The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) agreed to close certain high-seas areas in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean to purse seine tuna fishing starting in 2010. These measures have potential economic benefits to the countries surrounding the closed areas and may also have potential stock conservation benefits for tunas. We used a spatially explicit ecosystem model of ...

1. Industrial longline fishing has been suspected to impact upon black-footed albatross populations Phoebastria nigripes by increasing mortality, but no precise estimates of bycatch mortality are available to ascertain this statement. We present a general framework for quantifying the relationship between albatross population and longline fishing in absence of reliable estimates of bycatch rate...

There have been recent changes in the Caspian Sea ecosystem, such as those due to changes in sea level or those caused by the invasive ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi. It is believed that these changes had significant impacts on the absolute and relative abundance of the commercially important anchovy kilka (Clupeonella engrauliformis) and common kilka (C. cultriventris caspia) leading to decline...

There have been recent changes in the Caspian Sea ecosystem, such as those due to changes in sea level or those caused by the invasive ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi. It is believed that these changes had significant impacts on the absolute and relative abundance of the commercially important anchovy kilka (Clupeonella engrauliformis) and common kilka (C. cultriventris caspia) leading to decline...

Over recent decades co-management has become an increasingly popular form of governance reform in many developing countries. Viewed as a means of promoting sustainable and equitable management of natural resources, it has seen wide application in small-scale inland fisheries. However, perhaps because of its worthy credentials, there has been insufficient critical assessment of the results. This...

The damaging of the seas is now one of the world's gravest environmental problems, according to a new report by a group of distinguished scientists who have studied one of the world's key fishing grounds: the North East Atlantic. The team travelled around Europe, visited the US and gathered additional evidence from Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Their conclusion is that fishing activity in t...

Wherever I go in the world today, newspapers invariably contain a story about over fishing. In Australia, it is Patagonian toothfish, abalone and the resources of the Great Barrier Reef. In Asia, shark finning. In the Caribbean, Garoupa s. In the Pacific, Tuna, and in the Atlantic, Cod. To name but a few. We have come to regard over fishing as a fact of life, but in a few places it has become a...

BACKGROUND Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a problem for marine resource managers, leading to depletion of fish stocks and negative impacts on marine ecosystems. These problems are particularly evident in regions with weak governance. Countries responsible for sustainable natural resource management in the Southern Ocean have actively worked to reduce IUU fishing in the reg...