Autopsy your dead ... and living: a proposal for fisheries science, fisheries management and fisheries

Concerns abound about the state of the world's fisheries, and by association fisheries science and fisheries management. An important question is the cause of the problems with fisheries, which are managed based on advice given by practioners of the discipline of fisheries science. These scientists provide advice in two distinct forms, one 'policy supporting' and the other 'policy forming'. Policy supporting advice is given within an existing management setting and is typically provided only after rigorous and standardized evaluation. In contrast, there is no formal basis for evaluating policy-forming advice. Criteria for evaluating the adequacy of policy forming advice are difficult to define, and the absence of such criteria poses difficulties for both fisheries scientists and managers. Following a medical practice analogy, we propose rigorously conducting 'autopsies' of fisheries as an approach for evaluating policy-forming advice. A systematic approach to conducting such autopsies is suggested, with the recognition that this may be crucial for the further development of fisheries science as a scientific discipline rather than as an art form.