Maintaining ecological stability for sustainable economic yields of multispecies fisheries in complex food webs

Abstract Fish stocks are increasingly overexploited due to the growing global demand for seafood. As these species are embedded in complex food webs, traditional single-species management plans should be replaced by models that integrate multi-species fisheries with economic market feedbacks into complex food webs to promote sustainable resource use. Here, we develop such a dynamic model involving three open-access fisheries in a complex food web. Systematically comparing six fishing scenarios, we find that targeting low or high trophic levels risks reducing basal biomass or triggering trophic cascades that undermine first ecological stability (food web biomass and persistence) and then sustainability of economic returns (total sustainable catch and revenue). High sustainable economic returns combined with low negative ecological impacts occur when similar mid-trophic level species are caught in multispecies fisheries. We conclude that complex systems analysis can help design ecosystem-based management strategies to achieve a sustainable food supply for the world.