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Coastal catch transects as a tool for studying global fisheries
Author(s) -
Watson Reg,
Pauly Daniel
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
fish and fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.747
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1467-2979
pISSN - 1467-2960
DOI - 10.1111/faf.12025
Subject(s) - transect , exclusive economic zone , pelagic zone , bathymetry , fishing , fishery , submarine pipeline , oceanography , geography , benthic zone , marine reserve , environmental science , geology , biology
We present a new, intuitive approach for the representation of fisheries catches within profiles perpendicular to coast of the E xclusive E conomic Z ones ( EEZ ) of countries, or of L arge M arine E cosystems ( LME ). These ‘catch transects’ show where catch is extracted in the water column and near the sea bottom on plots of log‐bathymetry versus log‐distance offshore and thus allow for representation of the catch density of pelagic and benthic fisheries. Hence, they also allow direct visual comparison of the intensity of fishing through time and space. The C alifornia C urrent, N orth S ea and the S outh C hina S ea LME s and the EEZ s of A ustralia, C anada, C hile, C hina, I ndia and T hailand are presented as examples, revealing the general intensification and extension of fishing offshore and into the depths over the decades from the 1950s. Catch transects reveal how these trends have accelerated in some areas, but surprisingly have reversed themselves in some others. It is proposed that these catch transects will be particularly useful for communicating the results of large‐scale fisheries studies to a wide spectrum of groups ranging from the fishing industry to the general public.