The state and relative importance of drivers of fish population dynamics: An indicator-based approach

In a changing environment, the status of individual fish populations and consequently the fishing possibilities can change rapidly, not always for reasons directly related to fisheries. In order to take the ecosystem context into account in the management process and achieve consensus concerning fishing possibilities among stakeholders, it is important that the status of various drivers influencing fish stocks, and their relative impacts are broadly understood.

In this paper, we demonstrate how indicators and their aggregation methodologies could assist to achieve this, using the central Baltic Sea as an example. The developed indicator framework provides a quick and visually effective way to track changes in the performance of drivers of fish stock dynamics and communicate the related consequences to a wider audience.