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An overview of the impacts of fishing on seabirds, including identifying future research directions894.36 kB
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Journal article
An overview of the impacts of fishing on seabirds, including identifying future research directions
ICES Journal of Marine Science, Vol.80(9), pp.2380-2392
2023
Abstract
Knowledge of fisheries impacts, past and present, is essential for understanding the ecology and conservation of seabirds, but in a rapidly changing world, knowledge and research directions require updating. In this Introduction and in the articles in this Themed Set “Impacts of fishing on seabirds”, we update our understanding of how fishing impacts seabird communities and identify areas for future research. Despite awareness of the problems and mitigation efforts for >20 years, fisheries still negatively impact seabirds via the effects of bycatch, competition, and discards. Bycatch continues to kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds annually, with negative population-level consequences. Fisheries for forage fish (e.g. anchovy, sandeel, and krill) negatively impact seabirds by competing for the same stocks. Historically, discards supplemented seabird diets, benefitting some species but also increasing bycatch rates and altering seabird community composition. However, declining discard production has led to potentially deleterious diet switches, but reduced bycatch rates. To improve research into these problems, we make the following recommendations: (1) improve data collection on seabird–vessel interaction and bycatch rates, on fishing effort and vessel movements (especially small-scale fleets), and on mitigation compliance, (2) counter the current bias towards temperate and high-latitude ecosystems, larger-bodied species and particular life stages or times of year (e.g. adults during breeding), and (3) advance our currently poor understanding of combined effects of fisheries and other threats (e.g. climate change, offshore renewables). In addition, research is required on under-studied aspects of fishing impacts: consequences for depleted sub-surface predators, impacts of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, artisanal and emerging fisheries, such as those targeting mesopelagic fish, have received insufficient research attention. Some of these shortfalls can be overcome with new tools (e.g. electronic monitoring, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and big data) but quantifying and addressing fishing impacts on seabirds requires greater research investment at appropriate spatio-temporal scales, and more inclusive dialogue from grassroots to national and international levels to improve governance as fishing industries continue to evolve.
Details
- Title
- An overview of the impacts of fishing on seabirds, including identifying future research directions
- Authors
- Stephen C Votier (Corresponding Author) - Heriot-Watt UniversityK L Scales (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringR B Sherley (Author) - University of ExeterK Camphuysen (Author) - Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea ResearchR A Phillips (Author) - British Antarctic Survey
- Publication details
- ICES Journal of Marine Science, Vol.80(9), pp.2380-2392
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1093/icesjms/fsad173
- ISSN
- 1095-9289; 1054-3139
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Data Availability
- No data relate to this submission.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99982898202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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