Publication Abstract

Fishing as an evolutionary force

K. Stokes and R. Law

To an evolutionary biologist, fishing is a massive uncontrolled evolutionary selection experiment. There are three sets of participants: fishery managers set patterns of selection through regulations such as mesh size and catch quotas, fishers apply the selective mortality, and the fish stocks evolve due to directional selection.

Curiously, fisheries institutes around the world have shown little interest in this selection experiment. Some years ago, when we were working on the subject with Cathy Rowell, we found a real reluctance among fisheries biologists to consider the evolutionary consequences of fishing. Perhaps it was felt that fisheries management is complicated enough in the short term, without worrying about issues perceived to be the stuff of centuries. Perhaps evolutionary biology is simply too peripheral in the education of fishery biologists. But, whatever the reason, we know of only one fisheries research institute investigating the strength of selection on fish stocks generated by fishing (Sinclair et al. 1999). Moreover, the genetic architectures of traits such as growth and maturation, crucial for productivity of fisheries, are essentially unknown in the wild, and it is barely possible even to guess at the rate which these traits are evolving as a result of fishing.

There is, however, increasing evidence that evolutionary effects of fishing need to be on the research agenda.

Reference:

K. Stokes* and R. Law (2000) Fishing as an evolutionary force. Marine Ecology Progress Series 208: 307-309 (in Evolution of Fisheries Science)