Comment on "Slow adaptation in the face of rapid warming leads to collapse of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery".
Pershing et al (Reports, 13 November, p. 809) concluded that failure to account for temperature in the assessment and management of Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod caused overfishing. We argue that the "extra mortality" calculation driving this conclusion is an artifact. Environmental factors affect all stocks, but attribution of additional mortality to temperature alone by Pershing et al is unsupported by the data.
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Population Dynamics Branch, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. michael.palmer@noaa.gov.
Michael C
MC
Palmer
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Population Dynamics Branch, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
Jonathan J
JJ
Deroba
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Population Dynamics Branch, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
Christopher M
CM
Legault
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Population Dynamics Branch, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
Elizabeth N
EN
Brooks
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D005398:Fisheries; D048389:Gadus morhua / Q000502:physiology*; D057232:Global Warming