Impact of Fishing on the Abundance of Marine Species

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.The Census of Marine Life program aims to document the existence, distribution and abundance of marine organisms using all suitable data sources. In this study we analysed time series of catch data published by ICES and FAO in respect to trends in the resilience of species towards fishing. For this purpose we classified the fishing status of over 900 exploited species into undeveloped, developing, fully exploited, overfished, and collapsed or closed, where the sequence of the last three stages usually corresponds to a decline in species abundance. In world fisheries the percentage of species being overfished within 10 years after start of full exploitation increased from 26% in the 1950ies to 35% in the 1980ies. In 1999 the status of 50% of the exploited species was overfished, collapsed or closed. The number of species with low or very low resilience to fishing has been increasing from 80 (26%) in 1950 to 155 (32%) in 1999. Of 24 species reaching full exploitation in 1998 or 1999 for the first time, 8 had low and 8 had very low resilience to fishing. Of 25 species that had sustained 30 or more years of full exploitation before 1989, 11 species reached overfished or collapsed status thereafter. An analysis of length-frequency studies of commercial landings showed that in most cases mean length was below length at first maturity. In the ICES area 46% of the species were overfished within 10 years after start of full exploitation and in 1999 the status of 60% of the species were overfished, collapsed or closed. We suggest an alternative management regime that would allow fish to spawn at least once before being caught. A census of marine life conducted in an exploited area will still largely be able to detect the evolutionary species composition, but will not be able to determine the evolutionary relative abundance of species and their respective roles in the ecosystem.