Welcome to our blog series, Research Highlights! On the second Monday of each month, we debut newly published fisheries research by our women of fisheries colleagues. If you have research you would like to highlight and share with our readers, submit a nomination form!

This Month’s Research Highlight:
Papaioannou E.A., R.L. Selden, J. Olson, B.J. McCay, M.L. Pinsky and K. St. Martin. 2021. Not all those who wander are lost – responses of fishers’ communities to shifts in the distribution and abundance of fish. Frontiers in Marine Science 8:669094. 

Not all those who wander are lost. You may have seen this phrase, or some variation of it – on the cover of book, as a title on a music album, or perhaps on an inspirational poster hanging in your local outdoor adventure shop. It is believed that J.R.R. Tolkien originally coined the phrase in his book The Fellowship of The Ring. Inside, there is a poetic riddle that reads in part:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

There are various literary interpretations, but the overarching idea is that wandering need not be without purpose. Exploration often leads to gaining knowledge. 

The title of this month’s research article is, thus, a fitting one.

Dr. Eva Papaioannou, Scientist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, and Dr. Becca Selden, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Wellesley College, in Massachusetts, collaborated with four other colleagues to learn how commercial fishers respond to changes in fish distribution. 

Distributions of fish can change over time for a myriad of reasons. Here, researchers focused on summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) and red and silver hake (Urophycis chuss and Merluccius bilinearis) in the Northeast U.S., whose distributions shift primarily in response to water temperature. Increased numbers with larger fluke moving northward to colder waters, human-induced climate change, and natural climate variability all play a role. Fisheries scientists and commercial fishers agree these distributions shift, but what can a fishery do about it? 

To get at this answer, researchers took a community-level approach. Dr. Papaioannou explains, “A community of mobile, larger-size fishing vessels can follow a shift but another one of similar technical characteristics may choose to respond instead by shifting species and redistributing its effort to appropriate locations within its existing fishing grounds. Leaving out such ‘at-sea’ responses of communities will not give the full picture of fishers’ responses to species shifts.” Their approach involved both interviews with commercial fishers and an analysis of fishing records and ecological surveys. Talking to individual fishers within these communities was extremely valuable. Interviews helped researchers identify rare responses that may have been missed otherwise, learn how some communities respond differently and which may be more at risk from future shifts, and gain a deeper understanding of the fishery as a whole.   

So, what did they find? Researchers identified three main ways these commercial hake and summer flounder fishers respond to distribution shifts: “chasing fish” by moving to new fishing grounds, changing their target species, and becoming more transient. However, the big take home message from Dr. Selden is this: “…while fishers may be able to travel further to follow fish, they far prefer to stay where they’ve fished for decades. As such, more climate-ready fisheries management would incorporate the more dominant strategy of switching target species when designing its future policies.” Researchers point to flexibility as the key to the sustainability of these fisheries and adaptability of these fishing communities to a changing world. Thanks to this work, managers now have the key to moving these fisheries into the future: development of a framework that allows fishers to target multiple species.

An interesting side note from this study was a look into fisher perceptions about what is causing these changes in fish distribution. Often, fishers and scientists agree what is happening but disagree on why it is happening. For example, fishers admit warmer water temperatures but often dismiss climate change. While scientists often have access to a lot of data spread over a longer time period or larger space, fishing communities have generations of hands-on experience which can be valuable in itself. So, I asked Dr. Selden and Dr. Papaioannou for insights on how we, as fishery scientists, can help bridge the information gap. They suggested forming more partnerships between scientists and fishers would be a positive step forward. The Shelf Research Fleet, as an example, is a collaborative effort where scientists have been working with commercial lobster fishers to collect water temperature data since 2014. 

Science really is a journey of exploration and that exploration leads to knowledge. By understanding where we’ve been, we can be better prepared for where we are going in the future and how we’re going to get there. 

We are not lost at all. Rather, we are learning with every step. 

We are certainly learning with every step, and from each other. Upon reflection of their research, Dr. Selden and Dr. Papaioannou wanted to share a few thoughts with our Women of Fisheries community. “This research presented me with the opportunity of meeting and working together with some of my personal ‘heroes’ in the field, for which I feel extremely grateful!” stated Dr. Papaioannou. “These included established and ‘next gen’ women academics (some later to become dear friends - part of my extended ‘home-port’ community) but also fishing community leaders.” Dr. Selden mirrored these thoughts. “I feel grateful to have had supportive mentors that elevated my voice and provided space for growth.” She also added this advice for those interested in policy: “I recommend engaging with the many ocean-based NGOs in [Washington] D.C. as that was a key pathway for me to ultimately be invited to testify to congress on climate and fisheries in 2019.” 

The full manuscript can be found and downloaded here:
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.669094

News article about the Shelf Research Fleet:
https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/08/14/fishermen-scientists-climate-change-new-england