Guest guest Posted May 27, 2003 Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 ***************************Advertisement*************************** TechCentral http://star-techcentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from thestar.com.my URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/5/27/features/fishgone & sec=\ features ________________________ Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Decline of the big fish By ANDREW REVKIN Large-scale fishing has depleted the oceans of predators, writes ANDREW REVKIN. IN JUST 50 years, the global spread of industrial-scale commercial fishing has cut by 90% the oceans & #8217; population of large predatory fishes, from majestic giants like blue marlin to staples like cod, a new study has found. Oceanographers not connected with the study said it provides the best evidence yet that recent fish harvests have been sustained at high levels only because fleets have sought and heavily exploited ever more distant fish populations. Other studies had shown such trends for individual species and some coastal fisheries, but experts said this was the first systematic study to measure the impact throughout the oceans. The study appeared on May 15 in the journal Nature and is online at www.nature. com. The authors, from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said they hoped the findings would spur countries to honour a declaration most signed last September at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, which called for restoring fish stocks by 2015. US fisheries officials and representatives of the fishing industry said that declines in fish stocks were inevitable but that progress was being made in stemming damage to the most depleted stocks. The study, drawing on decades of data from fishing fleets and research boats, paints a 50-year portrait of fish populations under siege as technological advances like sonar and satellite positioning systems allowed fleets to home in on pockets of abundance. Even as sought-after species like tuna and swordfish declined, many other less popular fishes also dropped enormously in numbers as they were caught unintentionally on miles-long lines of baited hooks or in bottom-scouring trawls. “With all this technology together, the fish hardly have a chance,” said the lead author, Ransom Myers, who spent 10 years combing archives of information from Japanese long-line fleets, research trawling expeditions and other sources. But representatives of the seafood industry called the study unnecessarily alarmist. Glenn Delaney, a consultant to US fishing companies and a government-appointed member of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, said some fleets had overfished in the past and some continued to do so, particularly rogue vessels connected mainly to Taiwanese companies. But he said that major ocean fisheries were being managed better now. The study was financed mainly by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a foundation that has long promoted efforts to alert the public to problems with the oceans. It was extensively reviewed by experts from industry and other institutions before appearing in Nature, the authors said. The study & #8217;s authors and other experts said recent improvements in stocks of some species, like swordfish, were creditable but reflected only a tiny increase in populations that remained the dimmest shadow of what they were two generations ago. This level of depletion not only threatens the livelihood of fishers and an important source of protein, but could also unbalance marine ecosystems, experts and the study & #8217;s authors said. In some places, the study found that when top predators were removed, competing species thrived and filled the gap in the food web. When cod declined in the Grand Banks east of Canada in the 1950s, flatfish numbers soared, and when populations of blue marlin plunged in the tropical Atlantic as they were caught on tuna hooks, sailfish and then swordfish abounded. But in each case, the statistics showed, the replacement species were quickly decimated by overfishing or by accidental catches on gear aimed at valuable species. That left the oceans largely bereft of big predators as a whole. One of the biggest concerns is the potential impact on global ecosystems, said Boris Worm, the second author of the study. He is affiliated with Dalhousie and the University of Kiel, in Germany. “You can & #8217;t cut off the head of an ecosystem and expect it to behave the same way,” he said. “From all we & #8217;ve studied in parts of the ocean, you can end up with things being less stable, less predictable, and maybe less hospitable.” He said that for most fish species, recovery was possible, even from such low numbers. “On land, we did it with buffalo,” he said. “They went from 30 million to a thousand, a factor of 3,000, not a factor of 10, and we saved them because we wanted to. With fish, we haven & #8217;t thought the same way yet.” & #8211; IHT <p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2002 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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