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Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems
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Recent scientific literature has raised many concerns about whether fisheries have caused more extensive changes to marine populations and ecosystems than previously realized or predicted. Due to its extractive nature, fishing reduces stocks of harvested species. However, in many cases, stocks have been exploited far beyond management targets, ultimately reducing the potential productivity of the fishery. In addition, new analyses indicate that the abundance and composition of non-targeted organisms in marine ecosystems are radically changing as a result of fishing pressure expressed through food-web interactions. Several scientific papers suggest that populations of high-trophic-level fishes have been severely depleted and that fishing has fundamentally altered the struc- ture of marine ecosystems in many locations. But the conclusions drawn in these scientific papers often have been controversial. Subsequent articles have disputed the findings of these papers, and others have disputed the implications (or the broad application) of the conclusions presented, while still others continue to provide additional analyses. Arguments on all sides acknowledge the paucity of fishery-independent data as a major roadblock to properly analyzing the current state of fisheries and ecosystems. Instead, the analyses rely on the more readily available landing and catch statistics. These fishery-dependent data are subject to various interpretations because fisheries landings change in response to many factors other than the abundance of the fished stocks (e.g., markets, management regulations, fishing methods, technology, and climate).
0-309-65475-0
NONE
Management
English
2006
1-169
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