Sustainable fishing

isheries are at a critical crossroads, as recently underlined during the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in Nice (France).As vital sources of food, livelihoods, and cultural heritage for communities around the world, fisheries are threatened by overexploitation, habitat degradation, marine pollution, and climate change.The transition toward sustainability requires a multidimensional transformation in both science and practice.Unsustainable fishing practices continue to undermine the health of aquatic ecosystems, with consequences that ripple far beyond individual stocks or national waters.Here, we reflect on several key themes emerging from contemporary fisheries research, while also extending the discussion to critical dimensions of sustainable fisheries that remain insufficiently addressed.We emphasize that the challenges facing fisheries cannot be resolved by ecological science alone; they require interdisciplinary collaboration and inclusive, context-specific solutions.Advancing sustainable fisheries is not merely a scientific challenge; it is a global imperative.It requires integrated approaches that combine inter-and transdisciplinary understanding, with robust decisions making frameworks based on long-term sustainability and equitable access to resources, technological innovation, and social engagement.This Collection seeks to showcase a wide range of innovative research that informs and supports the complex transformation of fisheries science and management.From gear modifications that reduce bycatch and improve species selectivity [1][2][3][4] , to studies on predator biomass and ecosystem resilience in community-managed marine areas 5 , each contribution offers tangible insights into improving the sustainability of fishing activities.Technological tools, such as automatic fish behavior recognition, assessments of postescape fish vitality, or the evaluation of biodegradable materials for gear fabrication, reflect the growing role of innovation in shaping more responsible fisheries.Equally important are studies that address deep uncertainty and long-term risks 6 , such as those evaluating management strategies under unpredictable conditions or projecting shifts in species distribution due to climate change 7 .These works are crucial in informing adaptive and precautionary policies, thereby safeguarding food security and local economies, particularly in vulnerable regions.The inclusion of research from the Global South, spanning regions such as Northwest Africa, the Philippines, and Baja California, underlined the essential role of locally informed science in addressing global fisheries challenges.Fisheries sustain hundreds of millions of people globally.Yet they are increasingly compromised by demanddriven pressure, which, in turn, is affected by marketing strategies, technological intensification, and weak governance structures.These pressures are compounded by ecosystem shifts resulting from overexploitation 7 , warming oceans 8 , and pollution 9 , among other stressors.The sustainability of fisheries is no longer merely a question of biological yield or stock dynamics; it is a governance, equity, and climate resilience issue.This Collection demonstrates how interdisciplinary research is contributing to this shift, i.e., addressing the issue of fishing gear selectivity and its implications for biodiversity and sustainability.Hook size regulation, sorting grids, biodegradable gillnets, and sustainable bait development are all shown to influence catch composition, bycatch, and post-capture fish vitality 1-4 .These findings align with broader insights from Mediterranean trawl fisheries, where discard dynamics are shaped by ecological context and fishing depth 10 .Importantly, such gear-based solutions are rarely sufficient on their own.They must be embedded in adaptive, ecosystem-aware strategies that consider both biological and socio-economic realities 11 without forgetting that the objective of any fishery should be to maintain sustainable catches in the long term without negatively affecting either fisheries profitability 12 , biodiversity conservation 13 , and resiliency capability 14 .Adaptive habitat enhancement techniques have also shown promise in inland systems.For instance, floating artificial fish nests deployed in reservoirs exhibit varied reproductive performance depending on river reach and shoreline topography, suggesting the value of sitespecific deployment models to support inland fisheries restoration 15 .The power of community-led initiatives is evident in the documented benefits of locally managed marine reserves 16 , which maintain higher predator biomass and foster kelp forest resilience in Baja California 5 .These findings reinforce the growing recognition that sustainable outcomes are often best achieved when local knowledge 17 , customary practices, and cooperative governance 18 are integrated with formal management structures.Such approaches can enhance compliance, foster stewardship, and produce outcomes that are both ecologically sound and socially equitable.Few challenges rival the complexity introduced by climate change vs overfishing.One study examines the shifting distribution of