http://www.diva-portal.org This is the published version of a paper published in Journal of Fish Biology. Citation for the original published paper (version of record): Gordon, T A., Harding, H R., Clever, F K., Davidson, I K., Davison, W. et al. (2018) Fishes in a changing world: learning from the past to promote sustainability of fish populations Journal of Fish Biology, 92(3): 804-827 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13546 Access to the published version may require subscription. N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-66874 Journal of Fish Biology (2018) 92, 804–827 doi:10.1111/jfb.13546, available online at wileyonlinelibrary.com Fishes in a changing world: learning from the past to promote sustainability of fish populations T. A. C. Gordon*#, H. R. Harding†‡#, F. K. Clever§, I. K. Davidson*, W. Davison*, D. W. Montgomery*, R. C. Weatherhead‖, F. M. Windsor¶, J. D. Armstrong**, A. Bardonnet††, E. Bergman‡‡, J. R. Britton§§, I. M. Côté‖‖, D. D’agostino¶¶, L. A. Greenberg‡‡, A. R. Harborne***, K. K. Kahilainen†††, N. B. Metcalfe‡‡‡, S. C. Mills§§§‖‖‖, N. J. Milner¶¶¶, F. H. Mittermayer****, L. Montorio††††, S. L. Nedelec*, J. M. Prokkola‡‡‡‡, L. A. Rutterford*, A. G. V. Salvanes§§§§, S. D. Simpson*, A. Vainikka‡‡‡‡,J.K.Pinnegar‖‖‖‖ and E. M. Santos* *Biosciences, University of Exeter, Geoffrey Pope Building, Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4QD, U.K., †School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, U.K., §School of Science and the Environment, John Dalton Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, M1 5GD, Manchester, U.K., ‖Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Penglais, SY23 3DA, U.K., ¶School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, U.K., **Marine Scotland Science, Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory, Faskally, Pitlochry, PH16 5LB, U.K., ††ECOBIOP, UMR 1224, INRA, Univ. Pau & Pays Adour, Saint-Pée sur Nivelle, 64310, France, ‡‡Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, S-651 88, Karlstad, Sweden, §§Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, BH12 5BB, Poole, U.K., ‖‖Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada, ¶¶School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, U.K., ***Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, North Miami, Florida, 33181, U.S.A., †††Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, The Norwegian College of Fishery Science, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway, ‡‡‡Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, MVLS, University of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, U.K., §§§CRIOBE USR 3278 EPHE-CNRS-UPVD PSL, BP, 1013 Moorea, 98729, French Polynesia, ‖‖‖Laboratoire d’Excellence “CORAIL”, France, ¶¶¶APEM Ltd, School of Biological Sciences, Bangor, LL57 2UW, Wales, U.K., ****Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany, ††††ESE, Ecology and Ecosystem Health, Agrocampus Ouest, INRA, 35042, Rennes, France, ‡‡‡‡Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 111, FI-80101, Joensuu, Finland, §§§§Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, PO Box 7803, 5020, Bergen, Norway and ‖‖‖‖Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0HT, U.K. ‡Author Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: +44 117 394 1212; email: [email protected] #These authors contributed equally to this work. 804 © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Fisheries Society of the British Isles. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. FISHES IN A CHANGING WORLD 805 Populations of fishes provide valuable services for billions of people, but face diverse and interacting threats that jeopardize their sustainability. Human population growth and intensifying resource use for food, water, energy and goods are compromising fish populations through a variety of mechanisms, including overfishing, habitat degradation and declines in water quality. The important challenges raised by these issues have been recognized and have led to considerable advances over past decades in managing and mitigating threats to fishes worldwide. In this review, we identify the major threats faced by fish populations alongside recent advances that are helping to address these issues. There are very significant efforts worldwide directed towards ensuring a sustainable future for the world’s fishes and fisheries and those who rely on them. Although considerable challenges remain, bydrawing attention to successful mitigation of threats to fish and fisheries we hope to provide the encouragement and direction that will allow these challenges to be overcome in the future. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Fisheries Society of the British Isles. Key words: challenges; fish; fisheries; future; global change; sustainability. INTRODUCTION Fish populations are of immense global value, shaping ecosystem services for bil- lions of people worldwide (Holmlund & Hammer, 1999; Worm et al., 2006; Cooke et al., 2016). However, our planet is currently facing unprecedented environmental and societal changes that are having dramatic effects on fish and fisheries (Arthington et al., 2016; Waters et al., 2016). Understanding the probable scope of these changes is crucial in allowing us to develop mitigation strategies, manage fish populations, and minimize negative effects for those who rely on them. Moreover, the pivotal position of fishes in aquatic ecosystems renders them important indicators of environmental health (Graham et al., 2015; Lynch et al., 2016). Effective assessment and proactive manage- ment at the ecosystem level has the potential to considerably improve the resilience of aquatic ecosystems to global change, preventing potentially disastrous declines in fish populations (McCauley et al., 2015; Scheffer et al., 2015). The success of such man- agement relies on the ability to identify current and future threats to fishes and using past successes to develop effective tools for future mitigation strategies. This paper was envisioned during the 50th Anniversary Symposium of The Fish- eries Society of the British Isles at the University of Exeter, U.K., in July 2017, by a team of 30 biologists who were challenged to consider the greatest threats fish pop- ulations are facing and how we might ensure sustainability in the future. The authors discussed ideas focused on what threats fishes face today, what can be learnt from pre- vious successes, and how to best address future challenges. This paper was written as a collaborative endeavour, summarizing the outcomes of both this conference and relevant recent literature. We hope that it provides a useful review of current threats, an encouraging summary of recently-developed innovations and management options, and a forward-looking roadmap detailing future challenges facing fish populations worldwide and potential avenues for effective management and sustainability. ISSUES FACING FISHES TODAY Fishes in marine, transitional and freshwater habitats face a multitude of threats ultimately driven by increasing human populations (projected to reach 9·7 billion by 2050; United Nations, 2017) and intensifying resource use including for food provision © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Fisheries Society of the British Isles. 2018, 92, 804–827 806 T. A. C. GORDON ET AL. Fitness consequences and population declines s ence Population and u Behavioural effects Reproductive effects Growth effects Physiological effects eq community effects s Con Phenological Predator-prey effects Genetic effects Habitat degradation Hypoxia disruption Changing Aquatic pH Thermal & Alien Emerging Pollution (chemical, noise, light, climates changes hydrological alteration species pathognes microplastic, nanoparticle) Elevated CO2 Increased Increased Agricultural Industrial Coastal & riverine levels fishing pressures aquaculture development development development Increased demand for resources (energy, goods, food, water) Human population growth s e us Ca Fig. 1. Hierarchical structure of threats facing fishes globally. Human population growth as a driver leadsto altered resource use and subsequently to fitness consequences and population declines by a wide rangeof varied and inter-linking mechanisms. (fishing, irrigation, agriculture, livestock production), energy production (hydropower, wind turbines, oil and gas drilling, fracking, biomass harvesting), water usage (drink- ing, sanitation, industry) and other goods (mining, forestry, river channelling). The accumulation of threats has resulted in unprecedented effects on ecosystems, with widespread population declines of fauna and extinctions across many taxa (Foley et al., 2011; Mueller et al., 2012; Young et al., 2016; Ceballos et al., 2017). These threats are manifested through