Effects of Fishing on Non-Target Species and Habitats: Biological, Conservation and Socio-economic Issues

Effects of Fishing on Non-Target Species and Habitats: Biological, Conservation and Socio-economic Issues
Michael J. Kaiser (Editor), Sebastiaan J. DeGroot (Editor)
Hardcover
416 pages
December 1999
Fishing is a major form of ecological disturbance to marine communities throughout the world. In the past, fisheries biologists have concentrated on the studying of the direct effects of fishing on stocks of target species and understanding the processes of recruitment. There is now a growing appreciation of the ecological implications of the wider effects of fishing activities on marine organisms and their habitats. Contributions include articles that consider the physical effects of fishing gears on the seabed; distribution of, and trends in fishing effort; ecological effects on benthic fauna; long-term community changes; the effects of food subsidies in the marine environment; interactions between fisheries and marine mammals; technical measures to reduce impacts of fisheries; conservation issues and priorities; socio-economic implications of wider fisheries impacts.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Acknowledgements.

Contributors..

PART 1: Distribution of Fishing Effort and Physical Interaction with the Seabed.

1. Spatial and temporal patterns in North Sea fishing effort (S. Jennings, K.J. Warr, S.P.R. Greenstreet and A.J. R. Cotter).

2. Physical impact of beam trawls on seabed sediments (R. Fonteyne).

3. Is bottom traw3ling partly responsible for the regression of Posidonia oceanica meadows in the Mediterranean Sea (G.D. Ardizzone, P. Tucci, A. Somaschini and A. Belluscio).

PART 2: Effects of Fishing on Benthic Fauna and Habitats.

4. Fishing mortality of populations of megafauna in sandy sediments (M.J.N. Bergman and J.W. van Santbrink).

5. Effects of otter trawling on the benthos and environment in muddy sediments (B.Ball, B. Munday and I. Tuck).

6. The effects of scallop dredging on gravelly seabed communities (C. Bradsaw, L.O. Veale, A.S. Hill and A.R. Brand).

7. Impact of scallop dredging on maerl grounds (J.M. Hall-Spencer and P.G. Moore).

PART 3: Fishing As A Source of Energy Subsidies.

8. The behavioural response of benthic scavengers to otter-trawling disturbance in the Mediterranean (M. Demestre, P. Sanchez and M.J. Kaiser).

9. Food subsidies generated by the beam-trawl fisher in the southern North Sea (M. Fonds and S. Groenewold).

10. Impact of trawling on populations of the invertebrate scavenger Asterias rubens (K. Ramsay, M.J. Kaiser, A.D. Rijnsdorp, J.A. Craeymeersch and J. Ellis).

11. Seabirds and commercial fisheries: population trends of piscivorous seabirds explained (C.J. Camphysen and S. Garthe).

PART 4: Long-Term Changes Associated with Fishing.

12. Distribution of macrofauna in relation to the micro-distribution of trawling effort (J.A. Craeymeersch, G.J. Piet, A.D. Rijnsdorp and J. Buijs).

13. Long-term changes in North Sea Benthos: Discerning the role of fisheries (C.L. J. Frid and R.A. Clark).

14. Effects of fishing on non-target fish species (S.P.R. Greenstreet and S.I. Rogers).

15. Impacts of fishing on diversity: from pattern to process (S. Jennings and J.D. Reynolds).

PART 5: Conservation Methods, Issues and Implications for Biodiversity.

16. Technical modifications to reduce the by-catches and impacts of bottom-fishing gears (B.van Marlen).

17. Fishing and cetacean by-catches (N.J.C. Tregenza).

18. Effects of fishing on non-targeted species and habitats: identifying key nature conservation issues (M.L. Tasker, P.A. Knapman and D. Laffoley).

19. The need for closed areas as conservation tools (H.J. Lindeboom).

20. No-take zones: a management context (J.W. Horwood).

PART 6: Socio-Economic Implications and Mechanisms for Reducing the Impacts of Fisheries.

21. Economic incentives to discard by-catch in unregulated and individual transferable quotas fisheries (S. Pascoe).

22. Options for the reduction of by-catches of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the North Sea (J.M. McGlade and K.I. Metuzals).

23. Economic and sociocultural priorities for marine conservation (P.J. S. Jones).

24. Integrated management: the implications of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (D. Dymes).

PART 7: Workshop Conclusions.

25. The implications of the effects of fishing on non-targeted species and habitats (M.J. Kaiser).

Glossary.

Index.