System-level optimal yield: increased value, less risk, improved stability, and better fisheries

Abstract

The discipline and practice of fisheries science and management have had an useful, successful, and interesting history. The discipline has developed over the past century and a half into a very reductionist, highly quantitative, socially impactful endeavor. Yet given our collective successes in this field, some notable challenges remain. To address these challenges, many have proposed ecosystem-based fisheries management that takes a more systematic approach to the management of these living marine resources. Here I describe systems theory and associated constructs underlying system dynamics, elucidate how aggregate properties of systems can and have been used, contextualize these aggregate features relative to optimal yield, and note how this approach can produce useful estimates and outcomes for fisheries management. I explore two contrasting examples where this approach has and has not been considered, highlighting the benefits of applying such an approach. I conclude by discussing ways in which we might move forward with a portfolio approach for both the discipline and practice of fisheries science and management.