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The fisheries history of the Giant Sea Bass, Stereolepis gigas (Telostei: Polyprionidae), is closely linked to its spatial ecology. Its overharvest is directly associated with formation of spatially distinct spawning aggregations during summer, while its subsequent recovery is hypothesized to be the result of spatially explicit gear restrictions. Understanding the spatial ecology of Giant Sea Bass is a key part of efforts to assess contemporary threats such as commercial harvest and incidental catch by recreational fisheries. In this study, we used acoustic telemetry to characterize Giant Sea Bass space use in the La Jolla kelp forest using an acoustic array that encompasses two marine protected areas (MPAs) and heavily trafficked recreational fishing grounds. Five of the seven fish we tagged remained in the La Jolla array for at least 6 months. Two fish were resident across multiple years, with one fish consistently detected for 4 years. Only one fish was detected in the broader network of regional acoustic receivers, moving north approximately 8 km to Del Mar. Most tagged fish had home ranges and core use areas indicating they spend considerable time outside MPAs, particularly in areas with high recreational fishing activity. During spawning season we detected fish less frequently in the La Jolla array and recorded higher movement rates. While the current MPA network in La Jolla by no means offers complete protection to this fish, it does appear to support long-term persistence of some individuals in a region of exceptionally high recreational fishing pressure.

Marine heatwaves are increasingly affecting marine ecosystems, with cascading impacts on coastal economies, communities, and food systems. Studies of heatwaves provide crucial insights into potential ecosystem shifts under future climate change and put fisheries social-ecological systems through “stress tests” that expose both vulnerabilities and resilience. The 2014–16 Northeast Pacific heatwave was the strongest and longest marine heatwave on record and resulted in profound ecological changes that impacted fisheries, fisheries management, and human livelihoods. Here, we synthesize the impacts of the 2014–2016 marine heatwave on US and Canada West Coast fisheries and extract key lessons for preparing global fisheries science, management, and industries for the future. We set the stage with a brief review of the impacts of the heatwave on marine ecosystems and the first systematic analysis of the economic impacts of these changes on commercial and recreational fisheries. We then examine ten key case studies that provide instructive examples of the complex and surprising challenges that heatwaves pose to fisheries social-ecological systems. These reveal important insights into improving the resilience of monitoring and management and increasing adaptive capacity to future stressors. Key recommendations include: (1) expanding monitoring to enhance mechanistic understanding, provide early warning signals, and improve predictions of impacts; (2) increasing the flexibility, adaptiveness, and inclusiveness of management where possible; (3) using simulation testing to help guide management decisions; and (4) enhancing the adaptive capacity of fishing communities by promoting engagement, flexibility, experimentation, and failsafes. These advancements are important as global fisheries prepare for a changing ocean.

Barotrauma - injury induced by changes in pressure - is a widespread challenge for successfully releasing fishes following capture. We used acoustic telemetry to examine the long-term post-release survival and behaviour of four rockfish species (genus Sebastes) suffering from barotrauma following capture using recreational fishing techniques. We placed particular emphasis on examining Cowcod (Sebastes levis) and Bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis), two historically overfished species along the United States West Coast that serve as good model species representing different ecological lifestyles. We show that fish survival was species specific and that 40% of observed mortality occurred more than 48 h post release - a typical time period used in many short-term survivorship studies. Cowcod survival was correlated with fish length, sea surface temperature, and dissolved oxygen concentration at the mean depth of capture. Generalized additive mixed models of Cowcod and Bocaccio behaviour showed that surviving individuals were negatively affected by capture and barotrauma for at least 30 d post-release. Our findings demonstrate the need for extended observations to accurately quantify the mortality of fishes suffering from barotrauma and show how such data can be successfully implemented into fisheries management through engagement between managers, scientists, and the fishing community.

Electronic monitoring (EM) systems have been developed to facilitate fisheries data collection in many industrialized fleets but remain less common onboard smaller vessels. This work tested the performance of small-vessel EM systems to meet the reporting objectives in the California deep-set buoy gear (DSBG) fishery for swordfish, Xiphias gladius. Two EM service providers were contracted to develop monitoring platforms, which included both 1- and 2-camera systems. Initial testing was performed onboard a research vessel to identify functional configurations and refine data collection procedures prior to commercial testing. Commercial trials were performed onboard four vessels during the 2020-21 fishing seasons, resulting in 126 electronically monitored set days. Fishery performance metrics from EM records were compared between service providers, fishing logbooks, and records from NOAA-certified observers. Catch comparisons yielded full agreement (100%) for both target (109/109) and incidental catch (9/9) between the 2-camera EM system and logbook records. The 1-camera system yielded 88% agreement (52/59) for target catch and 14% (1/7) for incidental catch. Unquantified catch events occurred outside the 1-camera field of view onboard larger vessels with independent hauling and catch-processing areas. Collectively, this study demonstrates that EM can be used to accurately document fishery catch statistics in the developing commercial DSBG fishery., Introduction Fishery monitoring and observation provide the basis for which accurate catch statistics can be generated, allowing managers to document and respond to fishery performance trends over time (Gilman et [...]

Commercial, recreational, and indigenous fisheries are critical to coastal economies and communities in the United States. For over three decades, the federal government has formally recognized the impact of fishery disasters via federal declarations. Despite these impacts, national syntheses of the dynamics, impacts, and causes of fishery disasters are lacking. We developed a nationwide Federal Fishery Disaster database using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fishery disaster declarations and fishery revenue data. From 1989-2020, there were 71 federally approved fishery disasters (eleven are pending), which spanned every federal fisheries management region and coastal state in the country. To date, we estimate fishery disasters resulted in $2B (2019 USD) in Congressional allocations, and an additional, conservative estimate of $3.2B (2019 USD) in direct revenue loss. Despite this scale of impact, the disaster assistance process is largely ad hoc and lacks sufficient detail to properly assess allocation fairness and benefit. Nonetheless, fishery disasters increased in frequency over time, and the causes of disasters included a broad range of anthropogenic and environmental factors, with a recent shift to disasters now almost exclusively caused by extreme environmental events (e.g., marine heatwaves, hurricanes, and harmful algal blooms). Nationwide, 84.5% of fishery disasters were either partially or entirely attributed to extreme environmental events. As climate change drives higher rates of such extreme events, and as natural disaster assistance requests reach an all-time high, the federal system for fisheries disaster declaration and mitigation must evolve in order to effectively protect both fisheries sustainability and societal benefit.

Collaborative fisheries research programs engage stakeholders in data collection efforts, often with the benefit of increasing transparency about the status and management of natural resources. These programs are particularly important in marine systems, where management of recreational and commercial fisheries have historically been contentious. One such program is the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP), which was designed in 2006 to engage recreational anglers in the scientific process and evaluate the efficacy of California's network of marine protected areas. CCFRP began on the Central Coast of California and expanded statewide in 2017 to include six partner institutions in three regions: Northern, Central, and Southern California. To date, over 2,000 volunteer anglers have participated in the program, with many anglers volunteering for multiple years. However, the impacts of outreach, education, and collaborative research on those anglers at the statewide scale are currently unknown. Thus, the objective of the current study was to survey the statewide pool of volunteer anglers to assess the degree to which participation in CCFRP has influenced angler perceptions of MPAs, fisheries management, and conservation. We received 259 completed surveys out of a pool of 1,386 active anglers, equating to an 18.7% response rate. Participation in CCFRP resulted in a significant, positive impact on anglers' attitudes towards MPAs in California across all regions. Anglers who participated in six or more CCFRP fishing trips had a more positive perception of MPAs than those who participated in fewer trips. Volunteer anglers across all regions perceived that they caught larger fishes, a higher abundance of fishes, and a greater diversity of species inside MPAs, consistent with the ecological findings of the program. These results highlight the benefits of involving community members in collaborative scientific research. Collaboration between researchers and the broader community increases transparency and trust between stakeholders, and results in greater understanding of natural resource dynamics, ultimately producing better management outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]