Report: Future of fish stocks remains uncertain
Is it too late to recover depleted fish stocks?
Boris Worm, a marine ecologist and the Killam research professor at Dalhousie University, says it's too early to say what the future of global fish stocks will look like.
Worm, who recently coauthored a report published Monday, analyzed fish stocks that have been put under intense management after concerns about recovery rates were brought forward.
“Management reforms have aimed to reduce fishing pressure and recover depleted stocks to biomass and exploitation rates that allow for maximum sustainable yield,” the report reads.
While recent analyses suggest the protections put in place have allowed those fish stocks, on average, to reach or exceed the intended targets, the report cautions against “overoptimistic assessments.”
Worm, as well as researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and King Abdullah University of Saudi Arabia, noted many countries have introduced programs to encourage fish stock recovery that would support the maximum sustainable yield.
While there are signs of recovery in certain regions under strict management, the researchers found “nearly half of commercially harvested species remain in a depleted state and two out of five are being fished unsustainably.”
And the average status is only marginally above target, researchers found.
“Considering recovery trends at the individual stock level, we find that up to 48 per cent of stocks remain below biomass targets and 40 per cent of stocks remain above exploitation limits as of 2016, representing the last year with sufficient data,” the report reads.
The researchers found several factors tied to stocks, such as biomass, reference points and productivity, as well as climate change, has and continues to alter quantities over time, resulting in uncertainty of the future of fish stocks.
To tackle the issue at hand, the researchers suggest it be addressed similar to the climate crisis, where many unknowns remain but must be handled, or by erring on the side of caution.
“Unfortunately, history has shown that there are strong short-term incentives to follow the most optimistic scenario that allows for greater exploitation rates, a systematic bias that has contributed to past stock collapses,” the report reads.
Ultimately, while the researchers found exploitation rates appear to be declining in most stocks, continued efforts must be made to “ensure that fish biomass unambiguously recovers beyond appropriate contemporary targets.”