Cascading ecological effects of eliminating fishery discards

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2014 papers

Abstract

Discarding by fisheries is perceived as contrary to responsible harvesting. Legislation seeking to end the practice is being introduced in many jurisdictions. However, discarded fish are food for a range of scavenging species; so, ending discarding may have ecological consequences. Here we investigate the sensitivity of ecological effects to discarding policies using an ecosystem model of the North Sea--a region where 30-40% of trawled fish catch is currently discarded. We show that landing the entire catch while fishing as usual has conservation penalties for seabirds, marine mammals and seabed fauna, and no benefit to fish stocks. However, combining landing obligations with changes in fishing practices to limit the capture of unwanted fish results in trophic cascades that can benefit birds, mammals and most fish stocks. Our results highlight the importance of considering the broader ecosystem consequences of fishery management policy, since species interactions may dissipate or negate intended benefits.

Related Papers

• → Fishery discards and bycatch: solutions for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management?(2011)206 cited
• → Human influences on coastal ecosystems: does overfishing create trophic cascades?(1998)150 cited
• → Architecture of collapse: regime shift and recovery in an hierarchically structured marine ecosystem(2016)38 cited
• → Fishery management strategies for Red Snapper in the southeastern U.S. Atlantic: A spatial population model to compare approaches(2024)19 cited
• → Overfishing Affects More than Fish Populations: Trophic Cascades and Regime Shifts in the Black Sea(2008)8 cited