BACKGROUND The expansion of fishing activities has intensively transformed marine ecosystems worldwide. However, available time series do not frequently cover historical periods. METHODOLOGY Fishers' perceptions were used to complement data and characterise changes in fishing activity and exploited ecosystems in the Spanish Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Cadiz. Fishers' interviews were conduct...

Dynamite or blast fishing remains the most pervasive destructive fishing method in the coastal waters of Tanzania. It constitutes a major threat to small-scale fisheries through degradation of reefs and other critical habitats for fish. The Tanzanian Government has implemented several measures including a high rate of patrols and surveillance campaigns in the sea to try to deter the use of dyna...

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...

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...