Deep‐sea Finfish Fisheries: Lessons from History

Recently, the depletion and increased regulation of shallow‐water fishery resources have generated greater interest in the potential of deepwater fisheries. Smaller‐scale fisheries for deep‐sea animals have been conducted in certain locations around the world for more than a century, but large‐scale commercial deepwater fisheries are a more recent phenomenon. An examination of past and current deepwater fisheries shows what we can expect from the development of new fisheries targeting unexploited deep‐sea resources. Previous deepwater fisheries exhibit a pattern of rapid development, depletion of the resource, and very slow recovery. If future deepwater fisheries are to avoid this fate, development of new fisheries will require a better understanding of the resource, its relationship to the environment, and a precautionary approach to resource management.