Marine top predators - most notably seabirds and seals - have long been proposed as sentinels of changes in ocean ecosystems. However, despite their potential to provide timely, cost-effective indicators of processes relevant to fishes and fisheries, there are few examples of predator-derived metrics informing operational fisheries management. We reviewed studies in which marine predator biology or behaviour was quantitatively linked to the availability, productivity or dynamics of a commercially exploited fishery species. Across 43 studies, we identified 79 predator–fishery sentinel relationships, most of which were from temperate North America. Seabirds, particularly gulls, terns and auks, accounted for 80% of sentinel species, and studies most often related predator diet or reproductive metrics (74%) to the availability of coastal pelagic fisheries (59%). While these studies provide strong evidence that marine predators can function as effective fisheries sentinels, few progressed beyond ecological validation to operational management applications. To better understand this implementation gap, we examined three promising seabird–fishery systems and sought perspectives from ecologists and fisheries scientists working within each. These perspectives identified four recurring priorities for integrating predator indicators into fisheries monitoring, assessment and management pipelines: (1) validating sentinel relationships and their uncertainty across broader temporal and environmental contexts; (2) improving the timely exchange of information among ecologists, stock assessors and fisheries managers; (3) increasing confidence in predator-derived indicators collected outside traditional fisheries assessment programs; and (4) building institutional, political and community support for ecosystem-based fisheries management. Together, our review provides a roadmap for moving marine predator sentinels from ecological inference toward operational decision-support tools for ecosystem-based, climate-ready fisheries management.