Collapse and recovery of marine fishes

Authors
Citation
Ja. Hutchings, Collapse and recovery of marine fishes, NATURE, 406(6798), 2000, pp. 882-885
Citations number
24
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary,Multidisciplinary,Multidisciplinary
Journal title
NATURE
ISSN journal
0028-0836 → ACNP
Volume
406
Issue
6798
Year of publication
2000
Pages
882 - 885
Database
ISI
SICI code
0028-0836(20000824)406:6798<882:CAROMF>2.0.ZU;2-C
Abstract
Over-exploitation and subsequent collapse of marine fishes has focused atte ntion on the ability of affected populations to recover to former abundance levels(1-3) and on the degree to which their persistence is threatened by extinction(4,5). Although potential for recovery has been assessed indirect ly(1), actual changes in population size following long-term declines have not been examined empirically. Here I show that there is very little eviden ce for rapid recovery from prolonged declines, in contrast to the perceptio n that marine fishes are highly resilient to large population reductions(6, 7). With the possible exception of herring and related species that mature early in life and are fished with highly selective equipment, my analysis o f 90 stocks reveals that many gadids (for example, cod, haddock) and other non-clupeids (for example, flatfishes) have experienced little, if any, rec overy as much as 15 years after 45-99% reductions in reproductive biomass. Although the effects of overfishing on single species may generally be reve rsible(1), the actual time required for recovery appears to be considerable . To exempt marine fishes from existing criteria used to assign extinction risk(6,7) would be inconsistent with precautionary approaches to fisheries management and the conservation of marine biodiversity.