ecological structures and processes that shape gender inequities and how these might be reduced. We focus on four thematic areas – markets and migration, capabilities and well‐being, networks and identities, governance and rights – as analytical entry points. These also provide a framework to identify research gaps and generate a comparative understanding of the impact of development processes and socioecological changes, including issues of climate change, adaptation and resilience, on gendered employment. Without an adequate analysis of gender, fisheries management and development policies may have negative effects on people’s livelihoods, well‐being and the environment they depend on, or fail altogether to achieve intended outcomes.     

Improving estimates of population status and trend with superensemble models

Fishery managers must often reconcile conflicting estimates of population status and trend. Superensemble models, commonly used in climate and weather forecasting, may provide an effective solution. This approach uses predictions from multiple models as covariates in an additional “superensemble” model fitted to known data. We evaluated the potential for ensemble averages and superensemble models (ensemble methods) to improve estimates of population status and trend for fisheries. We fit four widely applicable data‐limited models that estimate stock biomass relative to equilibrium biomass at maximum sustainable yield (B/B_MSY). We combined these estimates of recent fishery status and trends in B/B_MSY with four ensemble methods: an ensemble average and three superensembles (a linear model, a random forest and a boosted regression tree). We trained our superensembles on 5,760 simulated stocks and tested them with cross‐validation and against a global database of 249 stock assessments. Ensemble methods substantially improved estimates of population status and trend. Random forest and boosted regression trees performed the best at estimating population status: inaccuracy (median absolute proportional error) decreased from 0.42 – 0.56 to 0.32 – 0.33, rank‐order correlation between predicted and true status improved from 0.02 – 0.32 to 0.44 – 0.48 and bias (median proportional error) declined from ?0.22 – 0.31 to ?0.12 – 0.03. We found similar improvements when predicting trend and when applying the simulation‐trained superensembles to catch data for global fish stocks. Superensembles can optimally leverage multiple model predictions; however, they must be tested, formed from a diverse set of accurate models and built on a data set representative of the populations to which they are applied.     

Tuna trade‐offs: Balancing profit and social benefits in one of the world’s largest fisheries

The western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) tuna fishery is one of the world's largest in terms of both catch volume and value, providing over half of global tuna catch with a landed value of US $5.84 billion in 2017. Fishing is conducted by both large‐ and small‐scale fleets, with fisheries subsidies disproportionately benefiting the former. The primary objective of this study was to determine the optimal distribution of effort between two large‐scale fisheries (LSF) and two small‐scale fisheries (SSF) in the WCPO under three scenarios: to maximize industry benefits, minimize subsidization or maximize food supply. The objective was approached using a bioeconomic game‐theoretic model. Results indicate opposite distributions of effort to maximize industry benefits (all fishing conducted by LSF) or to minimize subsidization (all fishing by SSF), with more balanced effort distributions to maximize food supply. Total value of capacity‐enhancing subsidies in optimal scenarios ranged from $1.4 billion when industry benefits were maximized to $0.2 billion when subsidization was minimized. Investigation of suboptimal scenarios reveals the flexibility of these results, with wide ranges in outputted state variables for a given goal. Difficulty was encountered in modelling the SSF sector due to data deficiencies, a well‐recognized issue in managing SSF. Investments towards “data equity” to help ensure that management decision‐making can properly account for the SSF sector would be useful. This study has implications for the objectives we set in fisheries management, and the potential trade‐offs, often value‐driven in nature, that we must make explicit in that management.     

Community biomass and life history benchmarks for coral reef fisheries

The status of fisheries requires establishing and evaluating benchmarks derived from unfished ecosystems. Habitats, environmental conditions, properties of the fish communities and management systems could potentially influence the variability surrounding benchmarks. Consequently, eighteen variables including habitat, number of species, life histories, thermal and productivity environments were tested for influences on reef fish biomass in 62 reefs within old high compliance closures along the east African coastline. Biomass and weighted life history characteristics were classified and described for total, fishable, target and non‐target groups. Benchmark biomass fell within a 95% confidence interval of ~1,030–1,250 kg/ha and equally distributed among target and non‐target groups. While some relationships were statistically significant, most were weak, poorly sampled (ocean exposed reefs), had uncertain relationships with biomass (number of species), or the explained variation was bounded within the above confidence intervals (habitat and environment). Therefore, a regional unfished biomass benchmark (B₀) of 1,150 and 560 kg/ha is recommended for total and target biomasses, respectively. Weighted life history metrics indicate that the target had slower life histories than the non‐target fish communities. Consequently, they will be fished unsustainably if yield recommendations are derived from the total, resilient or non‐target fish life history metrics. The intrinsic rates of increase (r) and target categorization of biomass were the most influential metrics in estimating yields.     

Rebuilding Mediterranean fisheries: a new paradigm for ecological sustainability

In Mediterranean European countries, 85% of the assessed stocks are currently overfished compared to a maximum sustainable yield reference value (MSY) while populations of many commercial species are characterized by truncated size‐ and age‐structures. Rebuilding the size‐ and age‐structure of exploited populations is a management objective that combines single species targets such as MSY with specific goals of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF), preserving community size‐structure and the ecological role of different species. Here, we show that under the current fishing regime, stock productivity and fleet profitability are generally impaired by a combination of high fishing mortality and inadequate selectivity patterns. For most of the stocks analysed, a simple reduction in the current fishing mortality (F_cur) towards an MSY reference value (F_MSY), without any change in the fishing selectivity, will allow neither stock biomass nor fisheries yield and revenue to be maximized. On the contrary, management targets can be achieved only through a radical change in fisheries selectivity. Shifting the size of first capture towards the size at which fish cohorts achieve their maximum biomass, the so‐called optimal length, would produce on average between two and three times higher economic yields and much higher biomass at sea for the exploited stocks. Moreover, it would contribute to restore marine ecosystem structure and resilience to enhance ecosystem services such as reservoirs of biodiversity and functioning food webs.     

Selectivity metrics for fisheries management and advice

Fisheries management typically aims at controlling exploitation rate (e.g., Fbar) to ensure sustainable levels of stock size in accordance with established reference points (e.g., F_MSY, B_MSY). Population selectivity (“selectivity” hereafter), that is the distribution of fishing mortality over the different demographic components of an exploited fish stock, is also important because it affects both Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) and F_MSY, as well as stock resilience to overfishing. The development of an appropriate metric could make selectivity operational as an additional lever for fisheries managers to achieve desirable outcomes. Additionally, such a selectivity metric could inform managers on the uptake by fleets and effects on stocks of various technical measures. Here, we introduce three criteria for selectivity metrics: (a) sensitivity to selectivity changes, (b) robustness to recruitment variability and (c) robustness to changes in Fbar. Subsequently, we test a range of different selectivity metrics against these three criteria to identify the optimal metric. First, we simulate changes in selectivity, recruitment and Fbar on a virtual fish stock to study the metrics under controlled conditions. We then apply two shortlisted selectivity metrics to six European fish stocks with a known history of technical measures to explore the metrics’ response in real‐world situations. This process identified the ratio of F of the first recruited age–class to Fbar (Frec/Fbar) as an informative selectivity metric for fisheries management and advice.     

Contribution of marine fisheries to worldwide employment

Marine fisheries contribute to the global economy, from the catching of fish through to the provision of support services for the fishing industry. General lack of data and uncertainty about the level of employment in marine fisheries can lead to underestimation of fishing effort and hence over‐exploited fisheries, or result in inaccurate projections of economic and societal costs and benefits. To address this gap, a database of marine fisheries employment for 144 coastal nations was compiled. Gaps in employment data that emerged were filled using a Monte Carlo approach to estimate the number of direct and indirect fisheries jobs. We focused on estimating jobs in the small‐scale fishing sector. We characterized small‐scale fishing as (i) primarily geared towards household consumption or sale at the local level; (ii) conducted at a low level of economic activity; (iii) minimally mechanized; (iv) conducted within inshore areas; (v) minimally managed; and/or (vi) undertaken for cultural or ceremonial purposes. In total, we estimated that 260 ± 6 million people are involved in global marine fisheries, encompassing full‐time and part‐time jobs in the direct and indirect sectors, with 22 ± 0.45 million of those being small‐scale fishers. This is equivalent to 203 ± 34 million full‐time equivalent jobs. Study results can be used to improve management decision making and highlight the need to improve monitoring and reporting of the number of people employed in marine fisheries globally.     

Narco‐Fish: Global fisheries and drug trafficking

This study analyses drug trafficking associated with fisheries around the globe. Records of vessel interdiction carried out between 2010 and 2017 suggest that the global trade of illicit drugs relies increasingly on fishing vessels. Fishery‐based trafficking is growing. A key obstacle to understanding the scope of this problem is the limited data on activities that are intentionally obscured, such as drug trafficking. Using a Fermi estimation technique for determining unknown values from limited data, we analyse 292 known cases of fishing boats engaged in drug shipment between 2010 and 2017. Results suggest that drug shipment sizes per vessel are becoming smaller over time, even as the total flow of drugs is increasing. Counter‐drug enforcement intensifies this effect, suggesting that drug trafficking networks adapt to interdiction efforts making use of smaller vessels to lower the risk of seizure. The use of fishing vessels in drug trans‐shipment has tripled over the past 8 years to about 15% of the global retail value of illicit drugs. Small‐scale fishers are at risk of turning to drug trade as an economic buffer against poverty, especially in contexts of mounting competition over declining fish stocks or strict marine conservation. At the same time, illicit capital flowing from the narcotics trade into fisheries may be driving over‐capitalization of fisheries and unsustainable resource use, ultimately to the detriment of resource‐dependent coastal communities and marine ecosystems. Future research is needed to better understand whether and how small‐scale fishermen turn to drug trade to counter livelihood risks of various kinds.     

Strategies for the rehabilitation of the inland fisheries sector in Central Asia

Abstract The dismantling of the Soviet Union and the corresponding independence of the Central Asian states in the early 1990s had severe economic consequences for the Central Asian Region. The transition from command to free‐market economies was (and sometimes still is) accompanied by dramatic contractions in production in virtually all primary resource sectors. However, arguably the most catastrophic and ongoing declines in output were to be found in the fisheries sector. This study shows how a combination of ecological (most notably the introduction of alien invasive species and pollution), economic (increasing abstraction of water for irrigation and power generating purposes), social (increased impoverishment following the removal of employment guarantees) and governance (collapse of local management structures, decrease of support to the sector and deterioration of trade relationships with neighbouring countries) affected fisheries production and consumption in the Central Asian transition economies. In the light of these findings, some general observations as how this decline might be arrested or reversed are provided.