Commerical Fishing: The Wider Ecological Impacts

Commercial Fishing: the Wider Ecological Impacts

Fishing provides food, income and employment for millions of people. However, fishing has environmental costs that threaten rare species, marine ecosystems and the sustainability of the resource.
Based on the research expertise of leading scientists, Commercial Fishing: the Wider Ecological Impacts provides a lively, timely and accessible account of fishing activities and their impacts on marine habitats, biodiversity and species of conservation concern. It covers fishing methods that range from trawling in the Antarctic to fishing with dynamite in the tropics.
The authors show how habitats such as the muddy sea beds of the deep sea, kelp forests and coral reefs are affected by fishing and how birds, mammals, turtles and sea snakes both suffer and benefit from fishing activities. They also look to the future, highlighting ways to make fishing gear 'environmentally friendly' and asking whether marine reserves will improve conservation.

Contents

Key Points.
1. Introduction.
2. Fishing Gears And Their Operation; Gear Selectivity; Pelagic Drifting Gears; Bottom Set Gears; Pelagic Mobile Gears; Bottom Mobile Gears; SCUBA Diving, Explosives, Poisons.
3. Effects Of Litter From Fishing Gear Ghost Fishing; Ingestion Of Fragments By Marine Mammals,Turtles And Seabirds.
4. Vulnerability Of Different Marine Habitats; Mud; Sand; Gravel And Mixed Grounds; Maerl; Coral, Coralligene And Rocky Reef Habitats; Seagrass Meadows; Kelp Forests; Sea Mounts; Relative Vunerability.
5. Effects On Non-Target Organisms; Sea Birds; Sea Mammals; Sea Turtles; Sea Snakes; Benthic Scavengers.
6. Community And Ecosystem Responses; Community Diversity; Habitat Structure; Benthopelagic Coupling; Species Interactions; Assessing Fisheries Effects.
7. Conservation Aspects And The Way Forward; Marine Reserves; Practical Conservation Measures.
8. Further Reading.
9. Glossary.
10. Acronyms.
11. Addresses Of Contributors