Why the size structure of marine communities can require decades to recover from fishing

A dynamic food-web model of more than 1000 species was used to quantify the recovery trajectory of marine community size-structure under different hypothetical fishing regimes, using the Northeast Atlantic as an example. Size-structure was summarised by four indicators: the Large Fish Indicator (LFI...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Ecology Progress Series
Main Authors: Fung, Tak, Farnsworth, Keith, Shephard, Samuel, Reid, David, Rossberg, Axel G
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1104
Aquatic Science
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2303
Ecology
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105
Evolution
Behavior and Systematics
/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Northeast Atlantic
Online Access:https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/38838284-1d56-4324-b740-8616b19d6114
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10305
Description
Summary:A dynamic food-web model of more than 1000 species was used to quantify the recovery trajectory of marine community size-structure under different hypothetical fishing regimes, using the Northeast Atlantic as an example. Size-structure was summarised by four indicators: the Large Fish Indicator (LFI), the Large Species Indicator (LSI), the biomass-weighted mean maximum length of fish species (EMBED Equation.3) and the biomass-weighted mean maturation length of fish species (EMBED Equation.3). Time-series of these indicators recorded recovery following release from fishing with various size-selectivities, intensities and durations. In model simulations, fishing-induced trophic cascades were observed to distort fish community size-structure, but these did not have a large influence on recovery level or duration as measured by the four indicators. However, simulations showed that local extinctions of large fish species increased in number with both fishing intensity and duration, and could strongly limit the recovery level. Recovery of fish community size-structure to near equilibrium frequently took multiple decades in simulations; these long transient periods suggest that management interventions for size-structure recovery may require much longer than previously thought. Our results demonstrate the need for community-level modelling to set realistic targets for management of community size-structure.

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