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Design and Use of an Apparatus for Quantifying Bivalve Suspension Feeding at Sea
Published on: September 5, 2018
Ecosystem overfishing in the ocean.
Marta Coll1, Simone Libralato, Sergi Tudela
1Institut de Ciènces del Mar, ICM-CSIC, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain. martacoll@dal.ca
Plos One
|December 11, 2008
Summary
Global fisheries catches export vital energy, increasing ecosystem overfishing risk. Unsustainable fishing practices expanded worldwide from the 1950s to 2000s, with current catches double sustainable levels.
Area of Science:
- Marine Ecology
- Fisheries Science
- Ecosystem Dynamics
Background:
- Fisheries catches remove biomass and energy, impacting higher trophic levels.
- This depletion of secondary production is a key indicator of ecosystem overfishing.
- Understanding these impacts is crucial for sustainable fisheries management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the global historical and current risk of ecosystem overfishing.
- To quantify the depletion of secondary production using fisheries and ecological data.
- To identify trends and geographic expansion of unsustainable fishing.
Main Methods:
- Quantified secondary production depletion using global catch and primary production data.
- Analyzed historical trends from the 1950s to the 2000s.
- Assessed the geographic scope of ecosystem overfishing.
Main Results:
- An increasing trend in unsustainable fisheries was observed from the 1950s to the 2000s.
- Fishing unsustainability has expanded globally.
- Current per capita catches from Large Marine Ecosystems are double the moderate sustainable level.
Conclusions:
- Fishing has become increasingly unsustainable at the ecosystem level globally.
- The findings provide a timeline and geographic map of ecosystem overfishing.
- Urgent measures are needed to reduce fishing pressure to sustainable levels.
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