Joseph A. Langan, Peter J. Alsip, Hazem U. Abdelhady, Charles R. Bronte, Cory A. Goldsworthy, Matthew S. Kornis, Krista B. Oke, Eva B. Thorstad, Benjamin A. Turschak
{"title":"The Forgotten Pink Salmon in the Laurentian Great Lakes: An Unexpected Invasion With Insights for Three Oceans","authors":"Joseph A. Langan, Peter J. Alsip, Hazem U. Abdelhady, Charles R. Bronte, Cory A. Goldsworthy, Matthew S. Kornis, Krista B. Oke, Eva B. Thorstad, Benjamin A. Turschak","doi":"10.1111/faf.70084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70084","url":null,"abstract":"Introductions of species outside their native range, such as pink salmon ( <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\"> <jats:italic>Oncorhynchus gorbuscha</jats:italic> </jats:styled-content> ) in the Laurentian Great Lakes, can serve as unplanned experiments that provide new insights into ecological adaptation. We synthesize available information on the understudied Great Lakes pink salmon invasion and highlight how this case can inform research and management related to expansions and invasions of this species in the Pacific, Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. Accidentally introduced to Lake Superior in 1956, pink salmon quickly spread to all five Great Lakes, displaying unexpected behaviours and life history plasticity. This invasion history demonstrates a remarkable ability of pink salmon to establish from a small founder population, colonize large areas, produce explosive year classes to rapidly increase in abundance, and complete a full life cycle entirely in freshwater. One of the most striking changes is a shift from their rigid 2‐year Pacific life cycle to a variable maturation age ranging from 1 to 4 years, likely influenced by prey availability as well as temperature and other environmental factors. We discuss implications for expansions elsewhere and outline five research themes necessary for understanding pink salmon dynamics in the Great Lakes with broader relevance for managing the species everywhere: (1) What drives rapid changes in abundance? (2) How do temperature extremes influence their ecology? (3) What causes departures from the 2‐year life cycle? (4) How important is it for the phenology of life history events to match new habitats? (5) What guides pelagic movements and straying in new habitats?","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147751747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Grant J. Johnson, Jonathan J. Smart, Vinay Udyawer, Rik C. Buckworth, Clive R. McMahon, Chalie Huveneers
{"title":"Assessing Risk for Bycatch and Byproduct Species Using a Modified Sustainability Assessment for Fishing Effects (SAFE) Approach","authors":"Grant J. Johnson, Jonathan J. Smart, Vinay Udyawer, Rik C. Buckworth, Clive R. McMahon, Chalie Huveneers","doi":"10.1111/faf.70085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70085","url":null,"abstract":"Central to ecosystem‐based fisheries management is ensuring the sustainability of bycatch and byproduct species. However, the sustainability of these species is difficult to assess as the lack of information limits the use of traditional stock assessment methods. We demonstrate, using a complex multi‐species fisheries exemplar, the efficient assessment of large numbers of diverse species, using a modified Sustainability Assessment for Fishing Effects (SAFE) approach. Applying this technique to 256 teleost and elasmobranch species caught in Australia's Northern Territory Demersal and Timor Reef Fisheries, we first applied an initial screening assessment to identify at‐risk species followed by a secondary SAFE assessment for a more detailed evaluation. To enhance the precision of the secondary assessment, we incorporated species distribution modelling and refined fishing footprint estimates through spatial analysis of trawl paths, from vessel monitoring system data. Additionally, we integrated Monte Carlo simulations into the SAFE process to quantify uncertainties in fishing footprint and capture efficiency parameters. The conservative criteria applied in the initial screening process assessed 208 species as low‐risk, with the remaining 48 species evaluated through our modified secondary SAFE approach. These 48 species were also subsequently classified as low‐risk. Our approach adds steps to the SAFE process but enables us to efficiently assess large numbers of diverse species and thereby allows resources to be allocated to those species most at‐risk. This adaptable approach is readily modifiable for application in other fisheries, including those with no or limited effort and catch data.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147751748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ben Scoulding, Alistair J. Hobday, Rowan Trebilco, Heidi Pethybridge, Ingrid van Putten, Katherine Baker, Karen Evans, David Green, Eriko Hoshino, Haris Kunnath, Clothilde Langlais, Tim P. Lynch, Javier Porobic, Tyler Rohr, Elizabeth H. Shadwick, Caroline A. Sutton, Jodie Van de Kamp, Briannyn Woods, Bowen Zhang
{"title":"Deep Dark Futures: Foresighting Human Impacts on Mesopelagic Ecosystem Services","authors":"Ben Scoulding, Alistair J. Hobday, Rowan Trebilco, Heidi Pethybridge, Ingrid van Putten, Katherine Baker, Karen Evans, David Green, Eriko Hoshino, Haris Kunnath, Clothilde Langlais, Tim P. Lynch, Javier Porobic, Tyler Rohr, Elizabeth H. Shadwick, Caroline A. Sutton, Jodie Van de Kamp, Briannyn Woods, Bowen Zhang","doi":"10.1111/faf.70088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70088","url":null,"abstract":"Most of the global mesopelagic zone lies beyond the jurisdiction of any single government or entity, making equitable access and sustainable management for ecosystem services (ES) difficult. Here, a foresighting approach was used to examine the plausible consequences of four speculative scenarios of human activity on the mesopelagic zone and its associated ES. Large‐scale Harvest represented the provisioning ES, with concerns over unsustainable removal of mesopelagic biota. Climate Mitigation, a regulating ES, involved harvesting and then dumping mesopelagic biota to maximise carbon drawdown. In Geopolitical Manoeuvring, the scenario focused on cultural ES; mesopelagic fisheries were used as a geopolitical instrument to assert claims over ocean spaces. Finally, Mineral Extraction, a supporting ES, considered the impact of deep‐sea mining on mesopelagic ecosystems. Drivers and indicators for each scenario were identified, and qualitative network models were created to assess impact on the different system components using press perturbations. Model outputs highlighted the central role that mesopelagic biota play in supporting and regulating other ecosystem components and the likely negative impacts of reduced biomass on higher order predators and ocean carbon storage. Interestingly, biological indicators performed poorly as early warning signals of change across all scenarios; instead, the most effective indicators were related to science and technology, economics and governance. International agreements for sustainable use of the mesopelagic zone are needed to avoid loss of ES underpinning all scenarios. While this foresighting focused on the mesopelagic zone, the approach of developing scenarios, models and indicators has broader applicability to studies of other systems.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147743832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Environment‐Recruitment Relationships May Be Shadows of Other Life‐History Processes","authors":"Matthew D. Robertson, Paul M. Regular","doi":"10.1111/faf.70087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70087","url":null,"abstract":"Despite over a century of fisheries research focused on identifying environment‐recruitment relationships, robust and long‐standing relationships remain elusive, and the prevalence of ephemeral relationships has raised doubts about their utility for explaining recruitment. However, what if these relationships are shadows of other life‐history processes? To explore this question, we simulated populations where the environment affects natural mortality, a life‐history process often assumed to be constant, to determine whether spurious environment‐recruitment relationships arise. Specifically, we produced a series of simulations in which the environment affects only one life‐history process, while estimation models were misspecified with respect to which process was environmentally driven. Our simulations show that misspecified models consistently produce false detections of environmental effects on recruitment when the environment affects only natural mortality. These results indicate that previously identified environment‐recruitment relationships that later broke down may have been artifacts of environmental effects acting on other life‐history processes that were assumed to be constant. Focusing exclusively on recruitment may therefore obscure the true pathways through which environmental variability influences population dynamics. Ultimately, sound scientific advice in the face of marine ecosystem complexity requires hypothesis driven model comparisons and transparent model assumptions.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147695718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Myron A. Peck, Ignacio A. Catalán, Ryan R. Rykaczewski, Akinori Takasuka, Susana Garrido, Rebecca G. Asch, Matthew R. Baker, Noelle M. Bowlin, Jennifer Boldt, Richard D. Brodeur, Cecilie Hansen, Salvador E. Lluch‐Cota, Martin Huret, Francis Juanes, Isaac C. Kaplan, Stefan Koenigstein, Marta Moyano, Rubén Rodríguez‐Sánchez, Christopher N. Rooper, Dongwha Sohn, Motomitsu Takahashi, Desiree Tommasi, Robert P. Wildermuth
{"title":"Advancing Ecological Understanding and Sustainable Management of Small Pelagic Fish","authors":"Myron A. Peck, Ignacio A. Catalán, Ryan R. Rykaczewski, Akinori Takasuka, Susana Garrido, Rebecca G. Asch, Matthew R. Baker, Noelle M. Bowlin, Jennifer Boldt, Richard D. Brodeur, Cecilie Hansen, Salvador E. Lluch‐Cota, Martin Huret, Francis Juanes, Isaac C. Kaplan, Stefan Koenigstein, Marta Moyano, Rubén Rodríguez‐Sánchez, Christopher N. Rooper, Dongwha Sohn, Motomitsu Takahashi, Desiree Tommasi, Robert P. Wildermuth","doi":"10.1111/faf.70086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70086","url":null,"abstract":"Small pelagic fish (SPF) are critical to the trophodynamic structure and function of marine systems and support some of the most valuable and socially important fisheries worldwide. Their “boom and bust” population dynamics, shifts in distribution, and importance as forage resources for other fish stocks place unique challenges to assessing and managing SPF. In response to these challenges, an international working group was formed in 2019 to foster collaboration aimed at closing key knowledge gaps in the ecology and sustainable management of SPF. Here, that group reviews progress made over the last ~10 years and identifies priorities for the next stage of coordinated international collaboration. Key research needs include: (i) enhancing monitoring programs to capture shifts in SPF distribution and incorporating new technologies, from molecular tools and digital imaging to biophysical and ecological modelling, (ii) improving data sharing to better understand life‐history bottlenecks and cross‐regional population dynamics, (iii) advancing process‐based studies on oceanic and trophodynamic interactions to clarify the ecological roles of SPF as both predators and prey, and (iv) conducting bioeconomic and risk analyses to assess the vulnerability of fishing‐dependent human communities to environmental and fish population fluctuations. A key pathway forward involves integrating mechanistic ecological knowledge, ecosystem and bioeconomic modelling, and social‐ecological frameworks into real‐time, adaptive, and equitable management approaches. This integration will be essential for developing resilient, ecosystem‐based fisheries management capable of anticipating tipping points, accommodating non‐stationary population dynamics, and ensuring sustainability under future climate and socio‐economic uncertainties.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147695689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Neil Angelo Abreo, Jonathan Tibo, António Barbosa Nogueira, Athanasios Nikolaou, Cüneyt Kaya, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Irmak Kurtul, Stelios Katsanevakis, Ronaldo Sousa, Teun Everts, Emili García‐Berthou, John S. Hargrove, Ana Clara Sampaio Franco, Jelger Erik Herder, Julian D. Olden, Darragh J. Woodford, Antonín Kouba, J. Rob Britton, Ismael Soto, Phillip J. Haubrock
{"title":"Worldwide Invasions of Centrarchidae: The Dark Side of the Sunfish Family","authors":"Neil Angelo Abreo, Jonathan Tibo, António Barbosa Nogueira, Athanasios Nikolaou, Cüneyt Kaya, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Irmak Kurtul, Stelios Katsanevakis, Ronaldo Sousa, Teun Everts, Emili García‐Berthou, John S. Hargrove, Ana Clara Sampaio Franco, Jelger Erik Herder, Julian D. Olden, Darragh J. Woodford, Antonín Kouba, J. Rob Britton, Ismael Soto, Phillip J. Haubrock","doi":"10.1111/faf.70083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70083","url":null,"abstract":"Freshwater fish invasions are major drivers of global ecological change, disrupting native biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, many invasive fish hold significant socioeconomic value, resulting in conflict over their management. Centrarchidae, which are globally distributed and are important for sportfishing and aquaculture, are now potentially becoming a global threat. Yet, no comprehensive appraisal exists across taxa and regions integrating taxonomy, pathways, impacts and risk analysis for Centrarchidae. To address these gaps, we compiled published literature and leveraged publicly available databases to critically evaluate the current global status of non‐native Centrarchidae, finding 30 species established outside their native ranges with 17 being outside of North America. Largemouth bass ( <jats:italic>Micropterus nigricans</jats:italic> ) and pumpkinseed ( <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\"> <jats:italic>Lepomis gibbosus</jats:italic> </jats:styled-content> ) are the most widely introduced centrarchids. Reported impacts of Centrarchidae introduction are mostly ecological, with predation, competition, hybridisation, and disease transmission as major mechanisms. Conversely, socio‐economic and cultural effects are underreported. Currently, only ten species have undergone rapid risk screening, with 90% flagged as high risk. However, risk analyses remain sparse, confounded by taxonomic uncertainties (including hybridisation) and context dependence of impacts. With the changing climate and other anthropogenic disturbances in freshwaters, habitat suitability is expanding for centrarchids. Although concerning, Centrarchidae form a highly human‐mediated invasion complex with predictable pathways and tractable leverage points, so limiting propagule pressure and standardizing assessments can curb their future spread while informing balanced and evidence‐based fisheries policy that reconciles socioeconomic benefits with environmental costs.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147648993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthew LH. Cheng, Daniel R. Goethel, Curry J. Cunningham, Peter‐John F. Hulson, James N. Ianelli, Kristen L. Omori
{"title":"The SPoRC Stock Assessment Package: A Generalized Next‐Generation Platform to Assess Spatial, Age and Sex‐Structured Populations","authors":"Matthew LH. Cheng, Daniel R. Goethel, Curry J. Cunningham, Peter‐John F. Hulson, James N. Ianelli, Kristen L. Omori","doi":"10.1111/faf.70082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70082","url":null,"abstract":"Fisheries managers increasingly rely on stock assessment models to provide sustainable management advice, which must balance complex and competing objectives. Although assessment models necessitate simplifying assumptions, there is increasing recognition to improve the integration of realistic biological and fishery dynamics. While ongoing and future development of increasingly complex stock assessments requires increased capacity (i.e., time, training, and personnel), there are concerns that the growing demand for assessment advice cannot be adequately fulfilled under current resources. To address these needs, we present the Stochastic Population over Regional Components (SPoRC) model, a modern integrated analysis platform that is generalized, modular and developed in a user‐friendly programming language (R with Template Model Builder, RTMB). Development of SPoRC emphasized consideration of age, sex, and spatial dynamics at the outset, while ensuring the ability to integrate diverse data sources (e.g., catch, abundance indices, age/length compositions and tagging). Moreover, state‐space specification of time‐varying processes through random effects and robust simulation capabilities were primary design features. Here, we highlight SPoRC's utility in cohesively implementing single‐and multi‐region applications, its ability to estimate time‐varying processes as random effects, and the potential to conduct closed‐loop simulations for evaluating the robustness of management procedures. By developing a generalized assessment platform in a user‐friendly R package, we suggest that SPoRC reduces barriers to implementation of next‐generation stock assessment models and facilitates team‐based model development, which will ultimately help improve the capacity to implement stock assessments globally.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147578123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Natalie Anne Dowling, Catherine Mary Dichmont, André Eric Punt, Sean Pascoe, Roy Aijun Deng, Jason Marc Cope, Elizabeth F. Perl
{"title":"Free Tools—Not So “Free”? The Evolution, Risks and Costs of Fishery Stock Assessment Tools","authors":"Natalie Anne Dowling, Catherine Mary Dichmont, André Eric Punt, Sean Pascoe, Roy Aijun Deng, Jason Marc Cope, Elizabeth F. Perl","doi":"10.1111/faf.70076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70076","url":null,"abstract":"In fisheries stock assessment, free software tools have proliferated in recent years. These tools provide standardised and, in many cases, well‐tested and efficient ways to conduct and support stock assessments, making cutting edge expertise globally accessible. However, they come with considerable ongoing costs, beyond their conceptual development and coding. We seek to understand and analyse the process by which fisheries stock assessment tools have evolved and identify the risks and challenges associated with their development, general use, and ongoing maintenance. We postulate on the development process and risk points for the endurance of fisheries science software tools, using theory related to volunteering. To confront our expectations with empirical evidence, we undertook a survey of stock assessment tool developers. Overwhelmingly, despite moderate institutional support, developers work beyond regular hours, especially when upscaling a tool to wider use, providing updates to the tool, and conducting maintenance activities. Notably, our expectation that tools with limited employer/institutional support do not survive was only partially supported—we found many tools persist despite limited support, primarily through substantial voluntary effort from developers. Future efforts for tool development should focus on (i) better integrating tool development and maintenance into institutional frameworks; (ii) better appreciating the motivation of and need for free tools; (iii) as such, advocating for their development and, particularly, ongoing maintenance; and (iv) for these activities to become internalised and owned in an ongoing manner as part of core business.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aleah Wong, Andrea Y. Frommel, U. Rashid Sumaila, William W. L. Cheung
{"title":"Shifting Trends in Aquaculture's Biological Potential to Address Food, Climate and Biodiversity Challenges","authors":"Aleah Wong, Andrea Y. Frommel, U. Rashid Sumaila, William W. L. Cheung","doi":"10.1111/faf.70081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70081","url":null,"abstract":"Aquaculture has expanded and intensified significantly since the mid‐20th century, affecting its contributions to food security, climate change and biodiversity conservation (FCB) outcomes. In particular, shifts in the composition of farmed species affect the sector's potential impacts on sustainable development. Because these impacts are partly driven by the biological traits of the farmed species, tracking changes in trait composition can reveal patterns in how aquaculture contributes to FCB outcomes over time. Here, we analyse spatial and temporal trends in aquaculture species' biological potential to support FCB objectives, using species‐specific food, climate and biodiversity indices derived from a traits‐based fuzzy logic model. We weight these scores by the annual production of major aquaculture species and compare average food, climate and biodiversity indices between taxonomic groups, major geographic regions and across three major time periods. Our results suggest that as aquaculture has intensified, production has increasingly favoured a handful of species with lower potential to achieve FCB goals and more trade‐offs between them since 1980. Improvements in growth rate and feed efficiency through selective breeding and developments in feed technology have likely improved aquaculture's FCB potential over time, but these advances carry trade‐offs and are limited to several key species and regions. Future aquaculture can reverse unfavourable trends through sustainable intensification of high‐scoring, currently‐farmed species and through diversifying production. Bivalves will be particularly important for future aquaculture, as they disproportionately contribute to FCB yet are underrepresented in global production.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Fish Behind Fish Feed: Rethinking Transparency Using DNA Tools","authors":"Marine Cusa, Matilda Binner, Giulia Maiello, Rosalie Dowell, Stefano Mariani","doi":"10.1111/faf.70080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.70080","url":null,"abstract":"Aquaculture is now the fastest growing food sector and may be a promising solution to increasing seafood demands. Yet, carnivorous aquaculture species such as salmon and seabass continue to rely on fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO), which are derived largely from pelagic fish that are sometimes key to the food security of some coastal nations. This reliance on wild‐caught resources fuels debates around the ethics, sustainability and socio‐economic impacts of transforming edible fish into feed. Despite growing concerns, traceability and transparency around the origin and composition of FMFO is limited, leaving feed ingredients largely invisible to customers, consumers and policymakers. We argue that this opacity erodes trust and hinders informed debate and conversation around the growth of aquaculture, its sustainability, and ethical concerns regarding just and equitable food systems. Here, we highlight how DNA metabarcoding of commercial feed samples offers a promising transparency tool by revealing a wide diversity of species, far beyond what labels disclose. If aquaculture is to demonstrate that it supports global food security, this blind spot around fish feed will need to be addressed urgently. Increased transparency on FMFO sourcing and composition could rebuild public trust, empower producers, consumers and regulators, and safeguard the livelihoods of coastal communities by ensuring a just pathway to aquaculture production.","PeriodicalId":169,"journal":{"name":"Fish and Fisheries","volume":"407 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}