Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America.
NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami, FL, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Jan 11;18(1):e0279025. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279025. eCollection 2023.
Management regimes of marine resources that rely on spatial boundaries might be poorly adapted to climate change shifts in species distributions. This is of specific concern for the management of fish stocks that cross management jurisdictions, known as shared stocks. Transitioning to dynamic rules in spatial management has been suggested as a solution for mismatches between species distributions and the spatial boundaries. However, in many cases spatial boundaries are not clearly drawn, hampering such transitions. Here, we use black sea bass (Centropristis striata), summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) and scup (Stenotomus chrysops) as case studies to explore different approaches to designing spatial regulatory units to facilitate the adaptation of fisheries management to shifting distributions of shared stocks. First, we determine the yearly distribution of each stock within the United States Exclusive Economic Zone from 1951 to 2019 during Fall and Spring sampling seasons. Second, we explore two approaches for drawing regulatory units based on state waters and historical landings. Finally, we estimate each state's proportion of the stock's distribution and compare historical and recent values. We show that the distribution of all three stocks has changed relative to the years used to determine the current quota allocation across states, with an overall gain for central-northern states at the expense of the southernmost states. In terms of the distribution of allocation, we find that, while seasonal differences exist, the biggest differences in the proportion of the stock spatial distribution attributed to each state come from the method for designing regulatory units. Here, we show that the method used to define allocation units can have meaningful impacts on resulting adaptive policy. As climate change-driven conflicts in fishing resource allocation are expected to increase and deepen around the world, we provide a replicable approach to make an informed and transparent choice to support data-driven decision-making.
依赖空间边界的海洋资源管理模式可能难以适应物种分布的气候变化。对于管理跨越管理辖区的鱼类种群（即共享种群）而言，这种情况尤其令人担忧。转向空间管理中的动态规则被认为是解决物种分布与空间边界之间不匹配的一种方法。然而，在许多情况下，空间边界没有明确划定，这阻碍了这种转变。在这里，我们以黑鲈（Centropristis striata）、大西洋比目鱼（Paralichthys dentatus）和竹荚鱼（Stenotomus chrysops）为例，探讨了设计空间监管单位的不同方法，以促进渔业管理适应共享种群分布的变化。首先，我们确定了 1951 年至 2019 年秋季和春季采样期间每个种群在美国专属经济区的年度分布。其次，我们探讨了基于州内水域和历史捕捞量来绘制监管单位的两种方法。最后，我们估计了每个州在种群分布中的比例，并比较了历史和最近的值。我们表明，所有三个种群的分布都发生了变化，相对于用来确定当前各州配额分配的年份，中北部各州的整体收益是以牺牲最南部各州为代价的。就分配的分布而言，我们发现，虽然存在季节性差异，但各州在种群空间分布比例上的最大差异来自于设计监管单位的方法。在这里，我们表明，定义分配单位的方法会对产生的适应性政策产生有意义的影响。随着全球范围内因气候变化而导致的渔业资源分配冲突预计会增加和加深，我们提供了一种可复制的方法，以便在支持数据驱动决策的情况下做出明智和透明的选择。
