Major rethink is neededMarch 2012: A major rethinking of fisheries management could increase food security and minimize the negative impacts of fishing on the environment according to the IUCN.
The new approach, put forward by a group of fisheries and conservation scientists of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM), introduces a fundamental change to the way fisheries have been managed so far.
‘For centuries, it has been believed that selective fishing that avoids young, rare and charismatic species and focuses on older and larger individuals, is key to increased harvest and reduced impacts on the environment,' says Francois Simard, IUCN's Senior Adviser for Fisheries. ‘But old individuals largely contribute to reproduction and removing them distorts the environment's structure and functioning. It can also have serious ecological and evolutionary side effects.'
On the Eastern Scotian Shelf for example, the use of conventional, selective fishing practices has altered the food chain structure of the environment and in the North Sea it has led to a shift from large to smaller species.
‘For centuries, it has been believed that selective fishing that avoids young, rare and charismatic species and focuses on older and larger individuals, is key to increased harvest and reduced impacts on the environment,' says Francois Simard, IUCN's Senior Adviser for Fisheries. ‘But old individuals largely contribute to reproduction and removing them distorts the environment's structure and functioning. It can also have serious ecological and evolutionary side effects.'
On the Eastern Scotian Shelf for example, the use of conventional, selective fishing practices has altered the food chain structure of the environment and in the North Sea it has led to a shift from large to smaller species.
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