Reply to Szuwalski and Hilborn: Forage fish require an ecosystem approach

In response to our recent paper (1), Szuwalski and Hilborn (2) make several points about the timing of recruitment failures, the effect of fishing on productivity, and our choice of using biomass, not recruitment, as the indicator for collapses. We address these points here to show that not only do they not affect our conclusions, but that we are largely in agreement regarding the biological processes and the implications for fisheries and conservation. Szuwalski and Hilborn (2) show the timing of recruitment failures that have led to many of the forage …