The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries

Ruth H Thurstan; Simon Brockington; Callum M Roberts

doi:10.1038/ncomms1013

The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries

Ruth H Thurstan, Simon Brockington, Callum M Roberts

Environment and Geography

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In 2009, the European Commission estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished, on the basis of data that go back 20 to 40 years and depending on the species investigated. However, commercial sea fishing goes back centuries, calling into question the validity of management conclusions drawn from recent data. We compiled statistics of annual demersal fish landings from bottom trawl catches landing in England and Wales dating back to 1889, using previously neglected UK Government data. We then corrected the figures for increases in fishing power over time and a recent shift in the proportion of fish landed abroad to estimate the change in landings per unit of fishing power (LPUP), a measure of the commercial productivity of fisheries. LPUP reduced by 94%-17-fold--over the past 118 years. This implies an extraordinary decline in the availability of bottom-living fish and a profound reorganization of seabed ecosystems since the nineteenth century industrialization of fishing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	15
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	1
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1013
Publication status	Published - 2010

Keywords

Animals
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Fisheries
Great Britain
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century

Access to Document

10.1038/ncomms1013

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1/n2/full/ncomms1013.html

Cite this

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title = "The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries",

abstract = "In 2009, the European Commission estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished, on the basis of data that go back 20 to 40 years and depending on the species investigated. However, commercial sea fishing goes back centuries, calling into question the validity of management conclusions drawn from recent data. We compiled statistics of annual demersal fish landings from bottom trawl catches landing in England and Wales dating back to 1889, using previously neglected UK Government data. We then corrected the figures for increases in fishing power over time and a recent shift in the proportion of fish landed abroad to estimate the change in landings per unit of fishing power (LPUP), a measure of the commercial productivity of fisheries. LPUP reduced by 94%-17-fold--over the past 118 years. This implies an extraordinary decline in the availability of bottom-living fish and a profound reorganization of seabed ecosystems since the nineteenth century industrialization of fishing.",

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T1 - The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries

AU - Thurstan, Ruth H

AU - Brockington, Simon

AU - Roberts, Callum M

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AB - In 2009, the European Commission estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished, on the basis of data that go back 20 to 40 years and depending on the species investigated. However, commercial sea fishing goes back centuries, calling into question the validity of management conclusions drawn from recent data. We compiled statistics of annual demersal fish landings from bottom trawl catches landing in England and Wales dating back to 1889, using previously neglected UK Government data. We then corrected the figures for increases in fishing power over time and a recent shift in the proportion of fish landed abroad to estimate the change in landings per unit of fishing power (LPUP), a measure of the commercial productivity of fisheries. LPUP reduced by 94%-17-fold--over the past 118 years. This implies an extraordinary decline in the availability of bottom-living fish and a profound reorganization of seabed ecosystems since the nineteenth century industrialization of fishing.

KW - Animals

KW - Conservation of Natural Resources

KW - Ecosystem

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KW - Great Britain

KW - History, 20th Century

KW - History, 21st Century

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