Neglected fishery data sources as indicators of pre‐industrial ecological properties of Mediterranean swordfish ( Xiphias gladius , Xiphiidae)

Management of fish populations and ecosystems suffers from data and knowledge gaps, particularly with respect to how humans and nature affect dynamics at multi-decadal and longer time scales. However, collection of new data which indicates population or ecosystem status is slow and expensive. Here we analyse c. 110 years of neglected fishery data for an overexploited top predator, swordfish, in the Mediterranean Sea. These data are available at scales of high time–space–biological resolution (i.e., sub-weekly, sub-regional sea; individual weights) and allow different ecological questions to be addressed than is possible with coarsely scaled data (e.g., annually resolved total catches aggreg…