IT2 2023 ENV402 Marine Ecology and Freshwater Ecology (98)

Discussion Board #6 - Food webs and Sustainability, Adaptive Cycles

We’ll look at where fish used for fish and chips is within the marine food web and it correlation to
other species within it. We’ll further discuss sustainable fishing in New Zealand.
The Blue cod
The fish discussed will be the blue cod although many species are fished for fish and chips.

Blue Cod. photo from Stuff.co.nz (2016)

While the blue cod themselves are predators of small fish, including their own species, as well as
crustaceans, molluscs and sea snails they are not the top in their food chain, being prey to sharks
dolphins, penguins and humans. This puts them as consumers within a food web though they are
possibly secondary or even tertiary consumers because of they feed across the trophic levels and
aren’t the senior predator within the food web or food chain.

Sustainability
Multiple issues affect marine ecosystems and the sustainability of fishing stocks. These include
overfishing, climate change and pollution, consideration for the quantity of fish removed and its
effect on the local food webs is needed. There are limiting quotas in place for both commercial and
recreational fishing (Blue Cod, n.d) stock levels can be boosted and maintained in the longer term by
marine reserves. For example, within the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point marine reserve blue cod
numbers are significantly higher than outside it, prior to establishment the sea floor was mostly
urchin barrens and it is now dominated by macro algae thanks to the abundance of snapper and blue
cod that eat the excess of kina allowing the plant-life time to grow. (DOC, n.d/ Farkham, 2022). This
enlarges the base of the food web allowing the ecosystem to support a larger population as it has

Student ID: 2023002887 Date:23/7/23 Word Count: 385

IT2 2023 ENV402 Marine Ecology and Freshwater Ecology (98)

Discussion Board #6 - Food webs and Sustainability, Adaptive Cycles

formed a safe spawning ground for the blue cod and will provide an over spill into local fisheries
providing a greater haul. For the Tonga Island reserve there are 40 times as many cod over 30cm in
length. Both are results of the manipulation of the one of trophic levels of a food chain affecting the
overall food web.
Such sustainable abundance of a reserve is an example of Mahinga Kai to ensure a continued
plentiful bounty for future generations through our current practices. (“Mahinga Kai,” n.d.). Within
context the resilience of the marine ecosystem of needs to be considered to help prevent it’s
collapse.

Student ID: 2023002887 Date:23/7/23 Word Count: 385

IT2 2023 ENV402 Marine Ecology and Freshwater Ecology (98)

Discussion Board #6 - Food webs and Sustainability, Adaptive Cycles

References
Blue cod : Welcome to OpenSeas. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.openseas.org.nz/fish/blue-cod/

DOC - Purpose and benefits of marine reserves. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/marine/type-1-marine-protected-areas-marine-
reserves/purpose-and-benefits/

Frankham, J. (2022). A tragedy of the commons. New Zealand Geographic. Retrieved from
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/a-tragedy-of-the-commons/

Mahinga Kai. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ecan.govt.nz/your-region/farmers-

hub/fep/mahinga-
kai/#:~:text=Mahinga%20kai%20includes%20things%20such,Native%20vegetation%20and%20ripari
an%20areas

Stuff.co.nz. Top five comments on filleting blue cod. (2016, January 21). Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/13716103/Top-five-comments-on-filleting-blue-cod

Student ID: 2023002887 Date:23/7/23 Word Count: 385