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Fishing

About: Fishing is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26543 publications have been published within this topic receiving 455552 citations. The topic is also known as: angling.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors in this paper show that the combination of very low target population productivity, nonselective fishing gear, economics that favor population liquidation and a very weak regulatory regime makes deep-sea fisheries unsustainable with very few exceptions.

290 citations

01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the effect of taxonomic and geographic over-aggregation of the underlying catch data and found that the fishing down effect is far more pervasive than previously thought and occurs in areas where initial analyses failed to detect it.
Abstract: The widespread call for a transition toward “ecosystem-based” fisheries manage ment implies the development and testing of sustainability indicators suitable for inferences on the status of the ecosystems within which fisheries resource species are embedded The mean trophic level (TL) of fisheries catches has been shown to allow for such inferences, leading in the process to the identification of global trends toward catches being increasingly dominated by low-TL species, a process now known as “fishing down marine food webs” However, for inferences from TL trends to be accurate, taxonomic and especially geographic over-aggregation of the underlying catch data must be avoided Accounting for these strong sources of bias suggests that the fishing down effect is far more pervasive than previously thought, and in fact occurs in areas where initial analyses failed to detect it This confirms the common verdict of absent sustainability for most fisheries of the world This is il lustrated here by five brief case studies, of which three also document a new method for estimating ecosystem transfer efficiency, under a set of specific conditions, from time series of catches and their corresponding mean TL Some suggestions are given on how work in this area might proceed

289 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that low level ‘artisanal’ fishing can dramatically affect populations of slow-growing, late-maturing animals and that even on remote oceanic islands, stocks have been depleted and ecosystems degraded for millennia.
Abstract: In this paper we demonstrate that low level 'artisanal' fishing can dramatically affect populations of slow-growing, late-maturing animals and that even on remote oceanic islands, stocks have been depleted and ecosystems degraded for millennia. Industrialised fisheries have developed during different decades in different regions of the world, and this has almost always been followed by a period of massive stock decline. However, ecosystems were not pristine before the onset of industrial fishing and it is difficult to assess the 'virgin' state of a population given that it may have been subject to moderate or even high levels of fishing mortality for many centuries. A wide range of information is available to help define or deduce historic marine population status. These include 'traditional' written sources but also less conventional sources such as archaeological remains, genetic analyses or simple anecdotal evidence. Detailed information, collected specifically for the purpose of determining fish stock biomass tends to exist only for recent decades, and most fishery assessments around the world (and thus time-series of biomass estimates), are less than 30 years long. Here we advocate using a wider range of multidisciplinary data sources, although we also recognise that it can be difficult to separate natural variability associated with changing climatic conditions from human-induced changes through fishing. We consider whether or not recovery of degraded ecosystems is ever possible and discuss a series of one-way ratchet like processes that can make it extremely difficult to return to a former ecosystem state.

287 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss how fishing and climate forcing interact on individual fish, marine populations, marine communities, and ecosystems to bring these levels into states that are more sensitive to (i.e. more strongly related with) climate forcing.

287 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the yield lost due to overfishing in several ecosystems and contrast the situation of North Atlantic cod where considerable yield is lost, to fisheries in New Zealand and the west coast of the USA where lost yield is very small.
Abstract: Understanding the behaviour of fishermen is a key ingredient to successful fisheries management. The aggregate behaviour of fishing fleets can be predicted and managed with appropriate incentives. To determine appropriate incentives, we should look to successes to learn what works and what does not. In different fisheries incentive systems have been found to reduce the race-for-fish and make fisheries profitable, to stimulate stock rebuilding, to reduce bycatch, and to provide for reductions in illegal fishing. Yet, success can be evaluated in many dimensions, but is, in fact, rarely done ‐ per cent overfished seems to be the dominant measure of performance. I evaluate the yield lost due to overfishing in several ecosystems and contrast the situation of North Atlantic cod where considerable yield is lost, to fisheries in New Zealand and the west coast of the USA where lost yield due to overfishing is very small. Much more systematic evaluation of the other aspects of fisheries performance is greatly needed. From examples explored in this paper I conclude that prevention of overfishing can be achieved with strong central governments enforcing conservative catch regulations, but economic success appears to require an appropriate incentive structure.

286 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20231,709
20223,569
20211,068
20201,247
20191,089
20181,130