15 Takeaways for Successful Fish Conservation
15.1 In Search of Principles
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There are few inviolate laws of fisheries conservation and management. One such law is “Fish Die!” Its witty corollary is, “If your parents had no children, odds are good that you will not either.” The first Great Law of Fishing — “Fisheries that are unlimited become unprofitable”—has persisted since formulated by Michael Graham (1943). Scientists search for guiding principles to help organize our knowledge. A principle, when it is understood and accepted, serves to guide our thinking and assist in guiding actions. In the first chapter, I proposed the working principle, “Passionate and persistent people who understand the fish and the place will find a way to create partnerships to conserve valued fish in perpetuity.” This principle highlights the importance of groups of people because groups are collectively smarter than individual experts in problem solving, decision making, innovating, and predicting (Arminpour et al. 2020). Recovery stories of collapsed fisheries highlight the importance of people and partnerships (Krueger et al. 2019). In fact, the common traits of important leaders in nature conservation are passion, persistence, and engagement in partnerships (Nielsen 2017).
Here I summarize key takeaways for implementing successful fish conservation organized as Fisheries Systems, Ecological Systems, and Management System principles.
Decisions are made in context that includes ecological systems, social systems, and institutions or management systems.
Fisheries are continually changing as the many actors, institutions, and fish resources are influenced by the social-ecological setting (Figure 15.1). Each of these interacting systems may contribute to success or failure. In some cases, the habitat may be degraded. In others, the management system fails to respond to declines in catches in a timely manner. In others, the social system fails to support efforts to protect fish. Furthermore, understanding social systems, including cultural norms and institutions, local knowledge, and social learning, provides more options for enhancing well-being of fishing communities (Carlson et al. 2020).
15.2 Fisheries Systems Principles
Fisheries that are unlimited become unprofitable.
Russell (1931) derived a simple equation for overfishing by expressing sustainable yield as the sum of recruitment and individual growth minus mortality (Figure 15.2). This simple equation means that what comes in must go out if you ever intend to get the population stabilized. Russell’s equation has had a profound influence on early thinking to classify fish stocks as overfished when their population is below the level that would maximize harvest. Consequently, much of fisheries science in the mid-20th century focused on estimating parameters and maximum sustainable yields for stocks (Schaefer 1954). Yet