Understanding the ecosystem role of Pacific herring in coupled social-ecological systems: advancing forage fish science

迫切需要了解低营养鱼类在社会生态系统中的关键作用。在不列颠哥伦比亚省，太平洋鲱鱼为海洋哺乳动物、海鸟和鱼类提供食物，并与浮游动物竞争：鲱鱼的变化波及整个食物网。此外，鲱鱼为商业渔业和原住民渔业提供供应。工业渔业收获鲱鱼卵和鱼饵，而原住民的海带产卵渔业则让成年鱼逃脱。由于这些强大的生态和人类联系，显著下降和缺乏恢复已经产生了巨大的全系统影响。改善鲱鱼生态科学需要基于生态系统的分析和整合该渔业的强烈生态和人类影响。我们的目标是了解鲱鱼的服务、渔业、衰退和复苏，直接与海达和海尔图克原住民作为支持伙伴合作，对他们来说，鲱鱼是传统文化的一部分。项目合作者包括生态学家、遗传学家、生态系统和DFO科学家、考古学家和研究这种生态和文化联系的社会科学家。我们由生态系统、渔业和分子科学家组成的跨学科团队将与这些合作者合作，实现独特的社会生态系统方法。首先，将评估鲱鱼丰度变化的其他假设，包括气候引起的生长、死亡和补充、疾病、海洋哺乳动物的捕食和过度捕捞的变化。接下来，我们将结合生态系统建模和分子遗传学的最新进展、合作伙伴的数据和传统生态知识，对鲱鱼的生态系统服务和管理进行空间分析。最后，我们将综合这些基于生态系统的创新举措，以推进饲料鱼科学，并了解捕捞如何改变社会生态系统。成果将使我们的支持合作伙伴能够参与鲱鱼的共同管理，利用基于生态系统的创新举措来支持文化、当地生态系统和渔业。

There is a pressing need to understand the pivotal role of low-trophic level fish in social-ecological systems. In British Columbia, Pacific herring feed marine mammals, seabirds and fish, and compete with zooplanktivores: herring changes ripple through the entire food web. Moreover, herring supply both commercial and First Nations fisheries. Industrial fisheries harvest herring roe and bait, while First Nations spawn-on-kelp fisheries allow adult fish to escape. Because of these strong ecological and human connections, significant declines and lack of recovery have had large system-wide impacts. Improved ecological science of herring requires ecosystem-based analysis and integration of this fishery's strong ecological and human impacts. We aim to understand herring services, fisheries, decline and recovery, working directly with Haida and Heiltsuk First Nations as Supporting Partners, for whom herring are embedded in traditional culture. Project collaborators include ecologists, geneticists, ecosystem and DFO scientists, archaeologists and social scientists researching this ecological and cultural nexus. Our interdisciplinary team of ecosystem, fishery and molecular scientists will work with these collaborators, enabling a unique social-ecological systems approach. First, alternative hypotheses of changes in herring abundance will be assessed, including climate-induced changes to growth, mortality and recruitment, disease, predation by marine mammals, and overfishing. Next, we will conduct a spatial analysis of herring's ecosystem services and management, integrating the latest advances in ecosystem modelling and molecular genetics, data from our partners, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Finally, we will synthesize these innovative ecosystem-based initiatives to advance forage fish science and understand how harvesting alters social-ecological systems. Outcomes will enable our Supporting Partners to engage in co-management for herring, using innovative ecosystem-based initiatives to support culture, local ecosystems and fisheries.