Abstract
Overfishing has caused dramatic changes in structures of exploited populations as well as ecosystems. In this article, we focus on fishing effects on age (size) and spatial structures of exploited fishes. Accumulating evidence has shown that large and experienced spawning individuals are able to produce higher quality and quantity of eggs, known as maternal effects, and that individuals of different age classes tend to spawn in different locations and times. These behaviors are associated with a healthy age structure and contribute to bet-hedging capacity that is important in smoothing out short-term environmental variability. Here, we document a widespread phenomenon of age (size)-truncation of exploited populations driven by size-selective fishery removals. Such size-selective fishing may have evolutionary consequence and may be difficult to reverse. In addition, fishing often reduces population spatial heterogeneity that also contributes importantly to bet-hedging. We review studies showing that the effects of age truncation and reduction of spatial heterogeneity have reduced resilience and elevated the fluctuation amplitude of exploited populations facing a changing environment. Recent analyses indicated that fish populations often exhibit nonlinear nature and have potential to shift dramatically in a short time. All the evidence suggests that fishing, by altering age or spatial structures, may make exploited fishes, more prone to catastrophic shifts. Therefore, to achieve sustainable fisheries, management should conserve the age and spatial structure in addition to viable spawning biomass.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguilar-Perera A, Aguilar-Davila W (1996) A spawning aggregation of Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus (Pisces: Serranidae) in the Mexican Caribbean. Environ Biol Fish 45:351–361
Andersen KH, Brander K (2009) Expected rate of fisheries-induced evolution is slow. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106:11657–11660
Anderson CNK, Hsieh CH, Sandin SA, Hewitt R, Hollowed A, Beddington J, May RM, Sugihara G (2008) Why fishing magnifies fluctuations in fish abundance. Nature 452:835–839
Bell JD, Lyle JM, Bulman CM, Graham KJ, Newton GM, Smith DC (1992) Spatial variation in reproduction, and occurrence of non-reproductive adults, in orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus Collett (Trachichthyidae), from south-eastern Australia. J Fish Biol 40:107–122
Berkeley SA, Chapman C, Sograd SM (2004a) Maternal age as a determinant of larval growth and survival in a marine fish, Sebastes melanops. Ecology 85:1258–1264
Berkeley SA, Hixon MA, Larson RJ, Love MS (2004b) Fisheries sustainability via protection of age structure and spatial distribution of fish populations. Fisheries 29:23–32
Bernardo J (1996) Maternal effects in animal ecology. Am Zool 36:83–105
Blanchard JL, Mills C, Jennings S, Fox CJ, Packham BD, Eastwood PD, O’Brien CM (2005) Distribution–abundance relationships for North Sea Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua): observation versus theory. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 62:2001–2009
Botsford LW, Castilla JC, Peterson CH (1997) The management of fisheries and marine ecosystems. Science 277:509–515
Browman HI, Stergiou KI (2004) Perspectives on ecosystem-based approaches to the management of marine resources. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 274:269–303
Cole L (1954) The population consequences of life history phenomena. Q Rev Biol 29:103–137
Conover DO, Munch SB (2002) Sustaining fisheries yields over evolutionary time scales. Science 297:94–96
Daan N, Christensen V, Cury PM (2005) Quantitative ecosystem indicators for fisheries management. ICES J Mar Sci 62:307–614
Deevey ES Jr (1947) Life tables for natural populations of animals. Q Rev Biol 22:283–314
Dieckmann U, Heino M (2007) REVIEW: Probabilistic maturation reaction norms: their history, strengths, and limitations. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 335:253–269
Efron B, Tibshirani R (1986) Bootstrap methods for standard errors, confidence intervals, and other measures of statistical accuracy. Stat Sci 1:54–75
Engelhard GH, Heino M (2004) Maturity changes in Norwegian spring-spawning herring before, during, and after a major population collapse. Fish Res 66:299–310
FAO (2008) The state of world fisheries and aquaculture. Rome
Field JG, Moloney CL, du Buisson L, Jarre A, Stroemme T, Lipinski MR, Kainge P (2008) Exploring the BOFFFF hypothesis using a model of southern African deepwater hake (Merluccius paradoxus). In: Tsukamoto K, Kawamura T, Takeuchi T, Beard JTD, Kaiser MJ (eds) Fisheries for global welfare and environment. Terrapub, Tokyo, pp 17–26
Fisher JAD, Frank KT (2004) Abundance-distribution relationships and conservation of exploited marine fishes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 279:201–213
Francis RC, Hixon MA, Clarke ME, Murawski SA, Ralston S (2007) Fisheries management: ten commandments for ecosystem-based fisheries scientists. Fisheries 32:217–233
Froese R, Stern-Pirlot A, Winker H, Gascuel D (2008) Size matters: how single-species management can contribute to ecosystem-based fisheries management. Fish Res 92:231–241
Fulton EA, Smith ADM, Punt AE (2005) Which ecological indicators can robustly detect effects of fishing? ICES J Mar Sci 62:540–551
Garcia SM, Zerbi A, Aliaume C, Do Chi T, Lasserre G (2003) The ecosystem approach to fisheries: issues, terminology, principles, institutional foundations, implementation and outlook. FAO Fish Tech Pap 443:1–71
Gunderson LH, Vetter RD (2006) Temperate rocky reef fish. In: Kritzer JP, Sale PF (eds) Marine metapopulations. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 69–118
Heino M (1998) Management of evolving fish stocks. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 55:1971–1982
Heino M, Godo OR (2002) Fisheries-induced selection pressures in the context of sustainable fisheries. Bull Mar Sci 70:639–656
Hilborn R (2004) Ecosystem-based fisheries management: the carrot or the stick? Mar Ecol Prog Ser 274:275–278
Hsieh CH (2006) Separating environmental effects from fishing impacts on the dynamics of fish populations in the Southern California region. University of California, San Diego
Hsieh CH, Ohman MD (2006) Biological responses to environmental forcing: the linear tracking window hypothesis. Ecology 87:1932–1938
Hsieh CH, Glaser SM, Lucas AJ, Sugihara G (2005a) Distinguishing random environmental fluctuations from ecological catastrophes for the North Pacific Ocean. Nature 435:336–340
Hsieh CH, Reiss C, Watson W, Allen MJ, Hunter JR, Lea RN, Rosenblatt RH, Smith PE, Sugihara G (2005b) A comparison of long-term trends and variability in populations of larvae of exploited and unexploited fishes in the Southern California region: a community approach. Prog Oceanogr 67:160–185
Hsieh CH, Reiss CS, Hunter JR, Beddington JR, May RM, Sugihara G (2006) Fishing elevates variability in the abundance of exploited species. Nature 443:859–862
Hsieh CH, Anderson C, Sugihara G (2008a) Extending nonlinear analysis to short ecological time series. Am Nat 171:71–80
Hsieh CH, Reiss SC, Hewitt RP, Sugihara G (2008b) Spatial analysis shows fishing enhances the climatic sensitivity of marine fishes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 65:947–961
Hsieh CH, Chen CS, Chiu TS, Lee KT, Shieh FJ, Pan J-Y, Lee MA (2009) Time series analyses reveal transient relationships between abundance of larval anchovy and environmental variables in the coastal waters southwest of Taiwan. Fish Oceanogr 18:102–117
Hutchings JA, Reynolds JD (2004) Marine fish population collapses: consequences for recovery and extinction risk. Bioscience 13:297–309
ICCAT-SCRS (2006) Stock status report-Swordfish, North Atlantic, 2006. FAO, Rome
Jackson JBC, Kirby MX, Berger WH, Bjorndal KA, Botsford LW, Bourque BJ, Bradbury RH, Cooke R, Erlandson J, Estes JA, Hughes P, Kidwell S, Lange CB, Lenihan HS, Pandolfi JM, Peterson CH, Steneck RS, Tegner MJ, Warner RR (2001) Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems. Science 293:629–638
Jacobson LD, De Oliveira JAA, Barange M, Cisneros-Mata MA, Felix-Uraga R, Hunter JR, Kim JY, Matsuura Y, Niquen M, Porteiro C, Rothschild B, Sanchez RP, Serra R, Uriarte A, Wada T (2001) Surplus production, variability, and climate change in the great sardine and anchovy fisheries. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:1891–1903
Jennings S, Dulvy NK (2005) Reference points and reference directions for size-based indicators of community structure. ICES J Mar Sci 62:397–404
Jennings S, Kaiser Mj (1998) The effects of fishing on marine ecosystems. Adv Mar Biol 34:201–351
Jorgensen C, Enberg K, Dunlop ES, Arlinghaus R, Boukal DS, Brander K, Ernande B, Gardmark A, Johnston F, Matsumura S, Pardoe H, Raab K, Silva A, Vainikka A, Dieckmann U, Heino M, Rijnsdorp AD (2007) Managing evolving fish stocks. Science 318:1247–1248
Kritzer JP, Sale PF (2004) Metapopulation ecology in the sea: from Levins’ model to marine ecology and fisheries science. Fish Fish 5:131–140
Kuparinen A, Merila J (2007) Detecting and managing fisheries-induced evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 22:652–659
Laikre L, Palm S, Ryman N (2005) Genetic population structure of fishes: implications for coastal zone management. Ambio 34:111–119
Law R (2007) Fisheries-induced evolution: present status and future directions. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 335:271–277
Law R, Grey DR (1989) Evolution of yields from populations with age-specific cropping. Evol Ecol 3:343–359
Levins R (1969) Some demographic and genetic consequences of environmental heterogeneity for biological control. Bull Entomol Soc Am 15:237–240
Levins R (1970) Extinction. In: Gesternhaber G (ed) Some mathematical problems in biology. Am Math Soc, Providence, pp 77–107
Longhurst A (2002) Murphy’s law revisited: longevity as a factor in recruitment to fish populations. Fish Res 56:125–131
MacCall AD (1990) Dynamic geography of marine fish populations. University of Washington, Washington
Marshall CT, Frank KT (1995) Density-dependent habitat selection by juvenile haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) on the southwestern Scotian Shelf. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 52:1007–1017
Marshall CT, McAdam BJ (2007) Integrated perspectives on genetic and environmental effects on maturation can reduce potential for errors of inference. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 335:301–310
Marteinsdottir G, Gunnarsson B, Suthers IM (2000) Spatial variation in hatch date distributions and origin of pelagic juvenile cod in Icelandic waters. ICES J Mar Sci 57:1182–1195
McFarlane GA, Smith PE, Baumgartner TR, Hunter JR (2002) Climate variability and Pacific sardine populations and fisheries. Am Fish Soc Symp 32:195–214
McQuinn IH (1997) Metapopulations and the Atlantic herring. Rev Fish Biol Fish 7:297–329
Morita K, Fukuwaka MA (2007) Why age and size at maturity have changed in Pacific salmon. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 335:289–294
Murawski SA, Rago PJ, Trippel EA (2001) Impacts of demographic variation in spawning characteristics on reference points for fishery management. ICES J Mar Sci 58:1002–1014
Murphy GI (1967) Vital statistics of the Pacific sardine (Sardinops caerulea) and the population consequences. Ecology 48:731–736
Murphy GI (1968) Pattern in life history and the environment. Am Nat 102:391–403
Nash RDM, Witthames PR, Pawson M, Alesworth E (2000) Regional variability in the dynamics of reproduction and growth of Irish Sea plaice, Pleuronectes platessa L. J Sea Res 44:55–64
O’Farrell MR, Botsford LW (2006a) Estimating the status of nearshore rockfish (Sebastes Spp.) populations with length frequency data. Ecol Appl 16:977–986
O’Farrell MR, Botsford LW (2006b) The fisheries management implications of maternal-age-depedent larval survival. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:2249–2258
Olsen EM, Heino M, Lilly GR, Morgan MJ, Brattey J, Ernande B, Dieckmann U (2004) Maturation trends indicative of rapid evolution preceded the collapse of northern cod. Nature 428:932–935
Olsen EM, Lilly GR, Heino M, Morgan MJ, Brattey J, Dieckmann U (2005) Assessing changes in age and size at maturation in collapsing populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Can J Fish Aquat Sci 62:811–823
Ottersen G, Hjermann DO, Stenseth NC (2006) Changes in spawning stock structure strengthen the link between climate and recruitment in a heavily fished cod (Gadus morhua) stock. Fish Oceanogr 15:230–243
Palsboll PJ, Berube M, Allendorf FW (2007) Identification of management units using population genetic data. Trends Ecol Evol 22:11–16
Pikitch EK, Santora C, Babcock EA, Bakun A, Bonfil R, Conover DO, Dayton P, Doukakis P, Fluharty D, Heneman B, Houde ED, Link J, Livingston PA, Mangel M, McAllister MK, Pope J, Sainsbury KJ (2004) Ecosystem-based fishery management. Science 305:346–347
Rhodes KL, Sadovy Y (2002) Temporal and spatial trends in spawning aggregations of camouflage grouper, Epinephelus polyphekadion, in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Environ Biol Fish 63:27–39
Ricker WE (1954) Stock and recruitment. J Fish Res Board Can 11:559–623
Roberts CM, Bohnsack JA, Gell F, Hawkins JP, Goodridge R (2001) Effects of marine reserves on adjacent fisheries. Science 294:1920–1923
Rochet M-J (1998) Short-term effects of fishing on life history traits of fishes. ICES J Mar Sci 55:371–391
Rochet M-J, Trenkel VM (2003) Which community indicators can measure the impact of fishing? A review and proposals. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 60:86–99
Ruttenberg BI, Haupt AJ, Chiriboga AI, Warner RR (2005) Patterns, causes and consequences of regional variation in the ecology and life history of a reef fish. Oecologia 145:394–403
Sadovy Y, Rosario A, Roman A (1994) Reproduction in an aggregating grouper, the red hind, Epinephelus guttatus. Environ Biol Fish 41:269–286
Salvanes AGV, Stockley BM (1996) Spatial variation of growth and gonadal developments of Maurolicus muelleri in the Norwegian Sea and in a Norwegian fjord. Mar Biol 126:321–332
Scheffer M, Carpenter S, Foley JA, Folkes C, Walker B (2001) Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Nature 413:591–596
Scott B, Marteinsdottir G, Wright P (1999) Potential effects of maternal factors on spawning stock–recruitment relationships under varying fishing pressure. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 56:1882–1890
Scott BE, Marteinsdottir G, Begg GA, Wright PJ, Kjesbu OS (2006) Effects of population size/age structure, condition and temporal dynamics of spawning on reproductive output in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Ecol Modell 191:383–415
Stokes TK, Blythe SP (1991) Size-selective harvesting and age-at-maturity II, real populations and management options: the exploitation of evolving resources. Lect Notes Biomath 99:232–247
Stokes TK, McGlade JM, Law R (eds) (1993) The exploitation of evolving resources. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Svedang H, Righton D, Jonsson P (2007) Migratory behaviour of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua: natal homing is the prime stock-separating mechanism. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 345:1–12
Swain DP, Morin R (1996) Relationships between geographic distribution and abundance of American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 53:106–119
Swain DP, Sinclair AF (1994) Fish distribution and catchability: what is the appropriate measure of distribution? Can J Fish Aquat Sci 51:1046–1054
Velikanov AY (2002) Spatial differences in reproduction of capelin (Mallotus villosus socialis) in the coastal waters of Sakhalin. ICES J Mar Sci 59:1011–1017
Venturelli PA, Shuter BJ, Murphy CA (2009) Evidence for harvest-induced maternal influences on the reproductive rates of fish populations. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 276:919–924
Wright PJ, Galley E, Gibb IM, Neat FC (2006) Fidelity of adult cod to spawning grounds in Scottish waters. Fish Res 77:148–158
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by NSC to CH and WW, the postdoctoral fellowship from NTU and JSPS to TN, and JSTA and the Global COE Program A06, Kyoto University to AY.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hsieh, Ch., Yamauchi, A., Nakazawa, T. et al. Fishing effects on age and spatial structures undermine population stability of fishes. Aquat. Sci. 72, 165–178 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-009-0122-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-009-0122-2