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  PlanetArk 5 Jan 06
Action Needed to Protect Deep-Sea Fish--Scientists

BBC 4 Jan 06
'Critical danger'warning on fish

Deep sea fish species in the northern Atlantic are on the brink of extinction, new research suggests.

Canadian scientists studied five deep water species including hake and eel. Writing in the journal Nature, they say that some populations have plummeted by 98% in a generation, meeting the definition of 'critically endangered'.

Scientists and conservation bodies are pressing for a global moratorium on deep-sea fishing which they regard as particularly destructive.

Some fleets have switched to deep-sea fisheries following the collapse in more commonly-caught species such as cod. Known as bottom-trawling, ships often use heavy trawls which are dragged across the ocean floor, destroying coral and other ecosystems.

Conservation groups have lobbied hard in recent years for a global moratorium. The most recent attempt to get a moratorium adopted, at the UN General Assembly last November, failed.

Five on the brink

The new study, led by Jennifer Devine of Memorial University in Newfoundland, has produced further evidence that these fishing methods can have big ecological impacts. The five species studied are all slow to grow and reproduce, attaining sexual maturity only in their teens. "Deep sea fish are highly vulnerable to disturbance because of their late maturation, extreme longevity, low fecundity and slow growth," the researchers write.

They examined records from Canadian Atlantic waters spanning the period 1978-1994 - roughly a single generation. They found that populations of roundnose grenadier, onion-eye grenadier, blue hake, spiny eel and spinytail skate all declined spectacularly over the period.

Populations fell by between 87% and 98%; projections show that some would be completely eliminated within three generations. These statistics would place the five fish within the category of "critically endangered", as defined by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, which publishes the Red List of threatened species.

"Conservation measures are necessary and lack of knowledge must not delay appropriate initiatives, including the establishment of deep sea protected areas," the researchers conclude.

PlanetArk 5 Jan 06
Action Needed to Protect Deep-Sea Fish--Scientists

LONDON - Protected ocean areas are needed to save deep-sea fish which have been driven to near extinction by commercial fishing, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at Memorial University in St John's Newfoundland in Canada studied fish that live near the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. They found that five species have declined by 89-98 percent between 1978 and 1994.

"Our results indicate that urgent action is needed for the sustainable management of deep-sea fisheries," Jennifer Devine and her colleagues said in the journal Nature.

They analysed data on the five species of fish: the roundnose grenadier, onion-eye grenadier, blue hake, spiny eel and spinytail skate. Based on their findings, all can be classified as critically endangered according to guidelines set by The World Conservation Union (IUCN), a Swiss-based, multinational organisation founded in 1948.

"The declines occurred on a timescale equal to, or slightly less than, a single generation of these species," said Devine. Deep-sea fish grow slowly, mature late, live long and have low fertility rates which make them very vulnerable to over-fishing. The species in the study can live up to 60 years, measure a metre (yard) in length and do not mature until their teens.

The scientists said the decline in the fish they studied began after commercial fishing shifted to the deep seas following the drop in numbers of other types of fish in the 1960s and 1970s.

Scientific investigation lags behind the collapse of deep-sea fisheries, Devine said. "Conservation measures are needed and lack of knowledge must not delay appropriate initiatives, including the establishment of deep-sea protected areas," she added.
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