Evolving context and maturing science: Aquaculture-based enhancement and restoration enter the marine fisheries management toolbox

Aquaculture-based enhancement of marine fisheries includes sea ranching, stock enhancement, and restocking. A rapidly evolving context and maturing science base have effectively put these approaches into the fisheries management toolbox. Among the contextual factors are (1) a rapid expansion of captive breeding and domestication to new marine species, (2) fisheries governance systems that address the common dilemma, and (3) global environmental change impacts on coastal fisheries that increasingly call for active approaches to maintaining or increasing fisheries yields and ecosystem services. The science base of marine restocking, stock enhancement, and sea ranching continues to advance rapidly and has now reached a point where it is becoming possible to assess the likely contribution of such approaches to fisheries management goals prior to major investments being undertaken and to design enhancement programs effectively and responsibly where good potential is judged to exist. This signifies an important transition of marine fisheries enhancement from an exploratory, research-oriented endeavor to a tool in the fisheries management tool box

A new era for restocking, stock enhancement and sea ranching of coastal fisheries resources

The growing number of countries investigating the potential for releasing cultured juveniles to augment coastal fisheries resulted in the First International Symposium on Stock Enhancement and Sea Ranching (ISSESR) in Norway in 1997. The 1st and 2nd ISSESR, in Japan in 2002, were instrumental in developing methods for mass production of environmentally fit juveniles and for releasing them in responsible ways. The 3rd ISSESR, held in the U.S.A. in 2006 (www.SeaRanching.org), ushered the discipline into a new era. The major advances included: (1) definitions of the various objectives for releasing cultured juveniles (restocking, stock enhancement, and sea ranching); (2) a framework for integrating releases within their fisheries management context, including tools for quantitative assessment; (3) a systematic, transparent, and stakeholder-participatory planning process to determine whether releases have a cost-effective role to play in managing a fishery; (4) a comprehensive case study (blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay) describing the multi-disciplinary approach needed to evaluate the potential benefits of releases; and (5) a suite of other lessons to guide stakeholders in evaluating the potential for and implementation of releases. The papers in this Special Issue of Reviews in Fisheries Science elaborate how restocking, stock enhancement and sea ranching programs can create synergies between aquaculture and some coastal fisheries to help meet the future demand for seafood and aid in restoring depleted stocks

Fisheries enhancement and restoration in a changing world

Fisheries enhancement is an important strategy for maintaining and improving fisheries productivity, and addressing some of the other contemporary challenges facing marine ecosystems. Aquaculture-based enhancement includes stock enhancement, restocking, and sea ranching. Developments in aquaculture techniques, tagging, genetics, modelling and ecology have underpinned growth in this field in the 21st century, particularly in the context of marine recreational fisheries. Marine enhancement practice has now matured to the point that quantitative tools are frequently applied before any fish or shellfish are released into the natural environment, and pilot-scale enhancement scenarios and release strategies are evaluated before full implementation. Social and economic studies are also increasingly important components of this assessment. Here, several case studies from diverse geographic areas exemplify the union of aquaculture technology, quantitative modelling, social science, physiology and ecology to estimate enhancement potential, improve enhancement strategies, assess enhancement outcomes, and support adaptive management. Integrating aquaculture-based enhancement with habitat enhancement presents a remarkable opportunity for future research and development, and offers the potential to further increase the opportunities and associated socio-economic benefits that are available to a broad range of fisheries stakeholder