The potential of historical ecology to aid understanding of human-ocean interactions throughout the Anthropocene

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordMarine historical ecology emerged in the scholarly literature with the aim of understanding long-term dynamics in marine ecosystems and the outcomes of past human-ocean interactions. The use of historical sources, which differ in temporal scale and resolution to most scientific monitoring data, present both opportunities and challenges for informing our understanding of past marine ecosystems and the ways in which human communities made use of them. With an emphasis upon marine social-ecological changes over the past 200 years, I present an overview of the relevant historical ecology literature and summarise how this approach generates a richer understanding of human-ocean interactions and the legacies associated with human-induced ecosystem change. Marine historical ecology methodologies continue to be developed, while expanded inter- and multi-disciplinary collaborations provide exciting avenues for future discoveries. Beyond scholarship, historical ecology presents opportunities to foster a more sustainable relationship with our oceans going forward: by challenging ingrained perceptions of what is 'normal' within marine ecosystems, reconnecting human communities to the oceans, and providing cautionary lessons and exemplars of sustainable human-ocean interactions from the past. To leverage these opportunities, scholars must work alongside practitioners, managers and policy makers to foster mutual understanding, explore new opportunities to communicate historical findings, and address the challenges of integrating historical data into modern-day frameworks. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.European Union Horizon 202

Trends and transitions observed in an iconic recreational fishery across 140 years

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordRecreational fishing has taken place for centuries and is a globally popular activity, yet a lack of monitoring data means historical trends in recreational fisheries are often little understood compared to their commercial counterparts. We examined archival sources and conducted fisher interviews to examine changes in the Queensland recreational snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) fishery throughout its documented history. Over a 140-year period, we extracted data on technological innovations, catch rate trends, and social and regulatory change. Technological innovations were evident throughout the history of the recreational fishery. During the 1960s, 1990s and 2000s, several periods of rapid technological transition occurred, where a technology was adopted by >50% of recreational fishers within 10 years of its introduction. Since the 1960s, the timing and rate of adoption of fish-finding technology by recreational fishers has kept pace with the commercial sector. These technological advances have profoundly increased recreational targeting ability, but despite these advances, recalled recreational catch rate trends demonstrated significant declines over the course of the 20th century. While minimum size limits have been imposed on the snapper fishery for over a century, in contrast, the introduction of recreational in-possession limits only commenced in the 1990s. At this time, the beginnings of a societal transition was also observed, where longstanding ‘take all’ attitudes towards fishing began to be replaced by a more conservation minded ethic. This shift was driven in part by the changing regulatory landscape, as well as wider attitudinal change influenced by the media and shifting societal norms, although whether this led to a reduction in total recreational catch remains unclear due to a lack of fishery-wide monitoring data and the open access nature of the recreational fishery. This study demonstrates that in the absence of systematic data collection, archival sources and fisher interviews can contribute an interdisciplinary knowledge base for understanding and interpreting historical fishery trends.RT, SB and JP were supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Fieldwork costs were supported by the University of Queensland’s New Staff Start-Up Fund, awarded to RT, and the Fisheries Research Development Corporation (FRDC) on behalf of the Australian Government, report 2013-018 "Using commercial and recreational fisher knowledge to reconstruct historical catch rates for Queensland pink snapper (Pagrus auratus) and Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson): long-term data for incorporation into future stock assessments”

The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries

This is the final version of the article. Available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record.In 2009, the European Commission estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished, on the basis of data that go back 20 to 40 years and depending on the species investigated. However, commercial sea fishing goes back centuries, calling into question the validity of management conclusions drawn from recent data. We compiled statistics of annual demersal fish landings from bottom trawl catches landing in England and Wales dating back to 1889, using previously neglected UK Government data. We then corrected the figures for increases in fishing power over time and a recent shift in the proportion of fish landed abroad to estimate the change in landings per unit of fishing power (LPUP), a measure of the commercial productivity of fisheries. LPUP reduced by 94% - 17-fold - over the past 118 years. This implies an extraordinary decline in the availability of bottom-living fish and a profound reorganization of seabed ecosystems since the nineteenth century industrialization of fishing.R.H.T. was supported by Natural England and a Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grant. S.B. was supported by a Ray Lankester Investigatorship from the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Historical spatial reconstruction of a spawning-aggregation fishery

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Aggregations of individual animals that form for breeding purposes are a critical ecological processfor many species, yet these aggregations are inherently vulnerable to exploitation. Studies of the decline ofexploited populations that form breeding aggregations tend to focus on catch rate and thus often overlookreductions in geographic range. We tested the hypothesis that catch rate and site occupancy of exploited fish-spawning aggregations (FSAs) decline in synchrony over time. We used the Spanish mackerel (Scomberomoruscommerson) spawning-aggregation fishery in the Great Barrier Reef as a case study. Data were compiled fromhistorical newspaper archives, fisher knowledge, and contemporary fishery logbooks to reconstruct catchrates and exploitation trends from the inception of the fishery. Our fine-scale analysis of catch and effort dataspanned 103 years (1911–2013) and revealed a spatial expansion of fishing effort. Effort shifted offshore at arate of 9.4 nm/decade, and 2.9 newly targeted FSAs were reported/decade. Spatial expansion of effort maskedthe sequential exploitation, commercial extinction, and loss of 70% of exploited FSAs. After standardizing forimprovements in technological innovations, average catch rates declined by 90.5% from 1934 to 2011 (from119.4 to 11.41 fish/vessel/trip). Mean catch rate of Spanish mackerel and occupancy of exploited mackerelFSAs were not significantly related. Our study revealed a special kind of shifting spatial baseline in which acontraction in exploited FSAs occurred undetected. Knowledge of temporally and spatially explicit informationon FSAs can be relevant for the conservation and management of FSA species.S.B., R.T., andJ.P. were supported by the Australian Research Council(ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation(project 2013-018). A.T. and S.B. were supported by funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (project 2010-007) on behalf of the Australian Government

Setting the Record Straight: Assessing the Reliability of Retrospective Accounts of Change

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Ecological degradation is accelerating, reducing our ability to detect and reverse declines. Resource user accounts have the potential to provide critical information on past change but their reliability can rarely be tested, hence they are often perceived as less valid than other forms of scientific data. We compared individual fishers' catch records, recorded 1-50 years ago, with their memories of past good, typical and poor catches for the corresponding time period. Good and poor catches were recalled with reasonable accuracy, matching variability in recorded catch with no significant change observed over time. Typical recalled catches were overestimated and became significantly more exaggerated over time, but were more comparable to mean than median recorded values. While accuracy of resource users' memory varied with the type of information recalled, our results suggest that carefully structured interview questions can produce reliable quantitative data to inform resource management, even after several decades have elapsed.All authors were supported by the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Fieldwork components were supported by The University of Queensland’s New Staff Start-Up Fund (Project No. 2012000643) and the FRDC (Project No. 2013–018), on behalf of the Australian Government

Reconstruction of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) recruitment in the North Sea for the past 455 years based on the δ13C from annual shell increments of the ocean quahog (Arctica islandica)

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordnderstanding the recruitment variability of the Atlantic herring North Sea stock remains a key objective of stock assessment and management. Although many efforts have been undertaken linking climatic and stock dynamic factors to herring recruitment, no major attempt has been made to estimate recruitment levels before the 20th century. Here, we present a novel annually resolved, absolutely dated herring recruitment reconstruction, derived from stable carbon isotope geochemistry (δ13C), from ocean quahog shells from the Fladen Ground (northern North Sea). Our age model is based on a growth increment chronology obtained from fourteen shells. Ten of these were micromilled at annual resolution for δ13C analysis. Our results indicate that the anthropogenically driven relative depletion of 13C, the oceanic Suess effect (oSE), became evident in the northern North Sea in the 1850s. We calculated a regression line between the oSE‐detrended δ13C results (δ13CṠ) and diatom abundance in the North Sea, the regression being mediated by the effect of phytoplankton on the δ13C of the ambient dissolved inorganic carbon. We used this regression to build an equation mediated by a nutritional link to reconstruct herring recruitment using δ13CṠ. The reconstruction suggests that there were five extended episodes of low‐recruitment levels before the 20th century. These results are supported by measured recruitment estimates and historical fish catch and export documentation. This work demonstrates that molluscan sclerochronological records can contribute to the investigation of ecological baselines and ecosystem functioning impacted by anthropogenic activity with implications for conservation and stock management.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)FP7 People: Marie‐Curie Action

Aboriginal uses of seaweeds in temperate Australia: an archival assessment

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.Global demand for seaweed has increased dramatically over recent decades and the potential for seaweed aquaculture to address issues around food security and climate-change mitigation are being recognised. Australia is a global hotspot for seaweed biodiversity with a rich, diverse Indigenous history dating back 65,000 years, including an extensive traditional knowledge of Australian natural resources. In our present review of archival literature, we explored the contemporary and historical uses and cultural significance of seaweeds to Indigenous Australians. We found records of seaweed use by Indigenous Saltwater Australians (Australian Aboriginal peoples from coastal areas across the nation who are the Traditional Owners/Guardians and custodians of the lands and waters characterised by saltwater environment) for a variety of purposes including cultural activities, ceremonial activities, medicinal uses, clothing, cultural history, food, fishing, shelter and domestic uses. Species-specific records were rarely recorded (and/or accurately translated) in the archival literature, with the exception of the use of the fucoid bull kelp, Durvillaea potatorum, which was prevalent. Our research is a step forward in the important task of recovering and conserving Indigenous Australian knowledge and customary traditions surrounding coastal resource use. Unlocking this knowledge creates opportunities for the continuance and revitalization of traditional customary practises that may enable innovative Indigenous business activities and product creation, based around food, sustainable natural-fibre technologies and health. Such research also has the potential to enhance a developing Australian seaweed industry by guiding species selection, preparation, use and sustainable resource management. We recommend our findings are used to inform the direction and locations of further research conducted in conjunction with Indigenous coastal communities in Australia’s temperate regions, to explore in more detail the Indigenous Australian’s historical heritage associated with coastal seaweed resources and their uses

Quantifying the historical development of recreational fisheries in Southeast Queensland, Australia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Inter Research via the DOI in this recordRecreational fisheries are of global socio-ecological importance and contribute significantly to local economies and fisheries harvests. In some regions of Australia, organized recreational fishing activities have existed for over 150 yr. However, historical understanding of the spatio-temporal development and resource usage of recreational fisheries has been hampered by the lack of continuous time-series catch and effort data. This study used historical newspaper articles of reported landings by fishing clubs to reconstruct catch rate trends and evaluate changes in catch composition of marine recreational fishing activities in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, from 1920−1984. Using generalized additive mixed models, 2 catch rate metrics (no. of fish fisher−1 trip−1 and kg fish fisher−1 trip−1) were constructed as functions of time and distance travelled. Significant nonlinear relationships were found for no. of fish fisher−1 trip−1. Fluctuations in no. of fish fisher−1 trip−1 were strongly influenced by time, while increases in distance travelled predicted a larger no. of fish fisher−1 trip−1. Measures of kg fish fisher−1 trip−1 were tightly linked to increases in distance travelled but did not vary with time. Spatial analysis revealed shifts in areas fished, from inshore reefs during the 1920s and 1930s (pre-WWII) towards isolated offshore island systems in later decades (>1950s; post-WWII). Reported catches pre-WWII were strongly associated with reef species, while reported catches post-WWII were predominantly characterized by demersal coastal fish. Spatially resolved time-series fisheries data can be reconstructed from archival sources, providing valuable information about the development of recreational fishing activities and explaining the historical social−ecological dynamics that led to current ecosystem states.QUEX InstituteAustralian Research Council (ARC)University of QueenslandEuropean Union Horizon 202

Towards an urban marine ecology: Characterizing the drivers, patterns, and processes of marine ecosystems in coastal cities

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record Human population density within 100 km of the sea is approximately three times higher than the global average. People in this zone are concentrated in coastal cities that are hubs for transport and trade – which transform the marine environment. Here, we review the impacts of three interacting drivers of marine urbanization (resource exploitation, pollution pathways and ocean sprawl) and discuss key characteristics that are symptomatic of urban marine ecosystems. Current evidence suggests these systems comprise spatially heterogeneous mosaics with respect to artificial structures, pollutants and community composition, while also undergoing biotic homogenization over time. Urban marine ecosystem dynamics are often influenced by several commonly observed patterns and processes, including the loss of foundation species, changes in biodiversity and productivity, and the establishment of novel assemblages, ruderal species and synanthropes. Further, we discuss potential urban acclimatization and adaptation among marine taxa, interactive effects of climate change and marine urbanization, and ecological engineering strategies for enhancing urban marine ecosystems. By assimilating research findings across disparate disciplines, we aim to build the groundwork for urban marine ecology – a nascent field; we also discuss research challenges and future directions for this new field as it advances and matures. Ultimately, all sides of coastal city design: architecture, urban planning, and civil and municipal engineering, will need to prioritize the marine environment if negative effects of urbanization are to be minimized. In particular, planning strategies that account for the interactive effects of urban drivers and accommodate complex system dynamics could enhance the ecological and human functions of future urban marine ecosystems.National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office SingaporeUS National Science Foundatio

Widening mismatch between UK seafood production and consumer demand: a 120-year perspective

This is the final version. Available from Springer via the DOI in this record. Data availability: The datasets generated and used for the UK seafood production and trade analyses and to produce Figs. 1–6 are available on GitHub at https://github.com/lukeo jharrison/UKSeafoodProductionConsumerDemandPaper (Harrison et al. 2023).Developed countries are increasingly dependent on international trade to meet seafood requirements, which has important social, environmental, and economic implications. After becoming an independent coastal state following Brexit, the UK faces increased trade barriers and changes in seafood availability and cost. We compiled a long-term (120-year) dataset of UK seafood production (landings and aquaculture), imports, and exports, and assessed the influence of policy change and consumer preference on domestic production and consumption. In the early twentieth century, distant-water fisheries met an increasing demand for large, flaky fish such as cod and haddock that are more abundant in northerly waters. Accordingly, from 1900 to 1975, the UK fleet supplied almost 90% of these fish. However, policy changes in the mid-1970s such as the widespread establishment of Exclusive Economic Zones and the UK joining the European Union resulted in large declines in distant-water fisheries and a growing mismatch between seafood production versus consumption in the UK. While in 1975, UK landings and aquaculture accounted for 89% of seafood consumed by the British public, by 2019 this was only 40%. The combination of policy changes and staunch consumer preferences for non-local species has resulted in today’s situation, where the vast majority of seafood consumed in the UK is imported, and most seafood produced domestically is exported. There are also health considerations. The UK public currently consumes 31% less seafood than is recommended by government guidelines, and even if local species were more popular, total domestic production would still be 73% below recommended levels. In the face of climate change, global overfishing and potentially restrictive trade barriers, promoting locally sourced seafood and non-seafood alternatives would be prudent to help meet national food security demands, and health and environmental targets.UK Research and Innovatio