Australia's large fish species declined 30% in past decade, study says

Call for fisheries changes after study says excessive fishing mostly to blame

Lisa Cox

Tue 5 Jun 2018 08.26 BSTLast modified on Tue 5 Jun 2018 08.27 BST

The number of large fish species in Australian waters has declined by 30% in the past decade, mostly due to excessive fishing, a new study says.

Marine ecology experts are calling for changes to fisheries management after publication of the study by scientists from the University of Tasmania and the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney.

The decade-long study used data from diving surveys by three different bodies – the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the University of Tasmania and Reef Life Survey, a supervised citizen science group – to compare trends in fish populations in unprotected marine areas, protected areas that allow for some fishing, and protected areas that prohibit fishing.

Data was collected repeatedly from 533 sites around Australia from 2005 to 2015 for large fish species – those bigger than 20cm in length, such as snapper, bream and parrotfish.

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Rate of species decline 'no longer within safe limit' for humans, experts warn

'Until and unless we can bring biodiversity back up, we’re playing ecological roulette'

Ian Johnston Environment Correspondent 

Thursday 14 July 2016

Animal and plant species are declining so quickly that world biodiversity loss is no longer within a “safe limit” and could start to threaten much of the planet’s ability to support humans, according to a major new study.

Experts analysed nearly 2.4 million records about more than 39,000 species at 18,600 different places around the world.

They discovered that for 58.1 per cent of the world’s land surface the loss of biodiversity was serious enough to call into question its ability to sustain the 5.3 billion people who live there.

The research, published in the prestigious journal Science, comes as scientists are considering redefining the current geological epoch as the Anthropocene – because of humanity’s dramatic effects on the Earth, including what many fear will be the planet’s sixth mass extinction of life.

One of the researchers, Dr Tim Newbold, of University College London, said: “This is the first time we’ve quantified the effect of habitat loss on biodiversity globally in such detail and we’ve found that across most of the world biodiversity loss is no longer within the safe limit suggested by ecologists.

“We know biodiversity loss affects ecosystem function, but how it does this is not entirely clear. What we do know is that in many parts of the world, we are approaching a situation where human intervention might be needed to sustain ecosystem function.”

The “safe limit” was set at a 10 per cent reduction in species’ abundance, compared to the original number before humans took over the land. However, this definition is controversial as some researchers believe a reduction of 70 per cent would still be safe.

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Sixty per cent of UK species in decline, groundbreaking study finds

25 organisations worked together on The State of Nature

May 2013. UK nature is in trouble - that is the conclusion of a ground-breaking report published by a coalition of leading conservation and research organisations.

60% of species have declined

Scientists working side-by-side from 25 wildlife organisations have compiled a stock take of our native species - the first of its kind in the UK. The report reveals that 60% of the species studied have declined over recent decades. More than one in ten of all the species assessed are under threat of disappearing from our shores altogether.

Sir David Attenborough

The State of Nature report was launched by Sir David Attenborough and UK conservation charities at the Natural History Museum in London. Sir David Attenborough said: "This ground-breaking report is a stark warning - but it is also a sign of hope. For 60 years I have travelled the world exploring the wonders of nature and sharing that wonder with the public. But as a boy my first inspiration came from discovering the UK's own wildlife.

"Our islands have a rich diversity of habitats which support some truly amazing plants and animals. We should all be proud of the beauty we find on our own doorstep; from bluebells carpeting woodland floors and delicately patterned fritillary butterflies, to the graceful basking shark and the majestic golden eagle soaring over the Scottish mountains.

Continued