ABSTRACT
Although it remains at the heart of fisheries management policies, the concept of maximum sustained yield (MSY) has been heavily criticized by scientists for its failure to sustain global fish stocks (Larkin, 1997; Pauly, 1994). The most well-known example of commercial extinction is Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua); but this is by no means the only population to have come under threat. Scientists estimate that the number of large ocean predators has declined by as much as 90 per cent (Myers and Worm, 2003), with slow-growing, long-lived species, such as orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) and west coast rockfish (Sebastes), which inhabit the deep ocean, being especially hard hit (Berkeley et al, 2004).
