TY - JOUR

T1 - Examining current best-practices for the use of wild post-larvae capture, culture, and release for fisheries enhancement

AU - Richardson, Laura

AU - Lenfant, Philippe

AU - Clarke, Leo

AU - Fontcuberta, Amelie

AU - Gudefin, Anaïs

AU - Lecaillon, Gilles

AU - Le Vay, Lewis

AU - Radford, Andrew

AU - Simpson, Stephen

PY - 2023/1/17

Y1 - 2023/1/17

N2 - Demand for marine fisheries is rising despite global impacts on the productive capacity of wild fish stocks due to overfishing, habitat loss, and global warming. Fisheries enhancement programs—aimed at augmenting stocks by releasing juveniles into the wild—are expected to play an increasingly important auxiliary role in addressing capture-based fishery limitations into the future. However, concerns exist over the impacts and efficacy of aquaculture-based enhancement (ABE), releasing captive-bred fish into wild populations. An alternative but understudied approach for fisheries enhancement is wild post-larvae capture, culture, and release (PCCR). Here, we provide an overview of the PCCR process, from initial planning to measuring success, providing an overview of its implementation in a viable finfish fishery, the white seabream Diplodus sargus in the Mediterranean. We discuss management application of PCCR-based enhancement and its limitations, highlighting future research required to realise the full potential this alternative approach. Notwithstanding some limitations, including limited uptake for full evaluation, some species restrictions, density-dependent mortality, and the remaining open challenge for stock enhancement generally of tracking released fish through to reproduction, PCCR offers potential as a credible auxiliary management tool for fisheries restoration.

AB - Demand for marine fisheries is rising despite global impacts on the productive capacity of wild fish stocks due to overfishing, habitat loss, and global warming. Fisheries enhancement programs—aimed at augmenting stocks by releasing juveniles into the wild—are expected to play an increasingly important auxiliary role in addressing capture-based fishery limitations into the future. However, concerns exist over the impacts and efficacy of aquaculture-based enhancement (ABE), releasing captive-bred fish into wild populations. An alternative but understudied approach for fisheries enhancement is wild post-larvae capture, culture, and release (PCCR). Here, we provide an overview of the PCCR process, from initial planning to measuring success, providing an overview of its implementation in a viable finfish fishery, the white seabream Diplodus sargus in the Mediterranean. We discuss management application of PCCR-based enhancement and its limitations, highlighting future research required to realise the full potential this alternative approach. Notwithstanding some limitations, including limited uptake for full evaluation, some species restrictions, density-dependent mortality, and the remaining open challenge for stock enhancement generally of tracking released fish through to reproduction, PCCR offers potential as a credible auxiliary management tool for fisheries restoration.

KW - Fisheries

KW - Fisheries management

KW - Stock enhancement

U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2022.1058497

DO - 10.3389/fmars.2022.1058497

M3 - Article

VL - 9

JO - Frontiers in Marine Science

JF - Frontiers in Marine Science

SN - 2296-7745

ER -