Sustainably managing marine species is crucial for the future health of the human population. Yet there are diverse perspectives concerning which species can be exploited sustainably, and how best to do so. Motivated by recent debates in the published literature over marine conservation challenges, we review ten principles connecting life-history traits, population growth rate, and density-dependent population regulation. We introduce a framework for categorizing life histories, POSE (Precocial–Opportunistic–Survivor–Episodic), which illustrates how a species’ life-history traits determine a population's compensatory capacity. We show why considering the evolutionary context that has shaped life histories is crucial to sustainable management. We then review recent work that connects our framework to specific opportunities where the life-history traits of marine species can be used to improve current conservation practices.