Project description
Managing little fish for a big impact in conservation
Global seafood consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years to over 20 kg per capita per year in 2014. In fact, demand has grown so fast that the sustainability of fishing is at risk. While fish stocks may be renewable, they are finite and overfishing can deplete them. This is why fisheries for forage fish – the small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food – constitute a large and growing fraction of the global wild marine fish catch. The EU-funded MANMAX project will investigate the ecological impact of forage fisheries. It will collect fisheries, fish and seabird data across key age-classes, and combine novel experimental manipulations with state-of-the-art statistical modelling.
Objective
Global fisheries catch ~100 million tonnes annually and this is set to increase. This harvest is driving extinctions and altering marine ecosystems. Fisheries targeting forage fish (small, schooling fish) have the capacity to alter prey availability for marine predators, but whether this is the case or not is hotly debated. Progress in understanding this issue has been hampered by a lack of experiments and studies across marine predator age--classes. Without these elements we cannot understand fully the ecological impacts of forage fisheries, so cannot sustainably manage these vital stocks. By collecting fisheries, fish, and seabird data across key age- classes, and combining and combining novel experimental manipulations (time-area fisheries closures and dispersal experiments) with state--of--the--art statistical modelling, this project will establish the true impact of forage fish extraction on predator populations. Crucially, fisheries effects will be expressed as biologically--meaningful impacts on the components of demography, allowing for intuitive comparisons of the relative merit of MPAs vs stock--based catch limits designed to conserve threatened marine predators. The results will be fed directly into policy in South Africa, will inform the sustainable management of the fisheries that catch one third of all global landings and have important implications for efforts to support healthy marine ecosystems, a central tenet of the Common Fisheries Policy. The current skill set of the experienced researcher, along with newly acquired skills gained under world-class supervisors at the host organisations, will make this timely research possible. The project will facilitate new collaborations, cement a long-term relationship between the host institutions and allow the experienced researcher to meet his career goal of undertaking research that contributes to EU and global policy on sustainable fisheries.
Fields of science
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
EX4 4QJ Exeter
United Kingdom