School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering), University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK.
Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 15;11(1):3784. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82847-4.
The ecosystem effects of all commercial fishing methods need to be fully understood in order to manage our marine environments more effectively. The impacts associated with the most damaging mobile fishing methods are well documented leading to such methods being removed from some partially protected areas. In contrast, the impacts on the ecosystem from static fishing methods, such as pot fishing, are less well understood. Despite commercial pot fishing increasing within the UK, there are very few long term studies (> 1 year) that consider the effects of commercial pot fishing on temperate marine ecosystems. Here we present the results from a controlled field experiment where areas of temperate reef were exposed to a pot fishing density gradient over 4 years within a Marine Protected Area (MPA), simulating scenarios both above and below current levels of pot fishing effort. After 4 years we demonstrate for the first time negative effects associated with high levels of pot fishing effort both on reef building epibiota and commercially targeted species, contrary to existing evidence. Based on this new evidence we quantify a threshold for sustainable pot fishing demonstrating a significant step towards developing well-managed pot fisheries within partially protected temperate MPAs.
为了更有效地管理海洋环境，我们需要充分了解所有商业捕鱼方法的生态系统影响。与最具破坏性的移动捕鱼方法相关的影响已有充分记录，导致这些方法已从一些部分保护区中移除。相比之下，网箱捕鱼等静态捕鱼方法对生态系统的影响则不太为人所知。尽管商业网箱捕鱼在英国有所增加，但很少有长期研究（超过 1 年）考虑商业网箱捕鱼对温带海洋生态系统的影响。在这里，我们展示了一项控制野外实验的结果，该实验在 4 年内，在一个海洋保护区内，将温带珊瑚礁区域暴露于网箱捕鱼密度梯度下，模拟了当前网箱捕鱼努力水平以上和以下的情况。4 年后，我们首次证明了高水平的网箱捕鱼努力对造礁附生物和商业目标物种都有负面影响，这与现有证据相反。基于这一新证据，我们量化了可持续网箱捕鱼的阈值，这朝着在部分受保护的温带海洋保护区内发展管理良好的网箱渔业迈出了重要一步。
