Analyzing fisheries-induced evolution
Overfishing not only reduces the size of fish populations, it can alter their actual gene pool. In 1998 IIASA began
researching fisheries-induced evolution with the aim of i) developing methodological tools to evaluate the evolutionary
and ecological consequences of overfishing and ii) using resulting insights to identify evolutionarily sustainable
management strategies.
Pressure from large-scale commercial fishing, and intense
recreational and sport fishing, is accelerating evolution in
some fish populations and threatening the sustainability
of fisheries. IIASA research on exploitation-induced
evolution has assembled evidence that human exploitation
not only changes the abundance of targeted fish
populations over time, but also alters their heritable
traits. Exploited fish populations worldwide are tending
to start reproducing at an earlier age and smaller size. In
some populations this reduces fish biomass; in others it
increases resilience to fishing. In either case, fisheries-
induced evolution changes a stock’s productivitiy, stability
to collapse, and recovery potential.
International collaboration
IIASA and an international network of collaborating experts
are analyzing the major causes of fisheries-induced
evolution, including its ecological and socioeconomic
consequences. The work, which includes development
of models for strategic and tactical evaluations of
exploited fish stocks, is coordinated through the
Working Group on Fisheries-Induced Evolution (WGEVO)
of the International Council for the Exploration of the
Sea (ICES), co-chaired by IIASA scientists. Work covers
the Barents Sea adjacent to Norway and Russia, the
North Sea and Baltic Sea, an Austrian mountain
lake, the coastal seas of China, waters off Iceland,
Newfoundland, and New England, and rivers in Alaska
and Québec.
In recent years, IIASA research has been broadened
through the European Marie Curie Research Training
Networks ModLife (Modern Life History and Its Application
to the Management of Natural Resources) and FishACE
(Fisheries-induced Adaptive Change in Exploited Stocks)
and the European Union-funded Specific Targeted
Research Project FinE (Fisheries-induced Evolution).
Further information:
www.iiasa.ac.at/impacts/fisheriesinducedevolution
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Imp
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Impacts
• The groundbreaking IIASA work on fisheries-induced evolution has attracted
the close attention of policy bodies like ICES, the main advisory agency for
managing the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The extension by ICES
of the WGEVO expert group for a second three-year term is an endorsement
that would have been inconceivable a decade ago.
• IIASA is pioneering the development of Evolutionary Impact Assessments
(EvoIAs) to allow fisheries managers to assess the evolutionary status of fish
populations they oversee. In particular, IIASA has driven the development of
an EvoIA for North Sea plaice, the first of its kind, published in 2012. Another
new framework will identify fisheries management options that are acceptable
to diverse stakeholders, including commercial and recreational fishers,
fisheries managers, policymakers, businesses, and the public. The ultimate
goal is to produce a “traffic light” indicator system for communicating the
evolutionary vulnerability of commercially exploited fish stocks.
• IIASA has led research into the economic repercussions of fisheries-
induced evolution which shows that genetic changes induced by fishing
can sometimes be beneficial when fish populations are exploited with
restraint, whereas with heavy exploitation, predominant worldwide,
fisheries-induced evolution tends to reduce yields and revenues.
• The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive uses the method developed at
IIASA to help disentangle genetic and phenotypically plastic changes in fish
life histories. The method has been incorporated into the Data Collection
Framework Regulation: the 2009 Commission Decision C (2009) 10121 on
“the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector” explicitly
specifies “size at maturation of exploited fish species” as an “indicator of the
potential ‘genetic effects’ on a population.” The IIASA method has also been
incorporated into the 2010 Commission Decision C(2010) 5956 on “criteria
and methodological standards on good environmental status of marine
waters.”
International Institute for
Applied Systems Analysis
www.iiasa.ac.at
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