Predicting life history parameters for all fishes worldwide.

Scientists and resource managers need to know life history parameters (e.g., average mortality rate, individual growth rate, maximum length or mass, and timing of maturity) to understand and respond to risks to natural populations and ecosystems. For over 100 years, scientists have identified "life history invariants" (LHI) representing pairs of parameters whose ratio is theorized to be constant across species. LHI then promise to allow prediction of many parameters from field measurements of a few important traits. Using LHI in this way, however, neglects any residual patterns in parameters when making predictions. We therefore apply a multivariate model for eight variables (seven parameters and temperature) in over 32,000 fishes, and include taxonomic structure for residuals (with levels for class, order, family, genus, and species). We illustrate that this approach predicts variables probabilistically for taxa with many or few data. We then use this model to resolve three questions regarding life history parameters in fishes. Specifically we show that (1) on average there is a 1.24% decrease in the Brody growth coefficient for every 1% increase in maximum size; (2) the ratio of natural mortality rate and growth coefficient is not an LHI but instead varies systematically based on the timing of maturation, where movement along this life history axis is predictably correlated with species taxonomy; and (3) three variables must be known per species to precisely predict remaining life history variables. We distribute our predictive model as an R package, FishLife, to allow future life history predictions for fishes to be conditioned on taxonomy and life history data for fishes worldwide. This package also contains predictions (and predictive intervals) for mortality, maturity, size, and growth parameters for all described fishes.

Assessing the quality of life history information in publicly available databases.

Single-species life history parameters are central to ecological research and management, including the fields of macro-ecology, fisheries science, and ecosystem modeling. However, there has been little independent evaluation of the precision and accuracy of the life history values in global and publicly available databases. We therefore develop a novel method based on a Bayesian errors-in-variables model that compares database entries with estimates from local experts, and we illustrate this process by assessing the accuracy and precision of entries in FishBase, one of the largest and oldest life history databases. This model distinguishes biases among seven life history parameters, two types of information available in FishBase (i.e., published values and those estimated from other parameters), and two taxa (i.e., bony and cartilaginous fishes) relative to values from regional experts in the United States, while accounting for additional variance caused by sex- and region-specific life history traits. For published values in FishBase, the model identifies a small positive bias in natural mortality and negative bias in maximum age, perhaps caused by unacknowledged mortality caused by fishing. For life history values calculated by FishBase, the model identified large and inconsistent biases. The model also demonstrates greatest precision for body size parameters, decreased precision for values derived from geographically distant populations, and greatest between-sex differences in age at maturity. We recommend that our bias and precision estimates be used in future errors-in-variables models as a prior on measurement errors. This approach is broadly applicable to global databases of life history traits and, if used, will encourage further development and improvements in these databases.

Oceans of plenty? Challenges, advancements, and future directions for the provision of evidence-based fisheries management advice.

Marine population modeling, which underpins the scientific advice to support fisheries interventions, is an active research field with recent advancements to address modern challenges (e.g., climate change) and enduring issues (e.g., data limitations). Based on discussions during the 'Land of Plenty' session at the 2021 World Fisheries Congress, we synthesize current challenges, recent advances, and interdisciplinary developments in biological fisheries models (i.e., data-limited, stock assessment, spatial, ecosystem, and climate), management strategy evaluation, and the scientific advice that bridges the science-policy interface. Our review demonstrates that proliferation of interdisciplinary research teams and enhanced data collection protocols have enabled increased integration of spatiotemporal, ecosystem, and socioeconomic dimensions in many fisheries models. However, not all management systems have the resources to implement model-based advice, while protocols for sharing confidential data are lacking and impeding research advances. We recommend that management and modeling frameworks continue to adopt participatory co-management approaches that emphasize wider inclusion of local knowledge and stakeholder input to fill knowledge gaps and promote information sharing. Moreover, fisheries management, by which we mean the end-to-end process of data collection, scientific analysis, and implementation of evidence-informed management actions, must integrate improved communication, engagement, and capacity building, while incorporating feedback loops at each stage. Increasing application of management strategy evaluation is viewed as a critical unifying component, which will bridge fisheries modeling disciplines, aid management decision-making, and better incorporate the array of stakeholders, thereby leading to a more proactive, pragmatic, transparent, and inclusive management framework-ensuring better informed decisions in an uncertain world. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11160-022-09726-7.