Large scale, synchronous variability of marine fish populations driven by commercial exploitation

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Frank, Kenneth T., Petrie, Brian, Leggett, William C., Boyce, Daniel G.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2016
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; atlantic cod; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4961161/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27382163; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1602325113

Large-scale synchronous variation in the abundance of marine fish populations has generally been viewed as a response to coupled atmosphere–ocean forcing. The possibility that commercial exploitation could contribute significantly to these variations has been largely dismissed. We demonstrate, using data from 22 Atlantic cod stocks distributed across the North Atlantic, that fishing pressure can cause synchronous changes in stock abundance at spatial and temporal scales comparable to those attributed to climate forcing. We conclude that an understanding of the underlying causes of the large-scale, often synchronous variability of exploited marine fish populations and their underlying food chains will require greater acceptance of the potential importance of exploitation than has been evident to date.