Zamborain-Mason, Jessica, Cinner, Joshua E., MacNeil, M. Aaron, Graham, Nicholas A. J., Hoey, Andrew S., Beger, Maria, Brooks, Andrew J., Booth, David J., Edgar, Graham J., Feary, David A., Ferse, Sebastian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0930-5356, Friedlander, Alan M., Gough, Charlotte L. A., Green, Alison L., Mouillot, David, Polunin, Nicholas V. C., Stuart-Smith, Rick D., Wantiez, Laurent, Williams, Ivor D., Wilson, Shaun K. and Connolly, Sean R. (2023) Sustainable reference points for multispecies coral reef fisheries. Nature Communications, 14 (1). DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41040-z.

Text Ferse2023.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0. Download (83MB)

Abstract

Sustainably managing fisheries requires regular and reliable evaluation of stock status. However, most multispecies reef fisheries around the globe tend to lack research and monitoring capacity, preventing the estimation of sustainable reference points against which stocks can be assessed. Here, combining fish biomass data for >2000 coral reefs, we estimate site-specific sustainable reference points for coral reef fisheries and use these and available catch estimates to assess the status of global coral reef fish stocks. We reveal that >50% of sites and jurisdictions with available information have stocks of conservation concern, having failed at least one fisheries sustainability benchmark. We quantify the trade-offs between biodiversity, fish length, and ecosystem functions relative to key benchmarks and highlight the ecological benefits of increasing sustainability. Our approach yields multispecies sustainable reference points for coral reef fisheries using environmental conditions, a promising means for enhancing the sustainability of the world’s coral reef fisheries.

Document Type:	Article
Programme Area:	PA1
Research affiliation:	Science Management > Office for Knowledge Exchange
Refereed:	Yes
Open Access Journal?:	Yes
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41040-z
ISSN:	2041-1723
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2023 15:29
Last Modified:	26 Mar 2024 13:31
URI:	http://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/5245

Actions (login required)

View Item