Mismanagement of Marine Fisheries - Hardcover

Longhurst, Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052189672X ISBN 13: 9780521896726

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Longhurst examines the proposition, central to fisheries science, that a fishery creates its own natural resource by the compensatory growth it induces in the fish, and that this is sustainable. His novel analysis of the reproductive ecology of bony fish of cooler seas offers some support for this, but a review of fisheries past and present confirms that sustainability is rarely achieved. The relatively open structure and strong variability of marine ecosystems is discussed in relation to the reliability of resources used by the industrial-level fishing that became globalised during the 20th century. This was associated with an extraordinary lack of regulation in most seas, and a widespread avoidance of regulation where it did exist. Sustained fisheries can only be expected where social conditions permit strict regulation and where politicians have no personal interest in outcomes despite current enthusiasm for ecosystem-based approaches or for transferable property rights.

About this title

Review:

'A highly readable and insightful analysis of prominent failures in world fisheries management from an eminent marine scientist.' Peter Koeller, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Book Description:

A critique of fishery science, re-examining the aspects of the biology of fish relevant to fishing. Emphasises the ephemeral nature of fish stocks and near-complete lack of regulation of fishing over much of the ocean. Longhurst concludes that sustainability can be achieved only where unusual political and social circumstances prevail.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 052189672X
• ISBN 13: 9780521896726
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 334