Fishing pressure risks erasing largest marine animals
Humans risk causing a mass extinction of large sea creatures on a scale never before seen because of overfishing, scientists warned this week. If the biggest fish vanish, their loss will have serious consequences for other ocean ecosystems, said the study in the journal Science. “We’ve found that extinction threat in the modern oceans is very strongly associated with larger body size,” said study author Jonathan...
Cod And Climate
In recent decades, the plight of Atlantic cod off the coast of New England has been front-page news. Since the 1980s in particular, the once-seemingly inexhaustible stocks of Gadus morhua — one of the most important fisheries in North America — have declined dramatically. In 2008, a formal assessment forecasted that stocks would rebound, but by 2012, they were once again on the verge of collapse. Two years later, the National Oceanic...
El Niño Played Key Role In Pacific Marine Heatwave, As Did Potentially Climate Change
The Northeast Pacific’s largest marine heatwave on record was at least in part caused by El Niño climate patterns. And unusually warm water events in that ocean could potentially become more frequent with rising levels of greenhouse gases. That’s the findings of a new study by researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They linked the 2014-2015 marine heatwave – often...
Global turmoil, drought and fish deaths slow Vietnam economy
Vietnam’s economy slowed in the first half of 2016, official figures showed on Wednesday (Jun 29), with a severe regional drought and a spate of fish deaths adding to losses caused by turmoil in global markets. GDP growth dropped to 5.52 per cent in the first six months compared to 6.32 per cent in the same period last year. The country grew at its fastest pace for five years in 2015 thanks to strong exports and a flurry of...
Fishing Prohibitions Produce More Sharks Along With Problems For Fishing Communities
Scientists working for Murdoch University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, and other groups have good news about fishing closures established in Indonesia’s shark sanctuary: It’s good for sharks and other fish, all of which are more abundant within zones with fishing restrictions. The bad news: People who rely on shark fishing for their livelihoods have few other options but to fish in unprotected areas when...
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