Resilience and Recovery of Overexploited Marine Populations

Abstract

History Matters Fishery-induced mortality is not the sole driver of fish population dynamics, and shifts in population abundance are also subject to ecological impacts. In a meta-analysis, Neubauer et al. (p. 347 ) showed how some fish-stock recoveries have been slower than theoretically predicted. They discovered that a species' exploitation history is also an important predictor of recovery. The data indicate that even extreme limitations in harvest pressure may not allow for the timely recovery of collapsed stocks.