Illegal fishing in marine protected areas—satellites and AI show most bans are respected
Marine protected areas cover more than 8% of the world's oceans today, but they can get a bad rap as being protected on paper only.
Fishery management methods comprise the suite of scientific, regulatory, and operational tools used to maintain fish populations and associated ecosystems at or near defined biological and socioeconomic reference points. They include stock assessment methodologies (e.g., age-structured or surplus-production models), harvest control rules, effort and catch limitations (quotas, size limits, gear restrictions), spatial and temporal closures, rights-based systems (ITQs, TURFs), and ecosystem-based approaches that integrate multispecies interactions and environmental variability. These methods rely on monitoring programs, statistical modeling, and adaptive management frameworks to adjust exploitation rates in response to observed stock status, uncertainty, and management objectives such as maximum sustainable yield or precautionary conservation targets.
Marine protected areas cover more than 8% of the world's oceans today, but they can get a bad rap as being protected on paper only.
Ecology
Jul 25, 2025
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Illegal fishing is a global problem that threatens the health of ocean ecosystems and the economic viability of the fishing industry. Marine protected areas (MPAs)—zones set aside to safeguard marine life—are a key tool for ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 24, 2025
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Floating about 500 feet offshore of Illinois Beach State Park, Hillary Glandon tightened her scuba goggles, grabbed a small masonite plate from a nearby kayak and dove beneath the Lake Michigan surface.
Plants & Animals
Jul 23, 2025
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A sweeping new executive order to deregulate the U.S. seafood sector risks unraveling decades of scientific progress and environmental protections, according to aquaculture and fishery scientists writing in a new paper published ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 2, 2025
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25
Decades of efforts to eradicate invasive smallmouth bass from a midsized Adirondack lake have led to a surprising result: The bass rapidly evolved to grow faster and invest more in early reproduction, leading to an even larger ...
Evolution
Jun 30, 2025
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207
Parental egg-care in fish traps them in an evolutionary dead-end through the loss of the chorion-hardening system, according to scientists from the Institute of Science Tokyo. Fish have diverse egg-caring strategies that ...
Evolution
Jun 27, 2025
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Antarctic krill is a key species in the Antarctic marine ecosystem as an important food source for many species, such as whales, seals and penguins. However, the small crustaceans are increasingly targeted as part of a growing ...
Ecology
Jun 17, 2025
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During the federal election campaign, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that if elected, he would look into restructuring Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). Carney stated that he understood the importance of DFO ...
Ecology
Jun 16, 2025
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Blue crab populations in the Chesapeake Bay took a sizable hit in 2025, marking a need for more cautious harvest regulations, some environmentalists say.
Plants & Animals
Jun 12, 2025
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172
Governments should ban all mining and fishing in the high seas "forever" to protect ocean biodiversity, climate stability—and humanity, climate and ocean experts said Wednesday.
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2025
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