Effects of different management regimes on harvest-induced life history evolution in Northeast Arctic cod

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Field (Reznick et al. 1990) and laboratory (Conover and Munch 2002) experiments, analyses of fisheries data (e.g., Olsen et al. 2004), theory (Law and Grey 1989), and models (Ernande et al. 2004) all corroborate that harvest may induce rapid and substantial life history changes in many exploited fish stocks. Which life history trait will change and to what degree depend on the selectivity of the fishery and the ecology and life history of the species in question, making it hard to reach generalizable conclusions about potentially successful management options (see e.g., Heino 1998). Here, we ask to what degree different management regimes may decrease or reverse the negative effects of harvest-induced life history evolution in the Northeast Arctic cod.