This article synthesizes information on marine and estuarine release programs in Australia and evaluates potential opportunities for stock enhancement. In Australia, the scale of restocking and stock enhancement programs in marine environments has been low compared with other countries, particularly Japan, China, and the United States. However, since the early 1990s, a number of government and industry organizations have made significant investments in research and development for the release of a variety of species to evaluate the potential of releases to increase the productivity of fisheries. The scale of these research programs has varied from releases of tens of thousands of individuals (abalone Haliotis laevigata, barramundi Lates calcarifer, and mulloway Argyrosomos japonicus), hundreds of thousands (tiger prawns Penaeus esculentus and black bream Acanthopagrus butcheri), and millions (eastern king prawn Penaeus plebejus). These programs, which have shown a strong commitment to the responsible approach to enhancement sensu (Blankenship and Leber, 1995; Lorenzen et al., 2010), have resulted in increased knowledge on the population dynamics and ecology of released species and the development of bio-economic and energetic models to better plan and evaluate releases. Currently, research is continuing in New South Wales (A. japonicus, P. plebejus), Queensland (L. calcarifer), and Western Australia (A. butcheri, H. laevigata). Furthermore, Victoria is developing a plan for releasing juveniles to enhance fisheries in estuarine and marine environments, and South Australia has developed a policy for marine and estuarine stock enhancement. Policies on stock enhancement are being considered for development in New South Wales and Western Australia. These developments in policy and the introduction of fishing license fees in some states have generated renewed interest in initiating release programs in Australia that follow the responsible approach to enhancement.

Sea cucumbers are highly marketable as a food and medicinal product. Many species are being cultured in addition to being fished to meet the high demand for these products. This review explores the potential use of the Northern sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa, as a viable aquaculture species in the North Atlantic. Utilizing the literature available on this species, the marketability, biology, production cost, hatchery potential, grow-out technology, and alternate uses within integrated multi-trophic aquaculture sites were examined. C. frondosa is well suited for culture in that it has an established market, it is abundant, its reproductive biology is well understood, and it has potential as an extractive co-culture species. Its slow growth rate and low value could limit its production.

The United States sea scallop management plan applies fishing mortality in a uniform manner, assigning a single value of instantaneous fishing mortality (F) to the entire resource. Applying a single value of fishing mortality assumes the scallop resource is a single population. Dividing the resource into Georges Bank and Mid-Atlantic Bight reveals that each has been either excessively fished or underutilized based on the present definition of optimum yield. The sea scallop resource was highest in 2003 and has declined by about 50,000 metric tons, entirely from the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Abundance and the corresponding harvest levels will likely continue if the resource is a single population and scallops in the closed areas of Georges Bank populate the entire resource. Abundance and the corresponding harvest levels will likely decline if Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic Bight are separate populations in that scallops within these areas have a closed lifecycle. The depletion of the large number of small scallops in the Mid-Atlantic observed in 2003, and poor recruitment from 2009 to 2011, could lead to a rapid reduction in abundance, seriously impacting the fishery that was valued at US$455 million in 2010.

The present study applies a bibliometric approach to identify recent patterns and trends in the methods, subjects, and authorships in the literature published in fisheries science (2000–2009). The results indicate that the most frequently studied group of species were Salmonidae, although the interest for these species seems to be diminishing. The studies of the marine habitat and inland habitats, respectively, have revealed a marked increase and decrease in frequency. Genetics represents the most rapidly growing area of research. The model development was the most frequently applied method in fisheries science, although such publications have had a generally lower number of citations. The number of experimental studies was markedly low, but they were also the most frequently cited. The United States was the most productive country over the last decade with a gradually increasing output over the time, but it was surpassed by the total European Union output. An apparent difference in the research output has been recorded between the developed and developing countries. The findings of this study, however, indicate a positive tendency in this direction. A growing rate of publications based on international collaboration was recorded, and such publications also demonstrate a higher number of citations than the single-country publications.

Protracted spawning and pulsed juvenile production are common in coastal spawning fishes, the phenology of which determines potential environmental effects on recruitment. This article examines bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), a cosmopolitan coastal spawning species that produces multiple cohorts of juveniles utilizing both estuarine and coastal habitats as nurseries along the U.S. east coast. To determine recruitment on a coastwide basis, ocean (bottom, neuston, and surfzone) and estuarine habitats were sampled in Florida and North Carolina south of Cape Hatteras in the South Atlantic Bight, and Maryland, New Jersey, and New York in the Middle Atlantic Bight. This coordinated sampling effort across multiple habitats with multiple gears on a coastwide basis allowed the resolution of the occurrence, growth, and movement of cohorts along the coast. Production of the spring-spawned cohort occurred in both South Atlantic Bight and Middle Atlantic Bight habitats, while summer-spawned cohort production was limited to the Middle Atlantic Bight. Information from the present study is synthesized with prior research to develop a conceptual model of the seasonal patterns of YOY bluefish habitat use and to emphasize the value of coordinated sampling at a large spatial scale in understanding recruitment processes in this and potentially other important marine species.

In this article, the definition of sustainability is discussed, particularly in relation to the use of marine feed resources. The current review gives an overview of the development of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture and how it has evolved due to changes in legal and management framework conditions. Atlantic salmon production is characterized with high utilization of nutrients, a high yield of production, and a large demand for rendered by-products. All of these factors compare favorably to production of most terrestrial farm animals. Historically, salmon feed has contained fishmeal and fish oil as the primary protein and fat source. Rising demand for feed ingredients has not increased pressure on forage fish resources. Rather, there has been an increased use of plant protein and fat sources. Increased utilization of plant ingredients may not be as sustainable as often claimed. Provided that marine harvest is carried out within legal frames, harvesting the marine ecosystem is a sustainable operation, and at present, the only significant source of long chain n-3 fatty acids. It is concluded that Atlantic salmon farming can be compared to raising a marine “super chicken” being among the most sustainable meat products in the world food market.

Fisheries discards are often seen as a waste of resources and an impediment to the management of fish stocks. However, many traditional fisheries management measures have effectively encouraged discarding. This controversial dichotomy has recently prompted the European Commission to review its approach to managing discards, particularly in the North Sea, where discard rates are among the highest in the world. The European Commission jointly manages North Sea fisheries with Norway; however, in Norwegian waters, discarding is banned. To assess the effectiveness of this Norwegian policy, this study examined its effect on biologically isolated stocks of cod, haddock, saithe, and herring in the Northeast Arctic. Trends in stock status and economic performance showed that the Norwegian approach in the Northeast Arctic has been more successful than the joint approach in the North Sea. After considering the economics and current status of stocks, it is concluded that a discard ban throughout the North Sea for the above species could also offer substantial benefits. Implementation of this policy would be complicated by the more mixed nature (both politically and biologically) of North Sea fisheries, but the use of real-time area closures, gear modifications, and electronic monitoring systems could help ensure compliance and effectiveness.

Sea cucumbers are now a global product known by the Chinese as “beche-de-mer,” “trepang,” or “haisom” and are almost unexploited resources in the Mediterranean region. They are currently harvested in the Mediterranean region and exported from Turkey, and the sea cucumber species is currently the most expensive seafood in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Considered a delicacy in many Asian countries, there is also growing interest in their medicinal and nutraceutical value. Their successful utilization in the Mediterranean Sea will require continued refinement of aquaculture techniques and development of processes for enhancing the scale of production. Even though the majority of Mediterranean species are not considered high-value products, it is clear that the future of sea cucumber farming has interesting lucrative potential in the Mediterranean and that turning sea cucumbers into aquaculture value-added products could have profitable economic benefits in this region.

The Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is one of the tunas with the highest commercial value and it is supporting the capture-based tuna aquaculture industry in the Mediterranean Sea. This is a seasonal activity and it involves the capture of fish from the wild and their rearing in sea cages for periods ranging between 3 months to 2 years. Short-term rearing is done mainly to: (a) achieve a greater body fat percentage and (b) obtain a better price by not flooding the market in the brief fishing period. Due to the increasing fear of a collapse of the fishery, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas currently reduced the total allowable catches for 2010 to 13,500 mtn from 32,000 mtn previously. Therefore, there is great interest in establishing a proper and sustainable tuna aquaculture industry. This necessitates the development of specific technologies for tuna aquaculture that will not rely on captured individuals from the wild, as it is practiced today. This article reviews the methods used for the farming and fattening of the species in the Mediterranean Sea, and the current status of the efforts at controlling reproduction in captivity.