Fisheries exploitation has historically been considered as the strongest driver of fish population dynamics. However, existing fisheries management practices have not been always successful in sustainably exploiting fish stocks because of weaknesses in management approaches, improper implementation, and illegal fishing. Stocks that have no commercial interest have generally been overlooked and the conservation status of marine megafauna is unknown in many European areas, especially in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Commercial and recreational fishing strongly impact all levels of biological organisation and community structure raising a pressing need for a holistic approach to managing fisheries in the context of an ecosystem, i.e. an ecocentric (=ecosystem-centred or ecosystem-based) fisheries management.
Filling the gaps in ecological and biological knowledge and assessing human impacts on organisms, habitats and ecosystems are prerequisites for effective ecocentric management. Assessment of the status and trends of fisheries and stocks as well as their habitats, and evaluation of ecosystem health are also needed to implement ecocentric fisheries management. Ecosystem models are the key tool to explore management and climate change scenarios by incorporating temporal and spatial ecosystem dynamics.
The Research Topic aims (i) to identify gaps in biological and ecological knowledge across marine ecosystem components, ocean and biogeochemical models, food web models, fisheries catch statistics, survey data and marine megafauna status, (ii) to assess the current status of all exploited populations (including non-commercial stocks), habitats and ecosystems as well as protected species, (iii) to evaluate the efficiency of current fisheries management approaches, within the context of ecosystem, (iv) to assess anthropogenic impact including climate change, and (iv) to create base ecosystem models across European Seas that will be used to examine ecosystem management scenarios in the future.
We acknowledge the sponsorship of a subset of the manuscripts within this Research Topic, focusing on “Ecocentric fisheries management” and having ethical approval (if necessary) by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (H2020-BG-10-2020-2), grant number No. 101000302 – EcoScope (Ecocentric management for sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems). The EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program has had no editorial input for the articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program.
Fisheries exploitation has historically been considered as the strongest driver of fish population dynamics. However, existing fisheries management practices have not been always successful in sustainably exploiting fish stocks because of weaknesses in management approaches, improper implementation, and illegal fishing. Stocks that have no commercial interest have generally been overlooked and the conservation status of marine megafauna is unknown in many European areas, especially in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Commercial and recreational fishing strongly impact all levels of biological organisation and community structure raising a pressing need for a holistic approach to managing fisheries in the context of an ecosystem, i.e. an ecocentric (=ecosystem-centred or ecosystem-based) fisheries management.
Filling the gaps in ecological and biological knowledge and assessing human impacts on organisms, habitats and ecosystems are prerequisites for effective ecocentric management. Assessment of the status and trends of fisheries and stocks as well as their habitats, and evaluation of ecosystem health are also needed to implement ecocentric fisheries management. Ecosystem models are the key tool to explore management and climate change scenarios by incorporating temporal and spatial ecosystem dynamics.
The Research Topic aims (i) to identify gaps in biological and ecological knowledge across marine ecosystem components, ocean and biogeochemical models, food web models, fisheries catch statistics, survey data and marine megafauna status, (ii) to assess the current status of all exploited populations (including non-commercial stocks), habitats and ecosystems as well as protected species, (iii) to evaluate the efficiency of current fisheries management approaches, within the context of ecosystem, (iv) to assess anthropogenic impact including climate change, and (iv) to create base ecosystem models across European Seas that will be used to examine ecosystem management scenarios in the future.
We acknowledge the sponsorship of a subset of the manuscripts within this Research Topic, focusing on “Ecocentric fisheries management” and having ethical approval (if necessary) by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (H2020-BG-10-2020-2), grant number No. 101000302 – EcoScope (Ecocentric management for sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems). The EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program has had no editorial input for the articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program.