Report of the Study Group on Fisheries Induced Adaptive Change (SGFIAC)

During its 2008 meeting, the Study Group on Fisheries Induced Adaptive Change (SGFIAC) reviewed the scientific evidence for fisheries‐induced evolution (FIE) and proposed evolutionary impact assessment (EvoIA) as a tool for quantifying the evolutionary effects of management measures on the utility components defined by managers. Based on the 2007 Study Group report, the Policy Forum article “Managing Evolving Fish Stocks” was published by the journal Science in November 2007 (Vol. 318: 1247‐1248). The Study Group’s 2008 meeting focused on (i) updates on new developments in FIE research, (ii) computational tools for dealing with FIE, (iii) effects of FIE on reference points for fisheries management, and (iv) evolutionary impact assessment. The Study Group agreed to collectively prepare two manuscripts for publication on topics (iii) and (iv) before its next meeting.