Open AccessTrawl impacts on the relative status of biotic communities of seabed sedimentary habitats in 24 regions worldwide
Author(s) -
Roland Pitcher,
Jan Geert Hiddink,
Simon Jennings,
Jeremy S. Collie,
Ana M. Parma,
Ricardo O. Amoroso,
Tessa Mazor,
Marija Sciberras,
Robert A. McConnaughey,
A.D. Rijnsdorp,
Michel J. Kaiser,
Petri Suuronen,
Ray Hilborn
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2109449119
Subject(s) - trawling , bottom trawling , seabed , sustainability , habitat , fishery , environmental science , marine protected area , fishing , marine spatial planning , oceanography , ecology , environmental resource management , geology , biology
Significance We estimated the biological state of seabed sedimentary habitats, with specified uncertainty, in 24 trawled regions worldwide. Seabed status differed greatly among regions (from 0.25 to 0.999, relative to an untrawled state of 1); 15 regions had average status > 0.9. Two-thirds of all assessed seabed area was untrawled with status = 1, 93% had status > 0.8, but 1.5% had status = 0. The total area swept by trawling was a strong driver of regional status, providing a relationship to predict status from the regional estimated total amount of trawling. Seabed status is high in regions where fisheries are exploited sustainably—emphasizing that good fishery management contributes to better ecosystem outcomes—and, conversely, low status highlights regions needing improved management.