Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2025
13:18
Data Collection on Marine Litter Ingestion in Sea Turtles and Thresholds for Good Environmental Status
Published on: May 18, 2019
12.0K
Historical marine footprint for Atlantic Europe, 1500-2019
Poul Holm1, Patrick Hayes2, John Nicholls3
1Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities, A6.002, Trinity College Dublin, 2 College Green, Dublin 2, D02 PN40, Ireland.
Ambio
|January 28, 2024
Summary
Europe consumed over 2500 million tonnes of ocean biomass in 500 years, with seafood consumption tripling in the 20th century. Historical data reveals significant marine exploitation long before modern fisheries statistics.
Area of Science:
- Marine Biology
- Historical Ecology
- Fisheries Science
Background:
- Europe's historical ocean biomass consumption is quantified over 500 years.
- Human seafood consumption per capita remained stable from 1500-1899, then tripled in the 20th century.
- Cod and herring were primary seafood sources for the last 300 years.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reconstruct and analyze Europe's historical ocean biomass consumption.
- To understand long-term trends in seafood consumption and marine resource use.
- To assess the historical marine footprint of Atlantic Europe.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of detailed historical consumption data from 1500 to the present.
- Quantification of ocean biomass consumed by Europe (excluding Russia).
- Examination of trends in seafood consumption, including fishmeal for animal feed.
Main Results:
- Over 2500 million tonnes of ocean biomass were consumed by Europe in 500 years.
- Seafood consumption tripled in the 20th century, reaching 7 million tonnes annually by the late 1930s.
- Atlantic European consumption peaked at over 12 million tonnes annually in the 1970s, followed by a decline.
Conclusions:
- Europe's marine footprint was substantial long before modern fisheries data.
- Historical consumption patterns highlight the long-term impact of human activity on marine ecosystems.
- Findings can inform future ocean health assessments and the societal importance of marine life.
Related Concept Videos
01:50Global Climate Change
24.4K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
24.4K
02:35What is Evolutionary History?
36.5K
Scientists record evolutionary history by analyzing fossil, morphological, and genetic data. The fossil record documents the history of life on Earth and provides evidence for evolution. However, both fossil and living organisms offer evidence that outlines Earth’s evolutionary history.
36.5K
02:56The Fossil Record
25.2K
The fossil record documents only a small fraction of all organisms that have ever inhabited Earth. Fossilization is a rare process, and most organisms never become fossils. Moreover, the fossil record only exhibits fossils that have been discovered. Nevertheless, sedimentary rock fossils of long-lived, abundant, hard-bodied organisms dominate the fossil record. These fossils offer valuable information, such as an organism's physical form, behavior, and age. Studying the fossil record helps...
25.2K
02:22The Colonization of Land
34.3K
Changes in the environment of the early Earth drove the evolution of organisms. As prokaryotic organisms in the oceans began to photosynthesize, they produced oxygen. Eventually, oxygen saturated the oceans and entered the air, resulting in an increase in atmospheric oxygen concentration, known as the oxygen revolution approximately 2.3 billion years ago. Therefore, organisms that could use oxygen for cellular respiration had an advantage. More than 1.5 years ago, eukaryotic cells and...
34.3K
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
22.3K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
22.3K