Climate Change Creates Hard Trade-Offs for Fisheries Management

This modeling study shows a trade-off in fisheries management under climate change: strategies that protect fish populations often reduce harvest, while strategies that maximize harvest can leave populations vulnerable. The researchers developed a model of a harvested fish population experiencing climate-driven changes in demography, then compared different management strategies that either adapt to new conditions or maintain historical practices. Climate impacts impose a choice between management strategies that favor fishery yield or population biomass but not both. When climate caused a population's carrying capacity to increase, or its productivity to decrease, a climate-adaptive strategy maintained higher population biomass but produced similar or lower yield than fixed management. Managers face difficult trade-offs between conservation and economic goals under climate change. As climate change reshapes ocean ecosystems, fisheries managers worldwide must decide how to respond. The research shows that there is no single perfect solution. Each adaptation strategy involves trade-offs between economic benefits and conservation outcomes.

Citation

Samhouri, Jameal F.; Detmer, A. Raine; Marshall, Kristin N.; Stier, Adrian C.; Berger, Aaron; Liu, Owen R.; Shelton, A. Ole (2025). Course corrections responding to climate impacts produce divergent effects on population biomass and harvest in fisheries. PLOS Climate.

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This paper is Open Access.