Developing Fishery Protection

Allen, Edward W.

doi:10.1017/s0002930000120597

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In Australia, aboriginal people also harvested dugongs extensively long before European colonization (3), yet the numbers reported by early colonists were vast. Three-or four-mile-long herds comprising tens of thousands of large individuals were observed in Wide Bay in about 1870 (69) and in Moreton Bay as recently as 1893 (70). Widespread colonial exploitation of dugongs for their flesh and oil along the southern Queensland coast resulted in the crash of the dugong fishery by the beginning of the 20th century (3) ( Table 1).…”

Section: Tropical and Subtropical Seagrass Bedsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems

Jackson

Kirby

Berger

et al. 2001

Science

5,406

3,744

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ecological extinction caused by overfishing precedes all other pervasive human disturbance to coastal ecosystems, including pollution, degradation of water quality, and anthropogenic climate change. Historical abundances of large consumer species were fantastically large in comparison with recent observations. Paleoecological, archaeological, and historical data show that time lags of decades to centuries occurred between the onset of overfishing and consequent changes in ecological communities, because unfished species of similar trophic level assumed the ecological roles of overfished species until they too were overfished or died of epidemic diseases related to overcrowding. Retrospective data not only help to clarify underlying causes and rates of ecological change, but they also demonstrate achievable goals for restoration and management of coastal ecosystems that could not even be contemplated based on the limited perspective of recent observations alone.Few modern ecological studies take into account the former natural abundances of large marine vertebrates. There are dozens of places in the Caribbean named after large sea turtles whose adult populations now number in the tens of thousands rather than the tens of millions of a few centuries ago (1, 2).

show abstract

Section: Tropical and Subtropical Seagrass Bedsmentioning

confidence: 99%