meta-analysis

The “spawn-at-least-once” principle suggests that sustainability is secured if fish become vulnerable to commercial gears only after they have spawned. However, some studies suggest that protecting immature fish is not essential to sustainability because extrinsic factors determine both recruitment and stock status. A meta-analysis was conducted to quantify the independent effects of exploitation pattern and exploitation rate on current stock status. The analysis used empirical data for 38 fish stocks of 13 species in the NE Atlantic. Two metrics of exploitation pattern were used and their sensitivity was compared. As expected, exploitation rate had a sig- nificant negative effect on current stock status. Exploitation patterns associated with high proportional fishing mortality of immature fish also had a significant negative effect on current stock status, providing empirical support for the “spawn-at-least-once” principle. When the fishing mortality of immature fish exceeds half that of mature fish, stock status falls below precautionary limits. Our results suggest that a sensitive metric of exploitation pattern could provide useful information about an aspect of exploitation that is cur- rently overlooked by fisheries management regimes that focus primarily on exploitation rate. 

Managing the pathways by which non-native species are introduced and spread is consid- ered the most effective way of preventing species invasions. Tourism and outdoor recrea- tion involve the frequent congregation of people, vehicles and vessels from geographically diverse areas. They are therefore perceived to be major pathways for the movement of non- native species, and ones that will become increasingly important with the continued growth of these sectors. However, a global assessment of the relationship between tourism activi- ties and the introduction of non-native species–particularly in freshwater and marine envi- ronments–is lacking. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the impact of tourism and outdoor recreation on non-native species in terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments. Our results provide quantitative evidence that the abundance and richness of non-native species are significantly higher in sites where tourist activities take place than in control sites. The pattern was consistent across terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments; across a variety of vectors (e.g. horses, hikers, yachts); and across a range of taxonomic groups. These results highlight the need for widespread biose- curity interventions to prevent the inadvertent introduction of invasive non-native species (INNS) as the tourism and outdoor recreation sectors grow.