Since the beginning of the 21st century, electronic monitoring (EM) has emerged as a cost‐efficient supplement to existing catch monitoring programmes in fisheries. An EM system consists of various activity sensors and cameras positioned on vessels to remotely record fishing activity and catches. The first objective of this review was to describe the state of play of EM in fisheries worldwide and to present the insights gained on this technology based on 100 EM trials and 12 fully implemented programmes. Despite its advantages, and its global use for monitoring, progresses in implementation in some important fishing regions are slow. Within this context, the second objective was to discuss more specifically the European experiences gained through 16 trials. Findings show that the three major benefits of EM were as follows: (a) cost‐efficiency, (b) the potential to provide more representative coverage of the fleet than any observer programme and (c) the enhanced registration of fishing activity and location. Electronic monitoring can incentivize better compliance and discard reduction, but the fishing managers and industry are often reluctant to its uptake. Improved understanding of the fisher's concerns, for example intrusion of privacy, liability and costs, and better exploration of EM benefits, for example increased traceability, sustainability claims and market access, may enhance implementation on a larger scale. In conclusion, EM as a monitoring tool embodies various solid strengths that are not diminished by its weaknesses. Electronic monitoring has the opportunity to be a powerful tool in the future monitoring of fisheries, particularly when integrated within existing monitoring programmes.

Anticipating fisher behaviour is necessary for successful fisheries management. Of the different concepts that have been developed to understand individual fisher behaviour, random utility models (RUMs) have attracted considerable attention in the past three decades, and more particularly so since the 2000s. This study aimed at summarizing and analysing the information gathered from RUMs used during the last three decades around the globe. A methodology has been developed to standardize information across different studies and compare RUM results. The studies selected focused on fishing effort allocation. Six types of fisher behaviour drivers were considered: the presence of other vessels in the same fishing area, tradition, expected revenue, species targeting, costs, and risk‐taking. Analyses were performed using three separate linear modelling approaches to assess the extent to which these different drivers impacted fisher behaviour in three fleet types: fleets fishing for demersal species using active gears, fleets fishing for demersal species using passive gears and fleets fishing for pelagic species. Fishers are attracted by higher expected revenue, tradition, species targeting and presence of others, but avoid choices involving large costs. Results also suggest that fishers fishing for demersal species using active gears are generally more influenced by past seasonal (long‐term) patterns than by the most recent (short‐term) information. Finally, the comparison of expected revenue with other fisher behaviour drivers highlights that demersal fishing vessels are risk‐averse and that tradition and species targeting influence fisher decisions more than expected revenue.

Poos, J. J., Turenhout, M. N. J., van Oostenbrugge, H., and Rijnsdorp, A. D. 2013. Adaptive response of beam trawl fishers to rising fuel cost – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70: 675–684. In this paper, we develop models to test different hypotheses on the optimal towing speed at which fuel savings are traded off against the reduction in catch due to the decrease in swept area. The model predicts that optimal towing speed is a decreasing function of fuel price and an increasing function of fish abundance and price. The model was fitted to vessel monitoring system (VMS) data. By means of mixture analysis, these VMS data were attributed to one of three behavioural modes: floating, towing, or navigating. Data attributed to the towing mode were used to determine the model that best fit the data. The preferred model includes a maximum towing speed and a component describing the decline in catch efficiency with decreasing towing speed. Towing speed is reduced by up to 14%. The savings obtained by reducing towing speed were estimated for each month and showed that vessels reduced their fuel consumption by between 0 and 40%.

No abstract

Historic hunting has led to severe reductions of many marine mammal species across the

The World Ocean presents many opportunities, with the blue economy projected to at least double in the next two decades. However, capitalizing on these opportunities presents significant challenges and a multi-sectoral, integrated approach to managing marine socio-ecological systems will be required to achieve the full benefits projected for the blue economy. Integrated ecosystem assessments have been identified as the best means of delivering the information upon which marine resource management decisions can be made. By their nature, these assessments are inter-disciplinary, but to date have mostly focused on the natural sciences. Inclusion of human dimensions into integrated ecosystem assessments has been lagging, but is fundamental. Here we report on a Symposium, and the articles emmanating from it that are included in this Theme Set, that address how to more effectively include human dimensions into integrated ecosystem assessments. We provide an introduction to each of the main symposium topics (governance, scenarios, indicators, participatory processes, and case studies), highlight the works that emerged from the symposium, and identify key areas in which more work is required. There is still a long way to go before we see end-to-end integrated ecosystem assessments inclusive of all the major current and potential ocean use sectors that also encompass multiple aspects of human dimensions. Nonetheless, it is also clear that progress is being made and we are developing tools and approaches, including the human dimension, that can inform management and position us to take advantage of the multi-sectoral opportunities of sustainable blue growth.

No abstract

There is growing evidence that fishing causes evolution in life-history traits that affect the productivity of fish stocks. Here we explore the impact of fisheries-induced evolution (FIE) on the productivity of North Sea plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) using an ecogenetic, individual-based model by comparing management scenarios with and without an evolutionary response. Under status-quo management, plaice evolve towards smaller size at age, earlier maturation, and higher reproductive investment. Current reference points of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and corresponding fishing-mortality rate (F MSY ) that ignore FIE will decrease and cannot be considered sustainable. The nature and extent of the change through FIE depend on fishing effort and selectivity. The adverse evolutionary effects can be reduced -and even reversed -by implementing a dome-shaped exploitation pattern protecting the large fish. The evolutionarily sustainable maximum yield can be obtained by combining such a dome-shaped exploitation pattern with a reduction in fishing mortality and an increase in mesh size; it is similar to the MSY that would apply if life-history traits were static. Fisheries managers will need to trade off the short-term loss in yield associated with evolutionarily informed management with the long-term loss in yield FIE causes under evolutionarily uninformed management.Résumé : Il apparaît de plus en plus clair que la pêche causerait l'évolution de caractères du cycle biologique qui ont une incidence sur la productivité des stocks de poi ssons. Nous examinons l'incidence de l'évolution induite par la pêche (EIP) sur la pr oductivité des plies (Pleuronectes platessa) de la mer du Nord à l'aide d'un modèle écogénétique basé sur l'individu, en comparant des scénarios de gestion avec et sans réaction évol utive. Dans une gestion en mode statu quo, les plies évoluent vers de plus faibles tailles selon l'âge, une maturation plus pr écoce et un investissement accru dans la reproduction. Les points de référence actuels du rendement équilibré maximal (REM) et du taux de mortalité par pêche correspondant (F REM ) qui ne tiennent pas compte de l'EIP sont appelés à diminuer et ne peuvent être considérés comme durables. La nature et l'ampleur des changements découlant de l'EIP dépendent de l'effort de pêche et de sa sélectivité. Les effets a dverses sur l'évolution peuvent être réduits, voire inversés, en appliquant une courbe d'exploitation en forme de dôme, qui protège les poissons de grande taille. Le REM durable au vu de l'évolution peut être obtenu en combinant une telle courbe d'exploitation à une réduction de la mortalité par pêche et une augmentation de la taille des mailles des filets; ce rendement est semblable au rendement équil ibré maximal qui s'appliquerait si les caractères du cycle biologique étaient statiques. Les gestionnaires des pêches devront soupeser les conséquences relatives de la réduction du rendement à court terme associée à une ge stion tenant compte de l'évolution et de la réduction du rendemen...