Sustainable exploitation of temperate fish stocks

• Published in: Biology Letters
• Main Authors: Sparholt, Henrik, Cook, Robin M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2010
• Subjects: Marine Biology; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2817242; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19740893; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2009.0516

The theory of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) underpins many fishery management regimes and is applied principally as a single species concept. Using a simple dynamic biomass production model we show that MSY can be identified from a long time series of multi-stock data at a regional scale in the presence of species interactions and environmental change. It suggests that MSY is robust and calculable in a multispecies environment, offering a realistic reference point for fishery management. Furthermore, the demonstration of the existence of MSY shows that it is more than a purely theoretical concept. There has been an improvement in the status of stocks in the Northeast Atlantic, but our analysis suggests further reductions in fishing effort would improve long-term yields.