Using global catch data for inferences on the world’s marine fisheries

Introduction 2 History of the stock status plots 2 Challenges, improvements and using SSPs 6 Simulations that appear to invalidate SSPs 6 Two real issues: developing and rebuilding stocks 7 Using SSPs: Acceleration of shifts in global stock status 8 Expected SSP performance under various scenarios 10 Open access and regulated fisheries 11 Marine protected areas 13 Increased cost of fishing 13 Foreign fleets lose permission to fish in EEZ waters 14 Changes in the price of fish 14 Non-target species declines due to restriction on a target species 15 Discussion 15 Acknowledgements 16 References 16 Abstract Detailed stock assessments, including the estimation of the absolute biomass of the ‘stocks’ exploited by fisheries, are often viewed as the gold standard for indicators of their status. However, such stock assessments are not available for the overwhelming majority of exploited stocks and fisheries globally. This requires the development, testing and dissemination of other, less data-demanding indicators for use throughout the world, for example, for comparing the status of fisheries between different maritime countries or large marine ecosystems. Stock status plots, initially developed by staff of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to assess global fisheries, are reviewed here, and their most recent incarnation, which accounts for stock rebuilding, is found to provide a robust overview of fisheries and of the major trends besetting them.