Open research questions in Marine and fisheries research

What the literature leaves open

• The estimation of structural carbon mass is not straightforward, as no study has measured the mass of carbon within the prosome of a Calanus sp. emptied of its lipid sac. The study needs to limit the number of degrees of freedom in the calibration process to ensure robust results.

  Integrating modeling and in situ imagery at the individual level to reveal the phenotypic plasticity of Arctic copepod communities · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of fine-scale estimates of prey distributions that are both spatially and temporally resolved. The existing data are limited, especially for sandeel due to sampling challenges.

  Seabird Prey in Space and Time: Combining Multiple Datasets to Model the Distribution of Sandeel ( Ammodytes marinus ) and Sprat ( Sprattus sprattus ) in the North Sea · 2026 · DOI

• The study does not explicitly state specific technical or domain challenges, but it mentions the complexity of the Sanquianga Tapaje estuarine system and the need for baseline data to inform conservation and management efforts.

  Ichthyoplankton Composition and Environmental Drivers in the Sanquianga Tapaje Estuarine System, Eastern Tropical Pacific · 2025 · DOI

• The study does not explicitly state a research gap, but it aims to investigate ichthyoplankton composition and abundance in the Sanquianga Tapaje estuarine system. The research provides new insights into the environmental drivers of ichthyoplankton distribution.

  Ichthyoplankton Composition and Environmental Drivers in the Sanquianga Tapaje Estuarine System, Eastern Tropical Pacific · 2025 · DOI

• The study faces challenges in terms of limited prior research on zooplankton in Bahía de Los Ángeles. The paper mentions the difficulty in capturing benthic elements in the net due to the shallow depth of the bay. The study also notes the need for more comprehensive studies on zooplankton in the area.

  Zooplankton of Bahía de Los Ángeles (Gulf of California) in the Context of Other Coastal Regions of the Northeast Pacific · 2025 · DOI

• Further surveys are needed to confirm the distribution of T. maxima in the eastern IO, - Studies on the genetic structure of T. maxima populations across its vast range are necessary, - Investigation of the ecological and evolutionary implications of the genetic differences between T.

  Tridacna maxima ‘Rediscovered’ in the Eastern Indian Ocean · 2025 · DOI

• There is a lack of understanding of the geographic distribution of Tridacna maxima and T. noae in the eastern Indian Ocean. The difficulties in reliably identifying these species using morphological characters have hindered previous studies.

  Tridacna maxima ‘Rediscovered’ in the Eastern Indian Ocean · 2025 · DOI

• The lack of simple and effective methods for prioritizing management efforts for invasive alien species. The limited resources available for managing invasive species. The need for a technically simple model that can be used by local administrative bodies to plan and implement invasive species management interventions.

  An Easy-to-Implement Decision Support Tool for the Prioritization of Management Actions: The Case Study of Procambarus clarkii in Sicily (Italy) · 2025 · DOI

• The lack of reliable and harmonized fisheries data; Inconsistent data collection frameworks; Limited analytical capacity and fragmented systems.

  A shared vision: regional data harmonization for resilient small-scale fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean · 2026 · DOI

• The relationship between seamount characteristics and purse seine catch diversity is not well understood. Prior work has recognized seamounts as critical ecological hotspots, but the specific relationships between seamount characteristics and catch diversity are not well studied.

  Effects of seamount characteristics on the catch diversity in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean purse seine fisheries · 2026 · DOI

• How the combined effects of environmental gradients and species traits influence the distribution of species with distinct biogeographic affinities remains poorly understood.

  Temperature, Sea Ice, Depth, and Traits Drive Fish Distributions in the Barents Sea · 2026 · DOI

• In contrast to early deterministic models, integrated statistical models were developed in the 1980s for fisheries in the Pacific and southern hemisphere, many of which had insufficient data to support VPA approaches.

  Divergent and convergent histories of fishery stock assessment methods in the ICES community and beyond · 2026 · DOI

• Representation of current MPA networks is insufficient for fish biodiversity conservation, especially for FD and PD.

  Current marine protected areas mismatched hotspots of fish taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in the coastal China Seas · 2026 · DOI

• Many regions rely on patrol-based enforcement to promote compliance, yet the effectiveness of such strategies in deterring IUU activity remains underexplored.

  Assessment of enforcement strategy highlights opportunities for more effective deterrence in a large-scale no-take MPA · 2026 · DOI

• We also highlight the krill species, regions, and habitats that are understudied.

  Ecological roles, climate-driven responses, and critical knowledge gaps of krill in the global ocean · 2026 · DOI

• Despite rising fishing effort, little is known about swordfish behavioural and physiological responses to capture, limiting species-specific post-release mortality mitigation strategies.

  Thermocline-associated habitat use and fight dynamics of swordfish during recreational angling events · 2026 · DOI

• This challenge is exemplified in western Alaska Chinook salmon, where recent population declines have led to closures of in-river subsistence fisheries, but identifying the cause of these declines is limited by an inability to identify the river of origin for marine-caught fish in offshore fisheries that target more abundant species and populations.

  Machine learning applied to otolith microchemical data to discriminate stock of origin in salmon · 2026 · DOI

• Ecosystem-level consequences of the increased density and altered distributions of floating objects due to the proliferation of fish aggregating devices remain unclear.

  Effects of fishing and whaling on the structure and dynamics of blue-water ecosystems · 2026 · DOI

• In the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), significant variations in upwelling dynamics have been observed in the last decades, but their impact on small pelagic fish biomass remains unclear.

  Unraveling fishing and upwelling impacts on Sardinella aurita and Sardina pilchardus in the Canary Current Upwelling · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the understanding of the population structure of Pomatomus saltatrix. The research aims to fill this gap by assessing the morphological variability of Pomatomus saltatrix sagittal otoliths.

  Insights into Population Structure and Spatial Connectivity of the Bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix (Teleostei: Pomatomidae) Along the Southeastern–Southern Coast of Brazil Using Fourier- and Wavelet-Based Otolith Contour Descriptors · 2026 · DOI

• Technical and methodological inconsistencies, - Data access and trust issues, - Resource and capacity deficits, - Institutional and policy barriers, - Lack of incentives for data…

  A shared vision: regional data harmonization for resilient small-scale fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean · 2026 · DOI

• The number of degrees of freedom was limited in the calibration process, - Q 10 parameters were not included as soft parameters due to being well documented in the literature, - The dataset would not robustly distinguish temperature response from other biological processes, - The estimation of structural carbon mass is not…

  Integrating modeling and in situ imagery at the individual level to reveal the phenotypic plasticity of Arctic copepod communities · 2026 · DOI

• Cloud cover limited the estimation of shrimp pond areas in certain years, - Temporary water bodies may affect the confidence intervals of the estimated shrimp pond areas, - Missing data due to cloud cover in specific…

  Remote Sensing-Based Assessment of the Long-Term Expansion of Shrimp Ponds Along the Coastal and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California · 2025 · DOI

• Further study on the impacts of shrimp farm expansion on coastal ecosystems, - Investigation of the effects of water exchange on coastal ecosystems, - Analysis of the relationship between shrimp farm expansion and environmental…

  Remote Sensing-Based Assessment of the Long-Term Expansion of Shrimp Ponds Along the Coastal and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California · 2025 · DOI

• Finally, we propose strategies to improve our understanding of this ecologically important taxonomic group, including the sustained funding for time series; implementation of novel research technologies; expanding research on understudied species and regions; and creating a global community of krill researchers.

  Ecological roles, climate-driven responses, and critical knowledge gaps of krill in the global ocean · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Marine and fisheries research

• Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems · Science · 2001 · 4,908 citations
• Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services · Science · 2006 · 3,471 citations
• Fishing Down Marine Food Webs · Science · 1998 · 3,410 citations
• Climate Change and Distribution Shifts in Marine Fishes · Science · 2005 · 2,586 citations
• Predation, Body Size, and Composition of Plankton · Science · 1965 · 2,389 citations
• The Identification, Conservation, and Management of Estuarine and Marine Nurseries for Fish and Invertebrates · BioScience · 2001 · 2,063 citations
• The Ocean's Food Web, A Changing Paradigm · BioScience · 1974 · 897 citations
• Effective fisheries management instrumental in improving fish stock status · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 772 citations
• Dramatic Declines in North Atlantic Diadromous Fishes · BioScience · 2009 · 613 citations
• Marine Fish Population Collapses: Consequences for Recovery and Extinction Risk · BioScience · 2004 · 534 citations

Most recent work

• A guide to the otoliths of Southern Ocean fishes · Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources · 2026
• Widespread Phenological Shifts With Temperature in Alaska's Marine Fishes · Global Change Biology · 2026
• Biodiversity changes in Arctic coastal ecosystems under borealization · PNAS Nexus · 2026
• Identification and performance of environmentally driven recruitment relationships in state space assessment models · Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences · 2026
• A Conceptual Framework and Methods for Studying the Connectivity of Fishes · Fish and Fisheries · 2026
• An Epigenetic Clock for Accurate Age Prediction in Atlantic Cod Populations for Improved Fisheries Management · Molecular Ecology Resources · 2026
• Integrating eDNA and acoustic-trawl data to provide small pelagic biomass estimates for fish stock assessment · ICES Journal of Marine Science · 2026
• Advancing provenance assignment using machine learning and time series analysis of chemical chronologies in archival tissues · Ecological Informatics · 2026
• AI-driven knowledge synthesis for food web parameterisation · Environmental Modelling & Software · 2026
• Generalized Additive Modeling of Ecological Data With mgcv: New Adequacy Assessment Tools · Ecology and Evolution · 2026

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