What type of selection favors earlier maturity at a smaller size due to heavy fishing?
Answer
Harvest-induced evolution
When fishing pressure becomes a dominant force in a fishery, it imposes a specific selective regime often termed 'harvest-induced evolution.' If fishing activities consistently target and remove the largest and oldest individuals from the population, the selective pressure shifts toward traits that maximize reproductive output under those specific conditions. This often results in favoring individuals that mature earlier, even if they attain a smaller body size than their pre-fished counterparts. While this process modifies the current selective landscape dramatically, it represents a direct response to human demographic pressures affecting the age and size structure of the spawning stock.
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