Tony J. Pitcher

Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing

Illegal and unreported fishing contributes to overexploitation of fish stocks and is a hindrance to the recovery of fish populations and ecosystems. This study is the first to undertake a world-wide analysis of illegal and unreported fishing. Reviewing the situation in 54 countries and on the high seas, we estimate that lower and upper estimates of the total value of current illegal and unreported fishing losses worldwide are between

FISHERIES MANAGED TO REBUILD ECOSYSTEMS? RECONSTRUCTING THE PAST TO SALVAGE THE FUTURE

10 bn and

Management effectiveness of the world's marine fisheries.

23.5 bn annually, representing between 11 and 26 million tonnes. Our data are of sufficient resolution to detect regional differences in the level and trend of illegal fishing over the last 20 years, and we can report a significant correlation between governance and the level of illegal fishing. Developing countries are most at risk from illegal fishing, with total estimated catches in West Africa being 40% higher than reported catches. Such levels of exploitation severely hamper the sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Although there have been some successes in reducing the level of illegal fishing in some areas, these developments are relatively recent and follow growing international focus on the problem. This paper provides the baseline against which successful action to curb illegal fishing can be judged.

Seamounts: Ecology, Fisheries & Conservation

This paper presents the case for adopting ecosystem rebuilding as the goal of fisheries management. Movement toward this goal may represent the only hope for fisheries, as we know them, to exist 50 years in the future alongside essential services provided by marine ecosystems. First, I review archaeological, historical, and recent evidence that bears witness to a long, dismal record of overexploitation. Second, I examine the ecological effects of overfishing on aquatic ecosystems. Fish with life histories and spatial behavior inimical to harvesting are selectively removed, both within and among species. The loss of keystone species and the replacement of high-value, demersal resources with pelagic, rapid-turnover, low-value species shifts the nature of ecosystems, evidenced by accelerating local extinctions and a worldwide decline in trophic level. Disconcertingly, harvest limits that appear safe by single species evaluation can engender ecosystem changes that are hard to reverse. Driven by a progression ...

rapfish: a rapid appraisal technique to evaluate the sustainability status of fisheries

A global analysis shows that fishery management worldwide is lagging far behind international standards, and that the conversion of scientific advice into policy, through a participatory and transparent process, holds promise for achieving sustainable fisheries.

Not honouring the code

1 Seamount characteristics. Paul Wessel. 2 How many seamounts are there and where are they located?. Adrian Kitchingman, Sherman Lai, Telmo Morato and Daniel Pauly. 3 A history of seamount research. Paul E. Brewin, Karen I. Stocks and Gui Menezes. 4 Physical processes and seamount productivity. Martin White, Igor Bashmachnikov, Javier Aristegui and Ana Martins. 5 Seamount plankton dynamics. Amatzia Genin and John F. Dower. 6 Midwater fish assemblages and seamounts. Filipe M. Porteiro and Tracey Sutton. 7 Seamount benthos. Sarah Samadi, Thomas Schlacher and Bertrand Richer de Forges. 8 Corals on seamounts. Alex D. Rogers, A. Baco, H. Griffiths, T. Hart and Jason M. Hall-Spencer. 9 Seamount fishes: ecology and life histories. Telmo Morato and Malcolm R. Clark. 10 Fish visitors to seamounts. Section A: Tunas and billfish at seamounts. Kim N. Holland and R. Dean Grubbs. Section B: Aggregations of large pelagic sharks above seamounts. Feodor Litvinov. 11 Seamounts and cephalopods. Malcolm Clarke. 12 Air-breathing visitors to seamounts. Section A: Marine mammals. Kristin Kaschner. Section B: Sea turtles. Marco A. Santos, Alan B. Bolten, Helen R. Martins, Brian Riewald and Karen A. Bjorndal. Section C: Importance of seamounts to seabirds. David R. Thompson. 13 Biogeography and biodiversity of seamounts. Karen I. Stocks and Paul J.B. Hart. 14 Raiding the larder: a quantitative evaluation framework and trophic signature for seamount food webs. Tony J. Pitcher and Cathy Bulman. 15 Modelling seamount ecosystems and their fisheries. Beth Fulton, Telmo Morato and Tony J. Pitcher. 16 Small-scale fishing on seamounts. Helder Marques da Silva and Mario Rui Pinho. 17 Large-scale distant-water trawl fisheries on seamounts. Malcolm R. Clark, Vladimir I. Vinnichenko, John D.M. Gordon, Georgy Z. Beck-Bulat, Nikolai N. Kukharev and Alexander F. Kakora. 18 Catches from world seamount fisheries. Reg Watson, Adrian Kitchingman and William Cheung. 19 Impacts of fisheries on seamounts. Malcolm R. Clark and J. Anthony Koslow. 20 Management and conservation of seamounts. P. Keith Probert, Sabine Christiansen, Kristina M. Gjerde, Susan Gubbay and Ricardo S. Santos. 21 The depths of ignorance: an ecosystem evaluation framework for seamount ecology, fisheries and conservation. Tony J. Pitcher, Telmo Morato, Paul J.B. Hart, Malcolm R. Clark, Nigel Haggan and Ricardo S. Santos

Molecular genetics in fisheries.

Abstract rapfish is a new multi-disciplinary rapid appraisal technique for evaluating the comparative sustainability of fisheries. For the purpose of this analysis, fisheries may be defined flexibly as entities with a broad scope, such as all the fisheries in a lake, or with narrower scope, such as those in a single jurisdiction, target species, gear type or vessel. A set of fisheries may be compared, or the time trajectories of individual fisheries may be plotted. Attributes are chosen to reflect sustainability within each discipline, and although intended to remain fixed for all analyses, may be refined or substituted as improved information becomes available. Ordinations of sets of attributes are performed using multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) followed by scaling and rotation. Ordinations are anchored by fixed reference points that simulate the best and worst possible fisheries using extremes of the attribute scores, while other anchors secure the ordination in a second axis normal to the first. Randomly scored reference points act as anchors and define significant differences. Separate rapfish ordinations may be performed in ecological, economic, ethical, social and technological disciplines: a further evaluation field expresses compliance with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Monte Carlo simulation can be used to estimate errors, while the leverage of each attribute on scores can be estimated with a stepwise procedure. Status results may be expressed on a scale from 0 to 100%, and scores from several fields may be combined in kite diagrams to facilitate comparison of fisheries or fisheries constructed to represent alternative policies. Some validations of the methodology are presented, using simulated fishery data. Results from published work using rapfish are reviewed briefly, along with prospects for further improvements to the technique.

An age-structured model showing the benefits of marine reserves in controlling overexploitation

Countries are not complying with the UN Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Its time some changes were made, say Tony Pitcher, Daniela Kalikoski, Ganapathiraju Pramod and Katherine Short.

Conserving wild fish in a sea of market-based efforts

1 Developments in molecular genetic techniques in fisheries -- 2 Appraisal of molecular genetic techniques in fisheries -- 3 Molecular genetics and the stock concept in fisheries -- 4 The role of molecular genetic markers in the management of cultured fishes -- 5 Perspectives of molecular genetics and fisheries into the 21st century -- 6 Molecular genetics in fisheries: current and future perspectives -- 7 Microsatellites: genetic markers for the future -- 8 Molecular genetics applications in fisheries: snake oil or restorative? -- Glossary of terms.

The challenge of the herring in the Norwegian sea: Making optimal collective spatial decisions

Abstract Previous modelling of areas closed to fishing (marine reserves) has generally employed non-dynamic models and has not included biological factors such as stock–recruitment and weight–fecundity relations. These models predicted that a marine reserve would result in a decrease in fishery yield, an increase in spawning biomass and that movements of fish across the reserve boundaries could reduce its benefits. We utilised an age-structured model based on an Atlantic cod population that included more realistic reproductive factors. We compared a Reserve regime that contained a reserve with a No-reserve regime in which the usual fishery management tools were used. As exploitation rate increased, the relative recruitment and spawners biomass decreased in the No-reserve regime. Larger reserves resulted in more robust recruitment and biomass of spawners. At low exploitation rates, marine reserves resulted in smaller yields. However, when the exploitation rate was larger than the rate which gives the maximum sustainable yield, the biomass of female spawners was maintained at a higher level in the Reserve regime and hence the yield did not collapse. Faster rate of movement of fish decreased these advantages, but the higher spawners biomass and level of recruitment still provided advantages for the Reserve regime. Moreover, even for highly mobile fish, our model suggests that a fish stock protected with a marine reserve would be more resilient to exploitation than when managed without. However, a model realistic spatially and temporally would be necessary to assess the usefulness of marine reserves to prevent overexploitation of migrating fish.