Abstract:
Predation is a pervasive but ephemeral feature of marine fisheries. Losses to predation
can exceed losses to fisheries, yet is is often assumed fishing mortality alone is
responsible for variation in fish survival. While it may be sufficient to forget predation
in short-term prediction and management, this will not further longer-term prediction
and management. The predation experienced by a population is influenced by
environmental and biological factors that vary spatially, seasonally, annually, and with
the abundance of itself, other prey species, and the predator species. Predation can
directly regulate prey numbers and indirectly regulate their survival via habitat availability, individual growth, and trophic structure