Potential yield and food provisioning gains from rebuilding the world’s coral reef fish stocks

Coral reef fisheries are a critical food source for people throughout the tropics. However, most reefs around the globe have fish biomass values below those enabling maximal sustainable production, risking food availability, income, and livelihoods. Rebuilding fish assemblages can increase sustainable food supplies and, if these are well distributed, directly contribute toward enhanced food security. We show that recovering fish stocks on coral reefs can significantly increase the number of sustainable fish servings produced per year and the number of people meeting fish intake recommendations, particularly for countries with high malnutrition. Our study highlights the sustainable food provisioning potential of recovering reef fisheries and quantifies how much recovery would be needed and the time such recovery would take.