Harvesting that Preserves Large Fish Might Help Mitigate the Worst Impacts of Warming

Abstract

Fishing and oceanic warming significantly impact fish populations worldwide. Understanding their interactive effects is crucial for managing harvested populations. Here, we first review current knowledge of harvest and warming interactions, focusing on experimental applications that provide unique insights into short- and long-term effects difficult to study in wild populations. We then present findings from a multi-generational experiment exposing 18 zebrafish populations to combined harvest and warming selection. Treatments included three types of size-selective fishing (~80% mortality) and two temperatures (26°C ‘control’ and 30°C ‘warmed’). Warmed populations exhibited expected temperatu..