The need for a protean fisheries science to address the degradation of exploited aquatic ecosystems

¹ Association Française d’Halieutique (AFH)  
² Irstea, UR EABX, Centre de Bordeaux, 50 avenue de Verdun, 33612 Cestas Cedex, France
³ UMR 212 EME, IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement), 34200 Sète, France
⁴ IFREMER, Laboratoire Ressources Halieutiques, 62321 Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
⁵ IFREMER, Unit of Fisheries Ecology and Modelling, BP 21105, 44311 Nantes Cedex 03, France
⁶ Université Bretagne Loire (UBL), Agrocampus Ouest, UMR Ecologie et santé des écosystèmes, 65 route de Saint Brieuc, CS 84215, 35042 Rennes, France

^a Corresponding author: hilaire.drouineau@irstea.fr

Received: 24 May 2016
Accepted: 30 June 2016

Abstract

In this introductory paper we highlight key questions that were discussed during the symposium on “Status, functioning and shifts in marine ecosystems” organized by the Association Française d’Halieutique (French Association for Fisheries Sciences, Montpellier, France, July 2015). This symposium illustrated that fisheries science is now working at multiple scales and on all dimensions of socio-ecosystems (ecological, political, sociological, and economic), with a great diversity of approaches and taking into account different levels of complexity while acknowledging diverse sources of uncertainty. We argue that we should go one step further and call for a protean fisheries science to address the deteriorated states of aquatic ecosystems caused by anthropogenic pressures. Protean science is constantly evolving to meet emerging issues, while improving its coherence and integration capacity in its complexity. This science must be nourished by multiple approaches and be capable of addressing all organizational scales, from individual fish or fishermen up to the entire ecosystem, include society, its economy and the services it derives from aquatic systems. Such a protean science is required to address the complexity of ecosystem functioning and of the impacts of anthropogenic pressures.