Marine aquaculture, like the broader seafood industry, relies heavily on international trade and global supply chains for both production and sales. Recent global disruptions, including the COVID‐19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East, and trade tensions, have exposed the social and economic vulnerabilities inherent in a globalized production system. In response, these events have sparke...

Coastal urbanization has significantly degraded coral reef habitats worldwide, often driving shifts from coral to algal dominance. Quantifying fish herbivory, a key ecological process mitigating such transitions, is essential for understanding reef health, functioning, and resilience. This study examined herbivory rates (bites multiplied by fish biomass) across five fish functional groups (detritivores, croppers, browsers, scr...

Introduction Coral bleaching immediately impacts the reef benthos, but effects on fish communities are less well understood because they are often delayed and confounded by anthropogenic interactions. Methods We assessed changes in fish abundance, biomass and community composition before and after the 2015/16 coral bleaching event at Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, where local human impacts are minimal, but reefs suffered 50% bleac...

Fisher-trader relations are influential in many small-scale fisheries worldwide. The ability to influence emergent fishing practices has shifted traders into focus of fisheries policy-making. Formal policies could be more effective if they were complementary to and build on an understanding of the role of traders, their interaction with fishers, and how these contribute to the emergence of compliant or non-compliant fishing pr...

Healthy and protected coral reefs help island systems in the tropics thrive and survive. Reef passages link the open ocean to lagoon and coastal areas in these ecosystems and are home to an exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life, hosting emblematic species and fish spawning aggregations. Their multiple benefits for the islands and their peoples (e.g., for transport, fishing, socio-cultural aspects) remain yet understud...

Knowledge co-production involving researchers and non-academic actors is becoming increasingly important for tackling sustainability issues. Coastal and marine social-ecological systems are one example where knowledge co-production is important, yet also particularly challenging due to their unique characteristics. Early-Career Researchers (ECRs) often face specific obstacles when engaging in the process of knowledge co-produc...

Coral reefs host exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life. Connecting coasts and sheltered lagoons to the open ocean, reef passages are important yet poorly studied components of these ecosystems. Abiotic and biotic elements ‘pass’ through these reef passages, supporting critical ecological processes (e.g. fish spawning). Reef passages provide multiple social and ecological benefits for islands and their peoples, but are...