Very Important Study to Be Published in Science Tomorrow

Photo: Boris Worm (Credit: Danny Abriel, Dalhousie University)

Thu Jul 30 12:40:45 2009 Pacific Time

Scientists Document Prospects for Recovery of Fisheries, Call for More Global Action

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists have joined forces in a groundbreaking assessment on the status of marine fisheries and ecosystems. The two-year study, based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and led by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University and Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington, included an international team of 19 co-authors. It shows that steps taken to curb overfishing are beginning to succeed in five of the 10 large marine ecosystems that they examined. The paper, which appears in the July 31 issue of the journal Science, provides new hope for rebuilding troubled fisheries.

The study had two goals: to examine current trends in fish abundance and exploitation rates (the proportion of fish taken out of the sea) and to identify which tools managers have applied in their efforts to rebuild depleted fish stocks. The work is a significant leap forward because it reveals that the rate of fishing has been reduced in several regions around the world, resulting in some stock recovery. Moreover, it bolsters the case that sound management can contribute to the rebuilding of fisheries elsewhere.

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