Ocean harvests have plateaued worldwide and many important commercial stocks have been depleted. This has caused great concern among scientists, fishery managers, the fishing community, and the public. This book evaluates the major models used for estimating the size and structure of marine fish populations (stock assessments) and changes in populations over time. It demonstrates how problems that may occur in fisheries dataâ€"for example underreporting or changes in the likelihood that fish can be caught with a given type of gearâ€"can seriously degrade the quality of stock assessments. The volume makes recommendations for means to improve stock assessments and their use in fishery management.

This report indicates that climate change will significantly affect the availability and trade of fish products, especially for those countries most dependent on the sector, and calls for effective adaptation and mitigation actions encompassing food production.

"Rebuilding depleted stocks is a central part of the fisheries governance agenda. By analysing the available literature, Part 1 of "Rebuilding of marine fisheries" provides a global review of the emergence of the rebuilding paradigm, its key concepts, the trends in fishery resources, and the empirical evidence available on stocks depletion, collapse and rebuilding. It addresses the bio-ecological, economic, and human dimensions of rebuilding or restoration of stocks, multispecies assemblages and habitats/ecosystems and touches on the need for rebuilding at the whole sector level when depletion has become widespread and chronic. The human imensions of stocks and fisheries are given particular attention, looking at conflicting objectives, the bio-economy of rebuilding, its costs and benefits, and the distributional effects of the related reform among actors with their potential social consequences in the short and long terms. Governance is addressed in detail: legal and policy frameworks; rationale and objectives of a rebuilding regime; alternative rebuilding strategies; reference values and protocols; regulatory time-frames; risk management and harvest control rules; impacts of climatic oscillations; management tool-box; implementation guidance and performance evaluation. The document ends with a review of the determinants of success of a rebuilding programme."--Publisher's description for part 1.

Drawing on a number of case studies from around the world, this publication considers how the local knowledge and practices of indigenous fishing communities are being used in collaboration with scientists, government managers and non-governmental organisations to establish effective frameworks for sustainable fisheries science and management. It seeks to contribute towards achieving the goal of establishing international responsibility for the ethical collection, preservation, dissemination and application of fishers' knowledge.

"State of the Salmon, a joint program of Wild Salmon Center and Ecotrust."