Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel
The worldwide depletion of major fish stocks through intensive industrial fishing is thought to have profoundly altered the trophic structure of marine ecosystems. Here we assess changes in the trophic structure of the English Channel marine ecosystem using a 90-year time-series (1920–2010) of comme...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Public Library of Science
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68196 |
| _version_ | 1855522663383957504 |
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| author | Molfese C Beare, Douglas J. Hall-Spencer, Jason M. |
| author_browse | Beare, Douglas J. Hall-Spencer, Jason M. Molfese C |
| author_facet | Molfese C Beare, Douglas J. Hall-Spencer, Jason M. |
| author_sort | Molfese C |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The worldwide depletion of major fish stocks through intensive industrial fishing is thought to have profoundly altered the trophic structure of marine ecosystems. Here we assess changes in the trophic structure of the English Channel marine ecosystem using a 90-year time-series (1920–2010) of commercial fishery landings. Our analysis was based on estimates of the mean trophic level (mTL) of annual landings and the Fishing-in-Balance index (FiB). Food webs of the Channel ecosystem have been altered, as shown by a significant decline in the mTL of fishery landings whilst increases in the FiB index suggest increased fishing effort and fishery expansion. Large, high trophic level species (e.g. spurdog, cod, ling) have been increasingly replaced by smaller, low trophic level fish (e.g. small spotted catsharks) and invertebrates (e.g. scallops, crabs and lobster). Declining trophic levels in fisheries catches have occurred worldwide, with fish catches progressively being replaced by invertebrates. We argue that a network of fisheries closures would help rebalance the trophic status of the Channel and allow regeneration of marine ecosystems. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace68196 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| publisherStr | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace681962024-05-01T08:16:47Z Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel Molfese C Beare, Douglas J. Hall-Spencer, Jason M. climate change agriculture food security fish marne ecology fisheries freshwater fisheries The worldwide depletion of major fish stocks through intensive industrial fishing is thought to have profoundly altered the trophic structure of marine ecosystems. Here we assess changes in the trophic structure of the English Channel marine ecosystem using a 90-year time-series (1920–2010) of commercial fishery landings. Our analysis was based on estimates of the mean trophic level (mTL) of annual landings and the Fishing-in-Balance index (FiB). Food webs of the Channel ecosystem have been altered, as shown by a significant decline in the mTL of fishery landings whilst increases in the FiB index suggest increased fishing effort and fishery expansion. Large, high trophic level species (e.g. spurdog, cod, ling) have been increasingly replaced by smaller, low trophic level fish (e.g. small spotted catsharks) and invertebrates (e.g. scallops, crabs and lobster). Declining trophic levels in fisheries catches have occurred worldwide, with fish catches progressively being replaced by invertebrates. We argue that a network of fisheries closures would help rebalance the trophic status of the Channel and allow regeneration of marine ecosystems. 2014 2015-09-16T17:00:39Z 2015-09-16T17:00:39Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68196 en Open Access Public Library of Science Molfese C, Beare DJ, Hall-Spencer JM. 2014. Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel. PLoS ONE 9(7):e101506. |
| spellingShingle | climate change agriculture food security fish marne ecology fisheries freshwater fisheries Molfese C Beare, Douglas J. Hall-Spencer, Jason M. Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel |
| title | Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel |
| title_full | Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel |
| title_fullStr | Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel |
| title_short | Overfishing and the Replacement of Demersal Finfish by Shellfish: An Example from the English Channel |
| title_sort | overfishing and the replacement of demersal finfish by shellfish an example from the english channel |
| topic | climate change agriculture food security fish marne ecology fisheries freshwater fisheries |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68196 |
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