Global capture fisheries produced about 96 million tonnes in 2018, shared at 88% by marine fisheries. Fishery provided 20% of the average per capita intake of animal proteins for over 3.3 billion people and supporting 10% of the livelihoods of the world's population in 2017. However, in the past decades, we ...
Global capture fisheries produced about 96 million tonnes in 2018, shared at 88% by marine fisheries. Fishery provided 20% of the average per capita intake of animal proteins for over 3.3 billion people and supporting 10% of the livelihoods of the world's population in 2017. However, in the past decades, we have witnessed a dramatic, consistent decline in marine fish stocks that are within biologically sustainable levels globally, with 34% of stocks currently deemed unsustainable. This highlights the urgent need for the effective development of the sustainable marine fisheries and ecosystems. Multiple stressors, including poor management measures, lack of harmonized fishery policy among countries sharing fishery resources, and the joint-effect of biotic and abiotic factors (e.g., overfishing, alien species invasions, or climate change) affect the recovery of fishery resources and sustainability of the marine ecosystem functions. However, how these stressors interactively impact on the ecosystems is still poorly understood. Thus, disentangling the effect of these stressors on the marine fisheries and ecosystem dynamics will help us better understand the synergies and dependencies of fishery resources, diversity, nutrient cycles, ecosystem threats, and management practices. More importantly, it will provide managers and decision-makers with reliable information for management to preserve marine biodiversity and recovery fishery resources.
The goal of this Research Topic is to call for empirical, theoretical and computational papers examining the global or regional effects of overfishing, climate change, marine pollution, invasion, fishery policies and measures on marine fishery and ecosystems.
We are particularly interested in manuscripts within the following subjects but not limited to:
• Quantification of the impact of multiple stressors on the marine fishery, food webs and ecosystems;
• Theoretical frameworks and technical approaches for accelerating the recovery of marine fishery resources;
• Management of the stressors for improving marine biodiversity conservation and food security.
Keywords:
Food webs, Multiple stressors, Fishery, Marine ecosystem, climate change
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.