Commercial fisheries exert high mortalities on the stocks they exploit, and the consequent selection pressure leads to fisheries-induced evolution of growth rate, age and size at maturation, and reproductive output. Productivity and yields may decline as a result, but little is known about the rate at which such changes are likely to occur. Fisheries-induced evolution of exploited populations h...

Rüdiger Voss 1*, Hans-Harald Hinrichsen 2, Daniel Stepputtis 3, Matthias Bernreuther4, Bastian Huwer5, Viola Neumann5, and Jörn O. Schmidt 1 Sustainable Fisheries, Department of Economics, University of Kiel, Wilhelm-Seelig Platz 1, 24118 Kiel, Germany Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-I...

BACKGROUND Conservation of marine ecosystems will require a holistic understanding of fisheries with concurrent spatial patterns of biodiversity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using data from the UK Government Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) deployed on UK-registered large fishing vessels we investigate patterns of fisheries activity on annual and seasonal scales. Analysis of VMS data shows t...

Alterations to the structure of the fisheries industry have become necessary in Japan due to low levels of capture fisheries production, an aging population, environmental concerns, and increased worldwide demand for marine food products. In accordance with these developments, the Fisheries Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, established the new Basic Plan for Fisheries in...

Currently, of the world’s assessed stocks, only 20% are estimated to be moderately exploited or underexploited, 52% are fully exploited, 1% are recovering from depletion, 8% are depleted, and about 19% are considered overexploited (Cochrane et al. 2011, this volume). Fisheries are vitally important renewable resources if they are governed sustainably with responsible harvest from healthy popula...

Inland capture fisheries and aquaculture have a number of divergent as well as overlapping relationships. In general, fishers are hunter/gatherers and socio-culturally quite distinct from fish farmers. The essential components of these cultures influence the way they view their respective environments and its resources. Institutionally, fisheries output is often controlled by managing the fishe...

Although some sea turtle populations are showing encouraging signs of recovery, others continue to decline. Reversing population declines requires an understanding of the primary factor(s) that underlie this persistent demographic trend. The list of putative factors includes direct turtle and egg harvest, egg predation, loss or degradation of nesting beach habitat, fisheries bycatch, pollution,...

Hideji Tanaka, Tomoko Kitani, Masafumi Amano, Yuzo Yamamoto, Takayuki Shoji, Shigehiko Urawa, Masatoshi Ban, Masa-aki Fukuwaka, Yasuhiko Naito, and Hiroshi Ueda Biosphere Informatics, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan Laboratroy of Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation, Graduate School of Fisheries Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0809, Japan Laboratory...

Michael F. O’Neill1,2*, George M. Leigh3, You-Gan Wang4, J. Matı́as Braccini5, and Matthew C. Ives6 Agri-Science Queensland, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Maroochy Research Facility, PO Box 5083 SCMC, Nambour, Queensland, 4560, Australia School of Geographic Planning and Environmental Management, and Centre for Applications in Natural ResourceMathematics (CARM) in the School...

Modern fisheries have drastically changed the level and size dependence of mortality faced by fish populations: commercial fishing usually targets medium-sized and large individuals, which often are relatively invulnerable to natural predators. Life-history theory predicts that fish adapt to these changes through evolutionary alterations in their life histories. Experiments and models predict t...