Fish Flow: following fisheries from spawning to supper

Abstract

Novel methodologies now make it possible to track the complete geographical movements of seafood species from reproduction to human consumption. Doing so will better inform consumers and assist resource managers in matching fisheries and conservation policies with natural borders and pathways, including stock boundaries, networks of marine protected areas, and fisheries management areas. Such mapping necessitates an unprecedented synthesis of natural and social sciences, including knowledge of adult fish population abundance and movements, egg output, larval dispersal, and recruitment to juvenile and adult habitats, as well as fisheries stock assessment, capture, and distribution through human social networks. The challenge is to fully integrate oceanography, population genetics, ecology, and social sciences with fisheries biology to reveal the patterns and mechanisms of “Fish Flow” from spawning to supper. As practitioners representing all five of these disciplines, we believe that Fish Flow analyses will promote sustainable fisheries management and marine conservation efforts, and may foster public knowledge, wise seafood choices, and appreciation of social–ecological interconnections involving fisheries.