Fishery Resource Management Challenges Facing Climate Change

Science today is facing a great challenge regarding the provision of scientific advice to the use and conservation of living marine resources, where natural systems are changing continuously in response to climate change. There is no precedent for the current situation; never before has mankind been faced with a scenario such as this, where most fish stocks are exploited (or even overexploited) to their maximum production capacity, with an environment that is changing continuously with a clear trend, e.g., warming. In the international context, countries have adopted a commitment to address climate change two to three decades after regime shift has occurred, a situation which, as was not recognized at that time, has led to less efficiency and greater uncertainty in the management of fish resources, affecting the part of society that directly depends on those resources. These concepts also imply a paradigm shift, where management must be adapted to a changing world. In this contribution, three study cases are discussed by considering conventional management, the role of climate change, and the active management strategy that could be implemented, including holistic ecosystem-based criteria to identify allowable harvest rates for individual fish stocks. Management seeks a balance between stock productivity and the effect of fishing on ecosystem function. The application of these criteria is exemplified by three of the main fisheries in the Campeche Bank: two, the pink shrimp and red grouper, which are considered deteriorated, and red octopus, whose yields have risen more than twice in the last three decades.