Overexploitation, Recovery, and Warming of the Barents Sea Ecosystem During 1950–2013

The Barents Sea (BS) is a high-latitude shelf ecosystem with important fisheries, high and historically variable harvesting pressure, ongoing variability in climatic conditions. To quantify carbon flow pathways assess if changes intensity climate have affected the BS ecosystem, we modeled for period 1950–2013 using highly trophically resolved mass-balanced food web model (Ecopath Ecosim). Ecosim models were fitted to time series of biomasses catches, forced by environmental variables fisheries mortality. effects on dynamics drivers fishing mortality, primary production proxies related open-water area capelin-larvae mortality proxy, evaluated. During 1970–1990, was phase overexploitation low top-predators’ some trophic cascade increases prey stocks. Despite heavy exploitation groups, basic structure seems been preserved. After 1990, when pressure relaxed, most exploited boreal groups recovered increased biomass, well-captured model. These biomass likely driven an increase resulting from warming decrease ice-coverage. warm that started about 1995, unexploited Arctic decreased whereas krill jellyfish increased. Only latter trend successfully predicted pathway identified as especially it supplied both medium level compartments, this became even more after ca. 2000. modeling results revealed complex interplay between fishery lower differs arctic functional has importance management.