Understanding fitness effects of harvesting and protection of coastal marine resources

Selection imposed by intense harvesting of marine species may lead to evolutionary changes in life histories and behavioural traits on a contemporary time scale. However, our understanding of how harvesting may warp the selective landscape is still limite d, partly due to the difficulty of tracking the fate of individuals, and their genes, in the open sea. Here, I argue that empirical field studies on coastal populations may hold great potential for assessing harvest-related selective processes. First, rea lism will be maintained by studying wild animals in their natural habitat. Second, control will be improved due to semi-sheltered study areas containing local populations of harvested species. Last, but not least, a field-experimental approach will be pur sued thanks to the existence of replicated non-harvested coastal marine reserves and associated control areas. I propose a comparative study on two harvested species: the Atlantic cod and the European lobster. The main goal is to quantify fitness effects of selective harvesting and protection from harvesting within coastal marine reserves. The proposed work will benefit from existing data sets on marine reserves. In addition, I aim to set up empirical field studies linking life history data, molecular gen etic data and behavioural data in order to broadly assess fitness of marine species in their natural environment. Rather than simply quantifying the direct link between phenotypic traits, such as body size, and the probability of capture by fishing gear, i.e. selection by fishing, the goal is to also explore unanticipated responses to selection by fishing, i.e. effects on reproductive success and personality traits such as activity level and home range. I argue that the proposed work has the potential to significantly advance our current status of knowledge and for opening new horizons and opportunities for eco-evolutionary research on harvested species.