Reports from the front line of

the current mass extinction:

ocean acidification, fisheries
and ecocide
Jason Hall-Spencer
Plymouth University
Coastal Futures meeting January 2015

Population

US Bureau of the Census (2000) International database

The Anthropocene
a planet under pressure

Only 15 marine species known

to have gone completely (vs.
100s on land)
Last Caribbean Monk seal seen
in the 1950s
Japanese sea lion hunted to
extinction in the 1970s
Lots of species commercially
extinct e.g. Common Skate and
Basking Shark collapse 1980s.

International tourism

World Tourism Organization (2001) Tourism industry trends

Motor vehicles

Global environmental outlook (2000)

Atmospheric CO2 concentration

Etheridge et al. Geophys Res 101: 4115-4128

Trawl and dredge fisheries are now heavily reliant on fossil fuels

Pauly et al. (1998): Fishing Down Marine Food Webs

o mean Trophic Level of global fisheries landings declining
o NW Atlantic
cod shrimps, crabs, lobsters
o Firth of Clyde
finfish Nephrops and scallops

 90-year English Channel landings dataset

Is there a Fishing down trend in the English
Channel?
Have there been major changes in species
landed?
Molfese C, Beare D, Hall-Spencer JM (2014)
Overfishing and the replacement of demersal finfish
by shellfish: an example from the English Channel.
PLoS ONE 9(7), e101506.

Catch composition

Cod (Gadus morhua)

Gadoids
Landings now low

Ling (Molva molva)

We import them to
meet demand
Hake (Merluccius merluccius)

There were more big fish before

widespread use of heavy towed
gear

Catch composition

Edible crab (Cancer pagurus)

Invertebrates
D
8000

Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)

Lobster (Hommarus gammarus)

7000
Landings (t)

6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Time (yr)

Scallop (Pecten maximus)

Shellfish (e.g. scallops) now more

prevalent in Channel landings.

Landings and trophic level

Scallop dredges and trawls

alter the seabed; scallops are
resilient but many long-lived
organisms (e.g. maerl) are not

Satellite data show the large area

affected by modern heavy gear
types in the English Channel
a

Footprint of a) UK scallop dredgers and b) beam trawlers >15 m

Campbell MS, Stehfest KM, Votier SC & Hall-Spencer JM (2014)
Mapping fisheries for marine spatial planning: Gear-specific Vessel
Monitoring System (VMS), marine conservation and offshore
renewable energy. Marine Policy 45, 293-300.

We need to ensure that measures we

put in place are not maladaptive

Electric pulse fishing by the Dutch fleet

Electric pulse lab. tests

cause significant
increases in viral
infections in shrimp
(Crangon crangon) and
severe injuries in cod
(Rijnsdorp pers. comm.)

Its not too late to stop marine ecocide

Technology that puts marine life at risk can be used to protect it

Demersal
gear closures
that
maximize
habitat
protection
and minimize
fisheries
displacement

Hall-Spencer JM, Tasker M, Soffker M, Christiansen S, Rogers S, Campbell M, Hoydal K

(2009) The design of Marine Protected Areas on High Seas and territorial waters of
Rockall. Marine Ecology Progress Series 397, 305-308.

Good progress
Industry input helped make sensible
use of available data in designing
seabed recovery zones
Industry benefits by avoiding being
seen to be wilfully damaging the
environment at the same time as
being engaged with the design of
measures to maximise long-term
profitability

Can regeneration areas really work in

the anthropocene?

What will the ecological communities of

the future look like?

Consistent patterns of marine ecosystem

change: as CO2 levels increase biodiversity declines.
Hall-Spencer et
al. (2008) Volcanic
carbon dioxide vents
reveal ecosystem
effects of ocean
acidification. Nature
454, 96-99.

Corrosive water depth for 1995, 2020, 2040, 2060, 2080 and 2099.
Confirmed stony coral presence records and predicted reef extent.
Jackson EL, Davies A, Howell KL Kershaw PJ Hall-Spencer JM
(2014) Future-proofing Marine Protected Area networks for cold
water coral reefs. ICES Journal of Marine Science 71, 2621-2629.

We know we are causing the current planetary mass

extinction what survives will depend on how sensible
we are in protecting the resources we still have.
Because there have been far fewer extinctions in the
oceans, we still have the raw ingredients needed for
recovery.
Monterey Bay in California was devastated by pollution
and overfishing 80 years ago, but has rebounded under
an economic model that values environmental quality as
well as continued ocean use.

McCauley et al. Science 2015;347:1255641

Weblinks for more information.

http://theconversation.com/we-must-rein-inheavy-fishing-gear-to-allow-the-seas-torecover-29118
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/ann-curryreports/54882960#54882960
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?
id=1709