Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design

In this post Rebecca Weeks discusses her recent paper ‘Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design‘. The majority of marine protected areas in Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia) are too small to protect the species that people care about most. But when livelihoods depend on fishing, establishing large no-take areas is a big challenge. Overfishing and unsustainable fishing practices are amongst the greatest threats … Continue reading Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design

Fine-scale salmon diversity sustains fisheries and supports food security of indigenous communities

A new study from Holly Nesbitt and Jonatahn Moore at Simon Fraser University shows that high biodiversity in salmon fisheries supports the food security of indigenous people. Salmon-folios Instead of analyzing market returns of different financial portfolios, this study examined indigenous fisheries with different “salmon-folios”. Like a well-balanced financial portfolio that can smooth market fluctuations, fisheries that caught a more diverse portfolio of salmon populations … Continue reading Fine-scale salmon diversity sustains fisheries and supports food security of indigenous communities

New spatio-temporal model improves the ability of fishery managers to set sustainable catch limits

In this post Associate Editor Andre Punt discusses a paper he recently handled by James T. Thorson, Jason Jannot and Kayleigh Somers ‘Using spatio-temporal models of population growth and movement to monitor overlap between human impacts and fish populations‘ In many jurisdictions, including the U.S., conservation management of fish stocks involves comparing catches with estimates of an overfishing limit (OFL). The OFL is a catch … Continue reading New spatio-temporal model improves the ability of fishery managers to set sustainable catch limits

Jazz-band ecosystem monitoring

In this post Adel Heenan and Kelvin Gorospe discuss their recent Practitioner’s Perspective article ‘Ecosystem monitoring for ecosystem-based management: using a polycentric approach to balance information trade-offs‘ Long-term ecosystem monitoring can be used to take the pulse of an ecosystem, much like a routine check-up with your doctor. Medical analogies like this are common in our field, as we work for the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) … Continue reading Jazz-band ecosystem monitoring

Environmental DNA and crayfish management

In this post Matthew Dougherty discusses his recent paper ‘Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects the invasive rusty crayfish Orconectes rusticus at low abundances‘ Tangled buoy strings, lost traps, pinched fingers, sweaty brows, and boats smeared with beef liver: these images define the experiences of countless managers and scientists who use baited trapping to monitor crayfish invasions, especially in lakes of the upper Midwest, USA. While these … Continue reading Environmental DNA and crayfish management

The effects of seals on Scottish cod stock recovery

In this post Robin Cook discusses his recent paper with Steven Holmes and Robert Fryer ‘Grey seal predation impairs recovery of an over-exploited fish stock’ Both seals and humans prey on fish and so potentially compete for the same resource. Such competition is vividly illustrated in the controversy surrounding the effect grey seals have on cod in a number of regions including Canada and the … Continue reading The effects of seals on Scottish cod stock recovery

From economy to ecological management: Portfolio theory enlightens the performance of social-ecological systems

This guest post from David Angeler (@DGAngeler), Associate Editor for Journal of Applied Ecology on the paper “Performance of salmon fishery portfolios across western North America” by Jennifer Griffiths et al. (@JenAquatic @mark_scheuerell @SteveLindley831) Ecologists and managers are well aware of the reciprocal dependence of systems between people and nature. However, the linkages between social-ecological systems are complex and therefore difficult to measure. This limits … Continue reading From economy to ecological management: Portfolio theory enlightens the performance of social-ecological systems

Managing native fish with environmental flows

Flow alteration is one of the most common threats to rivers and streams around the world. Alterations such as weirs, dams and water withdrawal for human uses tend to suppress natural flow variation causing a disconnection between rivers and floodplain wetlands. These changes to the natural hydrology of rivers can have detrimental effects for fish communities because many species of fish rely on periodic access to … Continue reading Managing native fish with environmental flows