Management implications of fishing up,down, or through the marine food web |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Marine Geology Dv., Geological Survey of Spain, IGME, Ríos Rosas 23, 28003 Madrid, Spain;2. Institut de Ciéncies del Mar, CMIMA-CSIC, Passeig Maritim Barceloneta 37–39, 08003 Barcelona, Spain;3. Estación de Bioloxía Mariña da Graña, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Rúa da Ribeira 1–4 (A Graña), 15590 Ferrol, Spain;4. Unidad de Tecnologia Marina, UTM-CSIC, Avda. Beiramar 29, 36202 Vigo, Spain;5. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad de Vigo, 36200 Vigo, Spain;1. Marine Studies Section, Center for Environment and Waters, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia;2. Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, Po Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates;3. Environmental Protection Department, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia |
| |
| Abstract: | Since it was first documented in 1998, a trend of decreasing mean trophic level (MTL) has been reported in several ecosystems around the world. Some scientists have proposed that MTL may be used as an indicator of biodiversity and fishery sustainability. The use of this measure has been supported by several international bodies, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, European Union, and Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem and Adjacent Project. Recently, the use of MTL as an ecosystem health indicator has been called into question by the publication of studies examining the underlying cause of decreasing MTL. Evidence now shows that there are three primary mechanisms that could be driving the observed change: fishing down, fishing through, and increase to overfishing. Each of these scenarios corresponds to a specific sequence of fishery evolution over time. Additionally, the underlying ecology associated with these scenarios suggests that very different governance responses should be employed for each method. Rather than relying only on MTL trends for broad-based management decisions, MTL must be carefully examined in conjunction with historic catch data to determine the mechanism of change. Only then should this indicator be used to make management decisions, and such decisions should only be applied at the regional or ecosystem level. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
