“You don’t realize how interdependent species are until it all unravels”
Florida State University researchers have spearheaded a major review of fisheries data that examines the domino effect that occurs when too many fish are harvested from one habitat.
The loss of a major species from an ecosystem can have unintended consequences because of the connections between that species and others in the system. Moreover, these changes often occur rapidly and unexpectedly, and are difficult to reverse.
“You don’t realize how interdependent species are until it all unravels,” said Felicia Coleman, director of the
Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory and a co-author on the study.
Coleman and her co-authors, led by FSU biological science Professor Joseph Travis, examined case studies of several distressed ecosystems that had been thoroughly changed over the years because of overfishing.
For example, in the Northern Benguela ecosystem off Namibia, stocks of sardine and anchovy collapsed in the 1970s from overfishing and were replaced by bearded goby and jellyfish. But the bearded goby and jellyfish are far less energy-rich than a sardine or anchovy, which meant that their populations were not an adequate food source for other sea animals in the region such as penguins, gannets and hake, which had fed on the sardines and anchovies. African penguins and Cape gannets have declined by 77 percent and 94 percent respectively. Cape hake and deep-water hake production plummeted from 725,000 metric tons in 1972, to 110,000 metric tons in 1990. And the population of Cape fur seals has fluctuated dramatically.
“When you put all these examples together, you realize there really is something important going on in the world’s ecosystems,” Travis said. “It’s easy to write off one case study. But, when you string them all together as this paper does, I think you come away with a compelling case that tipping points are real, we’ve crossed them in many ecosystems, and we’ll cross more of them unless we can get this problem under control.”
The full study appears in the Dec. 23 issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ”
Travis, Coleman and their colleagues are hoping that their research will accelerate changes in how fisheries scientists approach these ecosystem problems and how fisheries managers integrate system issues into their efforts. They hope that more effort will be devoted to understanding the key linkages among species that set up tipping points in ecosystems and that managers look for data that can show when a system might be approaching its tipping point.
“It’s a lot easier to back up to avoid a tipping point before you get to it than it is to find a way to return once you’ve crossed it,” Travis said.
Fishing experts do generally understand how overfishing affects other species and the ecosystem as a whole, but it “needs to be a bigger part of the conversation and turned into action,” Coleman said.
The Latest on: Overfishing
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Overfishing” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Overfishing
- Missing Since 1800s, Ocean Predator Appears In Fishers' Net In Chileon April 27, 2024 at 8:15 pm
Researchers were thrilled to confirm they had stumbled upon two Squatina armata, also known as Angelote in Spanish and Chilean angel shark in English.
- California Newson April 27, 2024 at 3:19 am
SAN JOSE — A plan by federal agencies to rebuild the sardine population in the Pacific was not properly implemented and failed to prevent overfishing, a judge in California ruled this week. Monday’s ...
- Sea creature spotted ‘surfing the waves’ in ‘special’ encounter off Iceland, photo showson April 26, 2024 at 2:05 pm
Conservationists got a “special” treat when they spotted a familiar sea creature near the coast of Iceland. While navigating in the bay of Breidafjördur, located on the west coast of the island nation ...
- Packard Foundation Pledges $480 Million to Ocean Conservation Over the Next Five Yearson April 26, 2024 at 12:43 pm
The initiative will address three key threats to the ocean: climate change, unsustainable fishing, and habitat loss ...
- Judge rules federal plan to restore sardine population was insufficienton April 26, 2024 at 11:00 am
A California judge ruled that a federal plan to rebuild the sardine population in the Pacific was insufficient and failed to prevent overfishing.
- Get A Massage On A Sandbank Or Ride A Submarine In The Maldiveson April 26, 2024 at 8:27 am
The Maldives hotel is one of the first in the region to offer this romantic sandbank rendezvous, perfect for couples whose proposal, anniversary or other special occasion calls for the ultimate ...
- Overfishing and Pollution: Threats to Gambia’s Blue Economyon April 26, 2024 at 3:28 am
Drought has had a severe impact on the olive harvest in Tunisia, resulting in exploding olive oil prices. Farmers are finding ways to adapt to extreme weather, such as switching to new irrigation ...
- Will new fishing measures help rebuild Atlantic cod stock? Here's your chance for inputon April 26, 2024 at 2:37 am
Atlantic cod stocks in our region have declined dramatically, according to NOAA Fisheries. They have been and continue to be overfished.
- Judge rules feds didn't properly implement plan to restore Pacific sardine populationon April 25, 2024 at 3:30 pm
Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi ruled Monday that a federal plan to rebuild the Pacific's sardine population was not properly implemented.
- How A.I. Is Revolutionizing Marine Conservationon April 25, 2024 at 5:00 am
Dyhia Belhabib’s journey to becoming a marine scientist began with war funerals on TV. Her hometown, on the pine-forested slopes of the Atlas Mountains in northern Algeria, lies only 60 miles from the ...
via Bing News