Population Health
March 27, 2018
Developing holistic approaches to management of fisheries
New research from the University of Washington College of the Environment indicates that an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management offers a simple set of rules that can help avoid scenarios that might cause a worst-case outcome for fish and their surrounding environments.
For example, factors such as predators, habitat, food sources or temperature can influence a species’ abundance and therefore impact the number of fish that can be caught sustainably.
These findings provide a framework for managers to identify the safe zones specific to each fishery where there are low risks of major economic losses from something going badly in the ecosystem.