eCite Digital Repository
The spatial expansion and ecological footprint of fisheries (1950 to present)
Citation
Swartz, W and Sala, E and Tracey, S and Watson, RA and Pauly, D, The spatial expansion and ecological footprint of fisheries (1950 to present), PLoS ONE, 5, (12) Article e15143. ISSN 1932-6203 (2010) [Refereed Article]
 | PDF 491Kb |
Copyright Statement
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic (CC BY 2.5) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015143
Abstract
Using estimates of the primary production required (PPR) to support fisheries catches (a measure of the footprint of fishing),we analyzed the geographical expansion of the global marine fisheries from 1950 to 2005. We used multiple threshold levels of PPR as percentage of local primary production to define ‘fisheries exploitation’ and applied them to the global dataset of spatially-explicit marine fisheries catches. This approach enabled us to assign exploitation status across a 0.5u latitude/longitude ocean grid system and trace the change in their status over the 56-year time period. This result highlights the global scale expansion in marine fisheries, from the coastal waters off North Atlantic and West Pacific to the waters in
the Southern Hemisphere and into the high seas. The southward expansion of fisheries occurred at a rate of almost one degree latitude per year, with the greatest period of expansion occurring in the 1980s and early 1990s. By the mid 1990s, a third of the world’s ocean, and two-thirds of continental shelves, were exploited at a level where PPR of fisheries exceed 10% of PP, leaving only unproductive waters of high seas, and relatively inaccessible waters in the Arctic and Antarctic as the last remaining 'frontiers'. The growth in marine fisheries catches for more than half a century was only made possible
through exploitation of new fishing grounds. Their rapidly diminishing number indicates a global limit to growth and highlights the urgent need for a transition to sustainable fishing through reduction of PPR.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | coastal waters, controlled study, economic development, fishery, fishing, geographic distribution, marine environment, productivity |
| Research Division: | Environmental Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecological Applications |
| Research Field: | Ecosystem Function |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management |
| Objective Field: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments |
| UTAS Author: | Tracey, S (Dr Sean Tracey) |
| UTAS Author: | Watson, RA (Professor Reginald Watson) |
| ID Code: | 66357 |
| Year Published: | 2010 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 183 |
| Deposited By: | TAFI - Marine Research Laboratory |
| Deposited On: | 2011-01-13 |
| Last Modified: | 2013-11-21 |
| Downloads: | 299 View Download Statistics |
Repository Staff Only: item control page