Hindcasting to forecast. An archaeobiological approach to the European hake (Merluccius merluccius, Linnaeus 1758) fishery: Iberia and beyond

This article attempts to set out a research agenda on the origin and evolution of hake exploitation in the Northeast Atlantic through a combination of zooarchaeological data with history and fisheries biology. An overview of archaeological hake remains from the Iberian Peninsula is presented and discussed in terms of a series of long-established paradigms. These are later expanded through an overview of issues currently facing the hake fishery, in particular its southern stock. The work concludes by specifying some research problems these issues imply and how historical and biomolecular analyses of archaeological specimens may improve our understanding of hake fisheries in former times in an attempt to implement a hindcasting to forecast strategy that could synergize with current fisheries research on the species.