Marmamers

I'm pleased to announce a new paper that I've just had published in Biology
Letters:

Marine mammals' influence on ecosystem processes affecting fisheries in the
Barents Sea is trivial.

The abstract:

Some interpretations of ecosystem-based fishery management include culling
marine mammals as an integral component. The current Norwegian policy on
marine mammal management is one example. Scientific support for this policy
includes the Scenario Barents Sea (SBS) models. These modelled interactions
between cod, *Gadus morhua*, herring, *Clupea harengus*, capelin, *Mallotus*
*villosus *and northern minke whales, *Balaenoptera acutorostrata*. Adding
harp seals *Phoca groenlandica* into this top-down modelling approach
resulted in unrealistic model outputs. Another set of models of the Barents
Sea fish–fisheries system focused on interactions within and between the
three fish populations, fisheries and climate. These model key processes of
the system successfully. Continuing calls to support the SBS models despite
their failure suggest a belief that marine mammal predation must be a
problem for fisheries. The best available scientific evidence provides no
justification for marine mammal culls as a primary component of an
ecosystem-based approach to managing the fisheries of the Barents Sea.

If you have access to Biology Letters, the pdf is available for download at:
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/n510636417643267/

If not, email me at: [email protected] and I'll send one your way.

Peter Corkeron
-- 

website: http://aleakage.blogspot.com/
_______________________________________________
MARMAM mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam

Reply via email to