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The occupation of commercial fishing is recognized as a comparatively stressful and hazardous job characterized by a myriad of risks to health, including high rates of job‐related injury, morbidity, and mortality. Nonetheless, systematic study of fisher health is limited. This paper examines a particularly understudied aspect of illness among fishers: the physical and social contexts, pathways, and potential for adverse disease interactions. The focus of the paper is on a biosocial disease process called syndemics, which increases the health burdens of this population. The paper is presented as an initial testing of the hypothesis that a "lens" of syndemics improves occupational health research and advocacy for commercial fishermen who face a substantial burden of biosocial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper synthesizes current empirical evidence on how women experience, shape and influence small‐scale fisheries (SSF) governance. Our synthesis addresses an important gap in the literature, and helps highlight the opportunities to improve women's participation in governance and advance gender equality. We identified, characterized and synthesized 54 empirical cases at the intersection of gender and SSF governance, which comprise the relevant body of literature. Our review confirms the need to embed gender in the empirical examination of SSF governance towards expanding the current evidence base on this topic. We found that the institutional contexts within which women participate reflect a broad spectrum of arrangements, including the interactions with rules and regulations; participatory arrangements such as co‐management; and informal norms, customary practices and relational spaces. We also synthesized a typology of governance tasks performed by women in SSF. The typology includes leadership roles and active participation in decision‐making; relational networking and collective action; exercising agency and legitimacy; resource monitoring; knowledge sharing; meeting attendance (with no/less participation in decision‐making); and activism and mass mobilization. Furthermore, we drew broader insights based on the patterns that emerged across the literature and highlighted implications for improving women's meaningful participation in SSF governance. For example, exploring the breadth of governance arrangements to include all governance spaces where women are active, adjusting governance arrangements to respond to current and emerging barriers, and recognizing how women's efforts link with societal values may help legitimize their representation in SSF governance. Findings of this review should be of interest to the scholarly community, practitioners and policymakers alike and inform future research agendas, policy dialogues and practice intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Fishermen' and the gender-neutral 'fishers' are the most common terms used to describe people who fish in the English language. However, there is a considerable debate as to which term is most appropriate. In academic journals, usage of 'fishers' for people who fish began in the 1960s and increased over time, until in 2013 and 2014 'fishers' first exceeded usage of 'fishermen', despite being labelled 'archaic' in the Oxford English Dictionary. In journal searches 'fishermen' unambiguously referred to people who fish, but 'fishers' also referred to R.A. Fisher's statistical tests (22%), the mammal, Pekania pennanti (5%), and other terms. Journal policies have played a role in the shift to 'fishers': e.g. Conservation Biology requires the use of 'fishers' while Fishery Bulletin requires 'fishermen'. Partly as a result, in academia there are disciplinary and geographic variations, with greatest usage of 'fishers' in the field of conservation biology and in Australia. Surprisingly, word choice did not differ by the gender of the lead author. Many other languages also have gender-neutral terms for people who fish (e.g. Austronesian and Turkic languages), yet the word is still assumed to refer to men. While the gender-neutral term 'fisher' is more inclusive it is far from universally accepted, particularly by women and men in the North American fishing industry. The current shift towards the more inclusive term 'fishers' highlights the increasing disciplinary diversity within fisheries science, particularly in terms of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The USD6 billion Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) tuna fisheries produce over half the world's tuna and are important for coastal countries. Tuna fisheries policy, management and research currently focus on fisheries resources and industrial fishing on offshore vessels with all male crews, although women, as much as men, are employed in tuna processing and trading in domestic, informal and export value chains. We apply a gender lens to four WCPO case‐study tuna industries: Suva and Levuka in Fiji, Bitung in Indonesia, General Santos City in the Philippines and Western Province including Noro in Solomon Islands. The gender divisions of labour, livelihood opportunities and social impacts vary greatly across the value chain nodes, depending on the size, quantity and quality of fish handled, and the scale of operations. The gender lens also reveals the social impacts of fishing when husbands/fathers/sons are killed or injured, absent for long periods and engage in sex, drugs and alcohol behaviours in port. Despite the centrality of women in tuna industries, and the gendered social impacts, regional and national policies largely omit gender. The tuna discourse should be broadened from that of male‐dominated industrial fishing to whole of value chains including domestic and informal enterprises in which women are equally involved. Progress on gender equity needs collaboration by multiple stakeholders including industrial firms employing people in factories, offices and on fishing vessels, regional bodies and national governments responsible for policy, monitoring and regulation, and research agencies to build knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the behaviour of fishermen is a key ingredient to successful fisheries management. The aggregate behaviour of fishing fleets can be predicted and managed with appropriate incentives. To determine appropriate incentives, we should look to successes to learn what works and what does not. In different fisheries incentive systems have been found to reduce the race-for-fish and make fisheries profitable, to stimulate stock rebuilding, to reduce bycatch, and to provide for reductions in illegal fishing. Yet, success can be evaluated in many dimensions, but is, in fact, rarely done – per cent overfished seems to be the dominant measure of performance. I evaluate the yield lost due to overfishing in several ecosystems and contrast the situation of North Atlantic cod where considerable yield is lost, to fisheries in New Zealand and the west coast of the USA where lost yield due to overfishing is very small. Much more systematic evaluation of the other aspects of fisheries performance is greatly needed. From examples explored in this paper I conclude that prevention of overfishing can be achieved with strong central governments enforcing conservative catch regulations, but economic success appears to require an appropriate incentive structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention to human dimensions of capture fisheries involves understanding how harms and benefits are experienced and distributed among different groups or people. Yet, not all harms are well understood or adequately addressed. There is a general (mis)conception that gender‐based violence (GBV) is not of relevance for fisheries management or a topic within the remit of practitioners. Through a global review of capture fisheries, we illustrate how five types of GBV—physical, sexual, psychological, economic and cultural—are pervasive and can be reinforced by fisheries policies, practices and institutions. Our synthesis shows a variety of activities associated with these forms of violence, such as labour and human rights abuses, unsafe working and living conditions for children, women and men, and the cultural acceptance of various forms of discrimination. We argue GBV cannot be disentangled from other actions taken to achieve equitable social outcomes through fisheries management. We provide seven recommendations to help practitioners understand and work towards addressing GBV in capture fisheries: (1) removing gender blindness and bias by investing in gender‐sensitisation of the sector; (2) forming strategic partnerships; (3) improving policy and coordination between regulatory bodies; (4) increasing investments in labour rights and laws; (5) gender integrative programme design and implementation; (6) investing in specific programs for the empowerment of women; and (7) investing in specific programs for men seeking healthy models of masculinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re-launch of Fish and Fisheries Special Issues and call for proposals We invite potential Guest Editors to complete a Special Issue proposal, for assessment by selected members of the Editorial Board, following guidelines available here. Following a virtual full Editorial Board meeting towards the end of last year, it was agreed to review membership of our Editorial Board, as well as identifying enhanced opportunities for I Fish and Fisheries i (FAF) in a rapidly changing publishing landscape. [Extracted from the article]

Diversification within fisheries operations can serve as an important form of self‐insurance against natural, regulatory and market risks to fishers' livelihoods. Diversification can take many forms, and yet the literature has primarily emphasised diversification across species to the exclusion of spatial and temporal dimensions of diversification. We analyse trends in diversification across species, space and time for all fishers along the entire continental West Coast of the United States from 1990 to 2015. Our findings reveal the importance of untangling both compositional (i.e. driven by changes in fleet composition) and individual (i.e. driven by within‐owner changes in diversification strategies) dimensions of diversification by showing how these effects have moved in contrary directions for all three forms of diversification. We also demonstrate how increases in temporal diversification have overwhelmed the overall stability of species and spatial diversification to leave the current fleet less exposed to financial variability compared to in the early 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impacts on fisheries are pervasive, yet methods to account for them in stock assessments and management decisions vary in rigour and quality. The prevalence and efficacy of methods to account for environmental impacts are not well documented, limiting our ability to adequately respond to future environmental and climate changes for adaptive resource management. In Canada, legislation now requires that environmental conditions are considered in the management of fish stocks, yet the current extent of implementation in assessment processes is poorly understood. We assessed the use of climate, oceanographic and ecological considerations in science advisory processes for 178 stock assessments by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. We evaluated whether these considerations were included in conceptual hypotheses about broad‐scale mechanisms, quantitative or qualitative analyses, and the development of management advice on current or future stock status. Conceptual hypotheses were included in 46% of assessments; quantitative inclusions occurred in 21% of assessments, while qualitative interpretations appeared in 31% of assessments; and 27% of assessments included climate, oceanographic and/or ecological considerations in the advice. Assessments of salmonids, invertebrates and pelagic taxa more frequently made use of environmental data than those for groundfish and elasmobranchs. Comparing our findings with assessments in other jurisdictions highlighted a gap in Canada's ability to respond to environmental changes and a need to develop integrated management approaches, such as regional ecosystem assessments and approaches that combine modelling and empirical analyses, with socio‐economic analysis within interdisciplinary teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational fisheries were traditionally theorized to self‐regulate in a sustainable feedback loop in which recreational anglers moderate their fishing effort in response to population declines. However, several mechanisms are hypothesized to break down this self‐regulatory process, including recruitment variability and depensatory population dynamics. Although many of these mechanisms of instability have been estimated in empirical systems and explored using modelling, we still do not know the extent to which these mechanisms can (1) erode stability at their observed strength in real systems and (2) interact to dampen or intensify each other's effects. In this study, we synthesize existing data on four of these mechanisms: (1) depensation in the stock‐recruit relationship, (2) recruitment stochasticity, (3) density‐dependent catchability and (4) the strength of anglers' responsiveness to changing catch rates. We report the range of observed values for these four mechanisms in real‐world fisheries and observe their effect on a simplified recreational fishery model. We find that at moderate fishing effort none of the mechanisms was destabilizing enough on its own to collapse the modelled population, but that an angler population that was likely to keep fishing when catch rates approached zero was a key element of interactions that caused collapse. The strongest interaction was between an angler population with this characteristic and a fish population with hyperstable catch rates. Our results highlight the need for more consistent and widespread estimation of utility‐based angler effort functions as well as the importance of interdisciplinary teams that can gather both social and ecological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is challenging in fisheries stock assessment to estimate cohort dynamics from length‐based data for hard‐to‐age stocks, and existing approaches, for example, age‐structured catch‐at‐length models (ACL) are unable to account for length‐dependent processes within each cohort. Fisheries‐dependent data are usually considered the default input to stock assessment models. However, with widespread recognition of the uncertainty of fisheries‐dependent data and the increasing availability of high‐quality survey data, a new situation emerges in some fisheries where a stock assessment model based only on survey data can provide good estimation of population dynamics. We develop an age‐ and length‐structured statistical catch‐at‐length model (ALSCL) to estimate age‐based dynamics from survey catch‐at‐length data. This approach also provides a good basis to then integrate fisheries‐dependent data in the model. ALSCL can explicitly include length‐dependent mortality and growth within each cohort by simultaneously tracking the three‐dimensional dynamics across time, age, and length. We first use simulations of yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea, Pleuronectidae) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus Obesus, Scombridae) to demonstrate that ALSCL outperforms ACL by providing more accurate estimates of age‐based population dynamics when length‐dependent processes are important. Next, we apply ALSCL to estimate the cohort dynamics of female yellowtail flounder on the Grand Bank off Newfoundland using survey catch‐at‐length, weight‐at‐length, and maturity‐at‐length data. We consider ALSCL as a hybrid between ACL and length‐structured stock assessment models that keeps the advantages of both, and its ability to simultaneously track age and length dynamics is an important step toward the next‐generation of fisheries stock assessment models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co‐management—fisher participation in fisheries management—varies across two fundamental dimensions. The most commonly addressed is a 'ladder of participation' reflecting the degree to which decision‐making is shared between government and fishers. The other dimension reflects if, and how, co‐management is implemented across the 'management spectrum' of functional components of management: (1) direction‐setting, planning and policy development; (2) harvest management; (3) compliance and enforcement; (4) ecosystem stewardship, conservation, rehabilitation; (5) research; and (6) organizational management and development. This article presents an approach to combining these two dimensions in a comprehensive manner, to better understand and assess the nuances of co‐management in practice. The approach is tested through application to fisheries of Nova Scotia, Canada, with representatives of organized fisher associations assessing the nature and extent of participation, both current and desired, for each of the six management components. This leads to insights about the fishery management components that tend to have greater or lesser fisher participation, differences in perceived levels of current and desired participation, the willingness and capacity of fisher associations to take on various management tasks and potential directions to improve fishery co‐management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective fisheries management is necessary for the long‐term sustainability of fisheries and the economic benefits that they provide, but focusing only on ecological sustainability risks disregarding ultimate goals related to well‐being that must be achieved through broader social policy. An analysis of global landings data shows that average fishing wages in 36%–67% of countries, home to 69%–95% of fishers worldwide, are likely below their nationally determined minimum living wage (which accounts for costs of food, shelter, clothing, health and education). Furthermore, even if all fisheries in every country were perfectly managed to achieve their Maximum Sustainable Yield, a common sustainability target, average incomes of fishers in up to 49 countries—70% of fishers worldwide—would still not meet minimum living wages. Access to decent work and livelihoods are fundamental human rights, including for all fisherfolk around the world, and strategies to support their well‐being must therefore integrate a much wider set of perspectives, disciplines and institutions. Key first steps for fisheries researchers are to more fully recognize and estimate fisheries benefits to households—including income from women and/or alternative employment, unreported landings, or shadow values of subsistence catch—and to help identify and learn from economic equity outcomes in rebuilt fisheries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research systematically reviews fisher behaviour in coastal and marine fisheries. Fisher behaviour refers to individual and group level action that reflects the psychological processing and social exchange of information in fisheries. Fisher behaviour is poorly conceptualized and explained in fisheries research, and the implications of fisher behaviour for governance outcomes remain uncertain. To address this gap, we present a systematic scoping review of peer‐reviewed literature (n = 104 journal articles published from 2012 to 2017). Results highlight a typology of fisher behaviour and reveal insights into behavioural types and their explanations commonly used in conceptual and empirical models. This research reveals three major implications for governance. First, researchers can strengthen recommendations for governance by examining fisher behaviours as multilevel and multiscale phenomena. Second, researchers in governance can improve capacities to anticipate behavioural change with theoretical models that prioritize psychosocial variables, and interdisciplinary empirical research on the extrinsic factors that shape the fishers' psychosocial responses to change in a local context. Third, social and policy sciences research is needed to reveal the governance barriers and opportunities for using new models that incorporate fisher behaviour to develop, implement and evaluate fisheries policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small‐scale fisheries often involve weak management regimes with limited top‐down enforcement of rules and minimal support from legal institutions, making them useful model systems for investigating the role of social influence in determining economic and environmental outcomes. In such regimes, interpersonal relationships are expected to have a strong effect on a fisher's catch portfolio, the set of fish species targeted by an individual fisher. Here, we test three competing hypotheses about social influence using belief propagation network models and show that a peer‐to‐peer information‐sharing social network is key to explaining catch portfolios at a small‐scale fishery in Jamaica. We find that experience dictates the direction of influence among fishers in the social network, with older fishers and information brokers having distinct roles in shaping catch patterns for large‐ and small‐sized fish species, respectively. These findings highlight concrete opportunities for harnessing social networks in natural resource management. Our new approach to modelling social influence is applicable to many social–ecological systems with minimal legal and institutional support or those that rely heavily on bottom‐up participatory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishery‐dependent data are integral to sustainable fisheries management. A paucity of fishery data leads to uncertainty about stock status, which may compromise and threaten the economic and food security of the users dependent upon that stock and increase the chances of overfishing. Recent developments in the technology available to collect, manage and analyse fishery‐relevant data provide a suite of possible solutions to update and modernize fisheries data systems and greatly expand data collection and analysis. Yet, despite the proliferation of relevant consumer technology, integration of technologically advanced data systems into fisheries management remains the exception rather than the rule. In this study, we describe the current status, challenges and future directions of high‐tech data systems in fisheries management in order to understand what has limited their adoption. By reviewing the application of fishery‐dependent data technology in multiple fisheries sectors globally, we show that innovation is stagnating as a result of lack of trust and cooperation between fishers and managers. We propose a solution based on a transdisciplinary approach to fishery management that emphasizes the need for collaborative problem‐solving among stakeholders. In our proposed system, data feedbacks are a key component to effective fishery data systems, ensuring that fishers and managers collect, have access to and benefit from fisheries data as they work towards a mutually agreed‐upon goal. A new approach to fisheries data systems will promote innovation to increase data coverage, accuracy and resolution, while reducing costs and allowing adaptive, responsive, near real‐time management decision‐making to improve fisheries outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many fisheries managers and neoliberal fisheries economists promote Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) as a solution to the race for fish which can cause rent dissipation under competitive quota or open access fisheries. These actors consider the Canadian Pacific halibut ITQ fishery an example of successful achievement of these objectives. However, critics note the weak performance of this management model in distribution of benefits, increased capital costs to fishermen, deteriorating safety conditions, reductions in crew income and barriers to entry. They point to the layup system which successfully managed effort in the Pacific halibut fishery for four decades prior to the introduction of ITQs. A system similar to the layup has been used for Atlantic halibut since 2013, initiated by the Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) representing owner‐operator license holders in the halibut fishery off the coast of western Newfoundland and southern Labrador. The FFAW rejected the two halibut management plan options presented to them by Fisheries and Oceans Canada: the status quo (a competitive 12‐hr "derby" fishery) or IQs, likely leading to ITQs. Instead, the FFAW worked with license holders to develop a management plan that required harvesters to choose between different fishing periods that spread fishing opportunities over time. This approach improved conservation results, delivered strong economic returns, distributed benefits widely to active fishermen, and allowed an even flow into the market. The authors consider the advantages of these Canadian east and west coast halibut co‐management systems and their broader application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticipating fisher behaviour is necessary for successful fisheries management. Of the different concepts that have been developed to understand individual fisher behaviour, random utility models ( RUMs) have attracted considerable attention in the past three decades, and more particularly so since the 2000s. This study aimed at summarizing and analysing the information gathered from RUMs used during the last three decades around the globe. A methodology has been developed to standardize information across different studies and compare RUM results. The studies selected focused on fishing effort allocation. Six types of fisher behaviour drivers were considered: the presence of other vessels in the same fishing area, tradition, expected revenue, species targeting, costs, and risk-taking. Analyses were performed using three separate linear modelling approaches to assess the extent to which these different drivers impacted fisher behaviour in three fleet types: fleets fishing for demersal species using active gears, fleets fishing for demersal species using passive gears and fleets fishing for pelagic species. Fishers are attracted by higher expected revenue, tradition, species targeting and presence of others, but avoid choices involving large costs. Results also suggest that fishers fishing for demersal species using active gears are generally more influenced by past seasonal (long-term) patterns than by the most recent (short-term) information. Finally, the comparison of expected revenue with other fisher behaviour drivers highlights that demersal fishing vessels are risk-averse and that tradition and species targeting influence fisher decisions more than expected revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial amount of scientific effort goes into understanding and measuring compliance in fisheries. Understanding why, how and when fishers follow or violate rules is crucial for designing effective fishery policies that can halt overfishing. Non-compliance was initially explained almost exclusively with reference to economic and self-interested motivations. More recently, however, most explanations involve a combination of economic, social, political and environmental factors. Despite this recent development towards more holistic explanations, many scientists continue to frame the issue in binary terms: fishers either follow rules, or they don't. In this article we challenge this binary interpretation and focus attention on the diversity of fishers' dispositions and perceptions that underpin compliant behaviour. To this aim we construct a typology of fishers' responses towards regulation and authorities, thereby developing conceptual tools to understand different motivations and attitudes that underlie compliance outcomes. For this purpose, we identify the motivational postures of 'creativity' and 'reluctance', and then highlight their empirical relevance with an interview study of Swedish fishers. Reasons for studying the quality and diversity of fishers' motivations and responses are not purely academic. Conceptualizing and observing the quality of compliance can help policymakers and managers gauge and anticipate the potentiality of non-compliant fishing practices that may threaten the resilience of marine ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing popularity of ecosystem-based management ( EBM) in national legislation and in research and institutional literature, there is often an implementation gap 'on the ground', impeding widespread adoption in fisheries. This gap reflects in part the differing understandings of EBM held by fishermen and by management institutions. To explore and seek to close this gap, the underlying principles of EBM considered priorities by fishermen were systematically compared with the priorities identified in the published literature. The fishermen's priorities were determined by asking Atlantic Canadian fishermen to identify the EBM principles they consider most important. Four priority principles were identified: Sustainability, Stakeholder Involvement, Develop Long-Term Objectives and Use of All Forms of Knowledge. The latter two were not frequently noted as priorities in the literature, while some literature priorities were less commonly chosen by fishermen, indicating a significant difference in perspectives on EBM. The rationale for fishermen's choice of priorities was explored by analysing the fishery management issues they raised - many directly connected to the above four priorities. In addition, another principle, Commit to Principles of Equity, often arose as an implicit priority among fishermen. We suggest that success in implementation of EBM may depend on reconciling differing priorities among its underlying principles, and combining knowledge and expertise from fishermen with research and institutional sources. The comparative methodology used here, which could be replicated elsewhere, should lead to better recognition of local challenges in EBM implementation and encourage support for EBM, to further its contribution to sustainable fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study and classification of fishers' behaviour remains a much debated topic. There is a tension between detailed empirical studies, which highlight the variety and diversity of fisheries, and the parsimony and generalization required to satisfy science and policy demands. This study contributes to this debate. The first section reviews quantitative methods currently used for classifying fishing practices. The review uncovers significant weaknesses in quantitative classification methods, which, we argue, can be improved through the complementary use of qualitative methods. To this purpose, we introduce the concept of 'fishing style', which integrates quantitative classification methods with qualitative analysis. We explain the scientific premises of the fishing-style concept, outline a general methodological framework and present a fishing-style analysis of Swedish Baltic Sea fisheries. Based on these results, we conclude that it is possible to classify fishing practices in a relatively uniform and limited number of styles that can highlight the rich, empirical diversity of fishers' behaviour. We therefore propose that fishing-style analysis, based on an integration of quantitative and qualitative methods, can be an important step towards more effective and sustainable fisheries management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial management measures are currently being used to manage bycatch and discards, given the spatial heterogeneity of fish distributions. However, permanent fishing closures are often poorly implemented, unresponsive to stock dynamics and do not achieve their management objectives. Recently, real-time spatial management tools for managing bycatch and discards implemented under either a comanagement or self-governance approach have been introduced in Europe and the US. Real-time catch and discard information is shared among fishers to incentivise and encourage vessels to leave areas of high bycatch. Here, the similarities and differences, in governance, implementation and management of ten real-time spatial management systems from across Europe and the US are reviewed. A framework is developed to characterize the attributes associated with voluntary, private and regulatory real-time spatial management tools. Challenges and management practices in the different case studies are reviewed providing insights for designing these spatial management tools. The results illustrate that real-time spatial management approaches can create incentives for fishers to develop, use and share information and technology to avoid undesired catch. Compared with Europe, the US has developed spatial management tools with more truly real-time mechanisms and with greater involvement of the fishing industry in designing and operating the tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To be sustainable, the extractive process of fishing requires biomass renewal via primary production driven by solar energy. Primary production required ( PPR) estimates how much primary production is needed to replace the biomass of fisheries landings removed from marine ecosystems. Here, we examine the historical fishing behaviour of global fishing fleets, which parts of the food web they rely on, which ecosystems they fish and how intensively. Highly mobile European and Asian fleets have moved to ever more distant productive waters since the 1970s, especially once they are faced with the costs of access agreements for exclusive economic zones ( EEZs) declared by host countries. We examine fleet PPR demands in the context of large marine ecosystems ( LMEs), which are frequently fished with PPR demands well above their average primary productivity ( PP). In some cases, this was mitigated by subsequent emigration of fleets or by management intervention. Fleet movements, however, have stressed additional marine areas, including the EEZs of developing countries. This suggests the potential for spatial serial depletion, if fishing capacity is not reduced to more sustainable PP removal levels. Fundamentally, fishing is limited by solar-powered PP limits. Fishing beyond solar production has occurred, but in the future, marine systems may not be as forgiving, especially if overfishing and climate change compromise their resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a perspective from the sociology of knowledge, this study identifies some 'dilemmas of participatory research'. We look at how social relationships between fishers and scientists develop around the exchange of fishers' knowledge in particular institutional contexts. We survey the general types and global examples of fisher-scientist relationships in terms of how they approach the integration of fishers' and scientists' knowledge. Based on an empirical study of three European cases of participatory research, we then discuss five dilemmas that tend to characterize fisher-scientist relationships. These dilemmas centre on the relationship between fisheries research, fishery regulations and fishers as subjects of both regulation and participatory research endeavours. We argue that these dilemmas - experienced by both scientists and fishers - express an underlying tension between 'empowering' fishers to support the effective management of the fishing commons and the bureaucratic need to regulate the fishery as an industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishing communities are often among the highest-risk groups in countries with high overall rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence. Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS stems from complex, interacting causes that may include the mobility of many fisherfolk, the time fishermen spend away from home, their access to daily cash income in an overall context of poverty and vulnerability, their demographic profile, the ready availability of commercial sex in fishing ports and the subcultures of risk taking and hypermasculinity among some fishermen. The subordinate economic and social position of women in many fishing communities in low-income countries makes them even more vulnerable. HIV/AIDS in fishing communities was first dealt with as a public health issue, and most projects were conducted by health sector agencies and NGOs, focusing on education and health care provision. More recently, as the social and economic impacts of the epidemic have become evident, wider social service provision and economic support have been added. In the last 3 years, many major fishery development programmes in Africa, South/South-East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region have incorporated HIV/AIDS awareness in their planning. The HIV/AIDS pandemic threatens the sustainability of fisheries by eclipsing the futures of many fisherfolk. The burden of illness puts additional stresses on households, preventing them from accumulating assets derived from fishing income. Premature death robs fishing communities of the knowledge gained by experience and reduces incentives for longer-term and inter-generational stewardship of resources. Recent projects championing local knowledge and resource-user participation in management need to take these realities into account. If the fishing communities of developing countries that account for 95% of the world's fisherfolk and supply more than half the world's fish are adversely impacted by HIV/AIDS, then the global supply of fish, particularly to lower-income consumers, may be jeopardized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pursuing their livelihood, fishers develop strategies when faced with changes in regulations and other fishery conditions. Changes involve each individual in a decision-making process governed by his/her own goals or constraints. Despite this reality, the complex dynamics of fishing has usually been ignored in designing management initiatives, which has contributed to management failures in many parts of the world. Fishers have generally been treated as fixed elements, with no consideration of individual attitudes based on their operating scales (geographical, ecological, social and economic) and personal goals. We review existing research on the social, economic and behavioural dynamics of fishing to provide insight into fisher behaviour and its implications for fisheries management. Emphasis is placed on fisher perception, and how fishers develop dynamic fishing tactics and strategies as an adaptive response to changes in resource abundance, environmental conditions and market or regulatory constraints. We conclude that knowledge of these dynamics is essential for effective management, and we discuss how such information can be collected, analysed and integrated into fisheries assessment and management. Particular emphasis is placed on small-scale fisheries, but some examples from industrial fleets are provided to highlight similar issues in different types of fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]