scholarly journals Climate and fishing steer ecosystem regeneration to uncertain economic futures

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1803) ◽  
pp. 20142809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorsten Blenckner ◽  
Marcos Llope ◽  
Christian Möllmann ◽  
Rudi Voss ◽  
Martin F. Quaas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Consumer Surplus ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Complete Recovery ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Maximum Economic Yield ◽  
The Baltic

Overfishing of large predatory fish populations has resulted in lasting restructurings of entire marine food webs worldwide, with serious socio-economic consequences. Fortunately, some degraded ecosystems show signs of recovery. A key challenge for ecosystem management is to anticipate the degree to which recovery is possible. By applying a statistical food-web model, using the Baltic Sea as a case study, we show that under current temperature and salinity conditions, complete recovery of this heavily altered ecosystem will be impossible. Instead, the ecosystem regenerates towards a new ecological baseline. This new baseline is characterized by lower and more variable biomass of cod, the commercially most important fish stock in the Baltic Sea, even under very low exploitation pressure. Furthermore, a socio-economic assessment shows that this signal is amplified at the level of societal costs, owing to increased uncertainty in biomass and reduced consumer surplus. Specifically, the combined economic losses amount to approximately 120 million € per year, which equals half of today's maximum economic yield for the Baltic cod fishery. Our analyses suggest that shifts in ecological and economic baselines can lead to higher economic uncertainty and costs for exploited ecosystems, in particular, under climate change.

Underwater Long-Term Observation at the Largest German Artificial Reef in the Baltic Sea

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Niedzwiedz
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
State Government ◽  
Artificial Reef ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Biometric Data ◽  
The Baltic

The Baltic Sea is one of the most frequented regions in the world. The Baltic neighbouring states more and more see the need to adapt their economic interests to the given ecological conditions. This can not always be done sufficiently, which can be seen at the example of coastal fishery in some of these countries. Owing to the critical condition of economically important fish stocks, selective fishing and fish-stock saving measures have become main fields of research. Supported by the European Union and by the federal state government we have tried in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern during the last four years to investigate the effects of an artificial Baltic reef with respect to fishing. For this purpose more than 1300 reef elements — made of a special sort of concrete and having different shapes and size — have been arranged on an area of 200 × 200 m at a water depth of 12 m about 1.5 m away from the coast. Over a period of almost four years different methods and techniques have been applied to observe and record the effects of these structures on the natural environment in a long-term investigation. Continuous video-optical underwater observation using up to nine simultaneously controlled underwater cameras proved to be a special technical challenge. Important results have been gained from a monitoring with research divers and from a defined test and comparison fishing done once every month. Various fishing methods have been applied — also those which are normally not common in that region. A special low-cost variant of a remote controlled underwater stereo photo camera has been developed and built in order to get biometric data of the fish without catching it.

Stickleback increase in the Baltic Sea – A thorny issue for coastal predatory fish

2015 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 134-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf Bergström ◽  
Jens Olsson ◽  
Michele Casini ◽  
Britas Klemens Eriksson ◽  
Ronny Fredriksson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
The Baltic

scholarly journals Relationships between fish stock changes in the Baltic Sea and the M74 syndrome, a reproductive disorder of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 2134-2144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaakko Mikkonen ◽  
Marja Keinänen ◽  
Michele Casini ◽  
Jukka Pönni ◽  
Pekka J. Vuorinen
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Salmon ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Salmo Salar ◽  
Gadus Morhua ◽  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Atlantic Salmon Salmo Salar ◽  
Reproductive Disorder ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract Mikkonen, J., Keinänen, M., Casini, M., Pönni, J., and Vuorinen, P. J. 2011. Relationships between fish stock changes in the Baltic Sea and the M74 syndrome, a reproductive disorder of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 2134–2144. The M74 syndrome of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar), which appears as increased yolk-sac fry mortality (YSFM), impairs the reproduction of salmon stocks. Changes in the prey stocks of Baltic salmon in its two feeding areas, the southern Baltic Proper (BPr), where sprat (Sprattus sprattus) was the main prey species during the high incidence of M74, and the Bothnian Sea, where herring (Clupea harengus) is the dominant species, were analysed in relation to salmon growth and size and in relation to the incidence of M74. The high condition factor (CF > 1.05) of prespawning salmon predicted high YSFM. From the various stock factors of sprat and herring in the southern BPr, the biomass of sprat had the strongest positive relationships with the CF of prespawning salmon, and the total prey biomass with YSFM. It is concluded that the ample but unbalanced food resources for salmon in the BPr, primarily sprat, induce M74. By reducing the fishing pressure on cod (Gadus morhua) and by more effectively managing the sprat fishery in years when the cod stock is weak, the incidence of the M74 syndrome could be reduced and even prevented.

scholarly journals Recruitment failure of coastal predatory fish in the Baltic Sea coincident with an offshore ecosystem regime shift

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1587-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Ljunggren ◽  
Alfred Sandström ◽  
Ulf Bergström ◽  
Johanna Mattila ◽  
Antti Lappalainen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Regime Shift ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Food Limitation ◽  
Zooplankton Biomass ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
Zooplankton Abundance ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Recruitment Failure ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract Ljunggren, L., Sandström, A., Bergström, U., Mattila, J., Lappalainen, A., Johansson, G., Sundblad, G., Casini, M., Kaljuste, O., and Eriksson, B. K. 2010. Recruitment failure of coastal predatory fish in the Baltic Sea coincident with an offshore ecosystem regime shift. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 1587–1595. The dominant coastal predatory fish in the southwestern Baltic Sea, perch and pike, have decreased markedly in abundance during the past decade. An investigation into their recruitment at 135 coastal sites showed that both species suffered from recruitment failures, mainly in open coastal areas. A detailed study of 15 sites showed that areas with recruitment problems were also notable for mortality of early-stage larvae at the onset of exogenous food-intake. At those sites, zooplankton abundance predicted 83 and 34% of the variation in young of the year perch and pike, respectively, suggesting that the declines were caused by recruitment failure attributable to zooplankton food limitation. Incidences of recruitment failure match in time an offshore trophic cascade that generated massive increases in planktivorous sprat and decreases in zooplankton biomass in the early 1990s. Therefore, sprat biomass explained 53% of the variation in perch recruitment from 1994 to 2007 at an open coastal site, where three-spined stickleback also increased exponentially after 2002. The results indicate that the dramatic change in the offshore ecosystem may have propagated to the coast causing declines of the dominating coastal predators perch and pike followed by an increase in the abundance of small-bodied fish.

scholarly journals Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (25) ◽  
pp. 6539-6544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong Do Yun ◽  
Barbara Hutniczak ◽  
Joshua K. Abbott ◽  
Eli P. Fenichel
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Shadow Price ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Wealth Index ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
Shadow Prices ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Ecosystem Based Management ◽  
The Baltic

We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio’s performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth.

scholarly journals Past and Current Trends of Coastal Predatory Fish in the Baltic Sea with a Focus on Perch, Pike, and Pikeperch

Fishes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Impacting Factors ◽  
Past Data ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
And Function

Coastal predatory fish are of key importance for the provisioning of ecosystem services in the Baltic Sea. Worldwide, however, there has been a general and sharp decline in predatory fish populations, in turn threatening the viability and function of marine ecosystems. On the basis of the literature, the past (data until the 2000s) and current (data until early and mid 2010s) trends in abundance of coastal predatory fish in the Baltic Sea are reviewed in this paper. Potentially important impacting factors behind the temporal development of the populations and measures to strengthen and restore them are also discussed. Available data from coastal fish monitoring programs suggest a stable or increasing abundance of coastal predatory fish as a functional group and for the species perch in the majority of areas assessed in the Baltic Sea. For pike and pikeperch, data to support assessments is scarce, but suggest substantial declines in the abundance of both species in most assessed areas. The impacting factors behind these patterns vary between species and areas, but include climate, habitat exploitation, fishing, and species-interactions in the coastal food web. Measures to restore and support coastal predatory fish communities should follow an ecosystem-based approach to management and include efforts to regulate fisheries sectors in combination with habitat protection and restoration.

scholarly journals Predicting the effects of eutrophication mitigation on predatory fish biomass and the value of recreational fisheries

AMBIO ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1090-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Sundblad ◽  
Lena Bergström ◽  
Tore Söderqvist ◽  
Ulf Bergström
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Ecological Modelling ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
Reference Level ◽  
Recreational Fisheries ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract Improving water clarity is a core objective for eutrophication management in the Baltic Sea, but may influence fisheries via effects on fish habitat suitability. We apply an ensemble of species distribution models coupled with habitat productivity functions and willingness-to-pay estimates to assess these effects for two coastal predatory fish species, European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and pikeperch (Sander lucioperca). The models predicted a 37% increase in perch and 59% decrease in pikeperch biomass if reaching the reference level for water clarity in the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Reaching the target level was predicted to increase perch biomass by 13%. However, the associated economic gain for the recreational fisheries sector was countervailed by an 18% pikeperch reduction. Still, a net benefit was predicted since there are six times more fishing days for perch than pikeperch. We exemplify how ecological modelling can be combined with economic analyses to map and evaluate management alternatives.

Temporal and spatial sedimentation rate variabilities in the eastern Gotland Basin, the Baltic Sea

Boreas ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Christiansen ◽  
Helmar Kunzendorf ◽  
Kay-Christian Emeis ◽  
Rudolf Endler ◽  
Ulrich Struck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Gotland Basin ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
The Baltic
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document