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Harmful fisheries subsidies contribute to overfishing leading to environmental and societal impacts. If only fisheries and ecosystems within the subsidising nations' jurisdiction were affected, then unilateral actions might be sufficient to help safeguard our ocean and the people reliant upon it. However, just as fish move between jurisdictions, so too do the subsidised fishing fleets that target them. As such, the impacts and solutions to subsidies-induced overfishing are often matters of international concern. Mapping the distribution and flows of harmful subsidies is therefore key to understanding these concerns, informing multilateral reform, and empowering impacted nations to strengthen the terms of access to their waters and resources. Here we quantify the amount of harmful fisheries subsidies that supports fishing in the high seas, domestic and foreign waters. We estimate that between 20% and 37% of all harmful fisheries subsidies support fishing in foreign waters or the high seas, that is outside the jurisdictions of the subsidising nations. We show that harmful subsidies primarily originate from nations with high-Human Development Index (HDI), strong fisheries management capacity and relatively sustainable fish stocks, yet disproportionately impact nations with low or very low-HDI, lower management capacity and more vulnerable fish stocks—40% of the harmful subsidies that support fishing in very low-HDI nations waters originate from high-HDI and very-high HDI nations. We show that Asia, Europe, and North America, are net subsidy sources; they provide more harmful subsidies to their fishing fleets than their respective ecosystems are impacted by; while Africa, South, Central America and Caribbean, and Oceania are net subsidy-sinks. This discrepancy between the source of harmful subsidies and the nations that are ultimately impacted is unsustainable and unjust. Prohibiting all harmful subsidies to distant-water fishing and fishing in the high seas—with narrow exceptions for Small Island Developing States—should be prioritised to support the advancement of sustainable and equitable fisheries worldwide. • We quantify the amount of harmful subsidies supporting fishing in the high seas, domestic and foreign waters. • Between 20% and 37% of harmful subsidies support fishing in foreign waters or the high seas. • Harmful subsidies unequally affect low or very low-HDI nations, with low management capacity and vulnerable fish stocks. • Asia, Europe and N. America are net subsidy sources; providing more harmful subsidies than their ecosystems are affected by. • Marine ecosystems within Africa, Oceania, South, Central America, and Caribbean, are net subsidy-sinks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change affects ocean conditions, fish stocks and hence fisheries. In West Africa, climate change impacts on fisheries were projected to be mainly negative through multi-facet ways. However, analysis of adaptation responses of fishers to climate change impacts is scarce. This paper reviews the impacts on climate change on fisheries in West Africa and discusses the potential adaptation strategies adopted by both the artisanal and industrial fishing sectors. Overall, climate change and over-exploitation have altered species composition of fisheries catches in West Africa. The effect of ocean warming on fisheries is indicated by the increase in dominance of warmer water species in the landings, shown from an increase in Mean Temperature of Catch, in the region. Climate change induced changes in potential catch and species composition, which inherently have similar symptoms as over-exploitation, are expected to have repercussions on the economic and social performance of fisheries. Both artisanal and industrial sectors may adapt to these changes mainly through expansion of fishing ground that increases operation costs. Our results highlight that historical changes in target species are more common in industrial than artisanal fisheries. This result challenges the prevailing assumption that artisanal fisheries, given their limited movement capacity, would adapt to climate change by shifting target species and/or gear type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the North Sea, turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) represent highly valuable species in commercial fisheries. Still, available data for both species are limited, making stock assessment difficult. Long-term fisheries data have the potential to improve the understanding of stock dynamics such as long-term distribution changes or development in species' abundances. Historical British otter trawler lpue (landings-per-unit-effort) data from 1923 to 2009, and at the spatial scale of ICES rectangles, revealed that the distribution patterns of turbot and brill were different for most of the 20th century and only became similar in the recent decade. Further, between the 1920s and 1960s, turbot was commonly caught in the northern North Sea and in particular on Turbot Bank, at that time a turbot hotspot off the east coast of Scotland. Within a short time period turbot nearly disappeared from this region. Brill, in contrast, revealed a stable distribution in the southern and central North Sea with a slow expansion into the central North Sea. We used survey cpue (catch-per-unit-effort) from the International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS; 1970–2009) and the Beam Trawl Survey (BTS; 1985–2009), as well as British otter trawler lpue, as proxies for the abundance of adult turbot and brill. Commercial lpue suggested for brill and turbot a long-term decrease in abundance. IBTS cpue suggested an increase in abundance for turbot, but this was not confirmed by the BTS. For brill, both surveys did not show a clear trend. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The responses of fish populations to anthropogenic and environmental drivers are of growing interest. In commercial fisheries attention is increasingly directed to species historically being of secondary importance and potentially being influenced by these drivers. We present long-term commercial fisheries data of North Sea whiting (Merlangius merlangus), comprising international catches (1903–2010), quotas (1980–2010), and British otter trawler data (landings-per-unit-effort (lpue) for 1923–2009 at the spatial scale of ICES rectangles). Based on lpue data, we tested the possible effects of climate change and fishing pressure on whiting distribution. Results showed no distinct latitudinal and deepening shifts, but a ∼1° westward shift between the late-1940s and 1960s. Relations to climate change and fishing pressure were not strong. The lack of clear latitudinal and deepening shifts contrasts with recent studies on other North Sea species reporting such shifts related to temperature change. The North Sea is at the centre of the distribution range of whiting, and the temperature changes might still fall well within the physiological tolerance limits of this species, hence not affecting the distribution. The drivers for the longitudinal shift remain unclear. However, whiting is also commonly discarded by fisheries; if levels of discarding differ spatially, our results may not represent the true picture of whiting distribution and need to be interpreted with caution. This highlights the challenge in detection and attribution of climate change effects on exploited fish stocks with commercial data only. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As coastal fisheries around the world have collapsed, industrial fishing has spread seaward and deeper in pursuit of the last economically attractive concentrations of fishable biomass. For a seafood-hungry world depending on the oceans'' ecosystem services, it is crucial to know whether deep-sea fisheries can be sustainable. The deep sea is by far the largest but least productive part of the oceans, although in very limited places fish biomass can be very high. Most deep-sea fishes have life histories giving them far less population resilience/productivity than shallow-water fishes, and could be fished sustainably only at very low catch rates if population resilience were the sole consideration. But like old-growth trees and great whales, their biomass makes them tempting targets while their low productivity creates strong economic incentive to liquidate their populations rather than exploiting them sustainably (Clark''s Law). Many deep-sea fisheries use bottom trawls, which often have high impacts on nontarget fishes (e.g., sharks) and invertebrates (e.g., corals), and can often proceed only because they receive massive government subsidies. The combination of very low target population productivity, nonselective fishing gear, economics that favor population liquidation and a very weak regulatory regime makes deep-sea fisheries unsustainable with very few exceptions. Rather, deep-sea fisheries more closely resemble mining operations that serially eliminate fishable populations and move on. Instead of mining fish from the least-suitable places on Earth, an ecologically and economically preferable strategy would be rebuilding and sustainably fishing resilient populations in the most suitable places, namely shallower and more productive marine ecosystems that are closer to markets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Arctic remains one of the most pristine marine regions in the world, however climate change and increasing favourable conditions is triggering increasing exploration and development of commercial fisheries. Canada's Arctic marine capture fisheries are currently small relative to fisheries in other regions in Canada but small scale, predominantly Inuit fisheries are more wide spread. In this study, catch data was first used to estimate the current state of Arctic marine fisheries. Next, an integrated modelling approach was used to estimate the current and future fisheries potentials under high and low climate change scenarios. Comparisons of the current (2004–2015) annual reported tonnage and modelled estimates (±standard deviation) suggest that annual sustainable fisheries catch potential could be much greater at 4.07 (±2.86) million tonnes than the current catch of 189 (±6.26) thousand tonnes. Under a high climate change scenario, future (2091–2100) fisheries potential was projected to increase to 6.95 (±5.07) million tonnes of catch, while under low climate change scenario catch potential was similar to estimates of current catch potential. However, the greatest source of variance in catch potential estimates came from parameter uncertainty, followed by scenario and model uncertainty. These results contribute to understanding Canada's Arctic marine ecosystems in the face of a rapidly changing environment, yet proper steps must be taken to ensure cultural preservation for Inuit communities as well as ecological, economic, and social sustainability. • Climate change will increase access to Arctic marine fish stocks in Canada. • Projections show positive increases in fisheries catch and value potential with climate change. • Range shifts driven by ocean warming will lead to increased catch potential. • Ocean acidification may reduce projected increase in catch potential. • Ecological, economic, social and cultural impacts of exploitation must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]