PONE-D-22-02234

The portfolio effect in a small-scale fishery reduces catch and fishing income variability in a highly dynamic ecosystem

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Vargas,

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The manuscript deals with a very interesting and timing issue, and I tend to agree with the comments/suggestions made by reviewer #1. The methodology used in the analysis is robust and sound and the metric used in relation to the paper by Gross K., et al. 2014 is a good choice. I suggest that in your revision you pay also attention to the use of English and improve the text in order to communicate more clearly your message.

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Reviewers' comments:

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Dear authors,

This is a really interesting and relevant manuscript that address and important question: how do secure access to resources and stable incomes in a dynamic environment and an open access regime. I found the manuscript really interesting, but would also encourage you to work further on communicating your message. The introduction is somewhat confusing and can be clarified, complicated words could be more clearly explained, the links between biodiversity, ecosystem function and resilience can be better referenced, and the text could benefit from a professional language editor (and English is not my first language). Some references to the figures were missing, the reference list is incomplete, and I was not able to follow all aspects of the modeling. If you are able to address these issues, this will be a really important and nice paper. Please find my detailed comments below:

1. Introduction:

a) "specially if their capacity to smooth consumption through access to credit..." this is not very clear and can probably be reworded.

b) When you speak about artisanal fisheries, you repeat what you have said in the previous section. Perhaps delete the first sentence of the second paragraph, and instead refer to "Strategies to recuse income risks among artisanal fisheries include....."

c) do you really need the word "asynchronously" here and in the rest of the ms? Isn't it enough with just "fluctuate"?

d) please explain more clearly the links between ecosystem diversity and function. This is a long-standing debate with lots of opinions. You can elaborate and provide further references. This is a favorite from my perspective, but it is very old and probably lots of better and newer things out there (Elmqvist et al. 2003): https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/1540-9295(2003)001[0488:RDECAR]2.0.CO;2 and hopefully relevant to your study.

e) on line 44-45 you refer to survival. Is that correct?

f) the fishers in the study: do you have any data that illustrates your points of how diversity stabilize income, and that they do not have access to credit, etc (last section of introduction)?

Materials and methods

a) please check that all figures are referred to properly. All references to figures are "Fig ??" in the pdf I have access to (maybe this is just a formatting issue).

b) line 114 "this effect" - please clarify what this refers to - it is unclear.

c) Line 17, refers to "methods" but this is consuming since it is already part or the methods section. Consider revising to "Analytical method" or similar.

d) Line 124 "the the" - delete one "the"

I had a hard time understanding the SUR model (and they results from it), but maybe that is just because it is outside of my area of expertise.

Discussion

a) maybe explain the mean-variance trade off for the uninformed reader?

b) please consider if you want to include this discussion about functional diversity etc., and if so, include more references.

References:

Some references have full first names (e.g., 1, 30, 31, 32) but most don't. Please check the formatting. Reference 28 is missing a year, and 29 is missing a capital letter for the first name "Andersson S." Check all formatting and consistency with PLOS one requirements.

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Reviewer #1: No

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The portfolio effect in a small-scale fishery reduces catch and fishing income variability in a highly dynamic ecosystem

PONE-D-22-02234R1

Dear Dr. Vargas,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Andrea Belgrano, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Thank you for addressing all the comments/suggestions made during the review process, the revised manuscript reads very well and with clarity.