Canberra, Friday 27 July, 2001

Overfishing: a global warning from marine scientists

An international team of 18 leading marine scientists has discovered historical overkill of marine life, not pollution, declining water quality or climate change is to blame for the current ecological collapse in our oceans. The new research published in the prestigious US journal Science this week has prompted scientists to make an urgent plea for major reforms to global fishing practices and conservation efforts.

Australian scientists Dr Roger Bradbury from The Australian National University and Professor Terry Hughes from James Cook University's School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture, contributed to the international research paper.

"We started out to study everything that people had ever done to oceans historically and were astounded to discover that in each case we examined, overfishing was the primary driver of ocean collapse," ANU scientist and co-author of the study, Dr Roger Bradbury said. "On the land, as we killed off the giant mammals and destroyed the ancient forests, we replaced them with a new suite of farmed species. In the coastal seas, we took out animals and replaced them with nothing."

The research shows contrary to long held beliefs overfishing is not a modern day problem. Aboriginal and colonial fishermen and women were depleting ocean stocks long before the commercial fishing industry came into being. This massive harvesting triggered huge changes in the ocean ecosystem structure and function.

"Removal of key predators and entire layers of the food chain set off sequences of events that are now culminating in toxic algal blooms, dead zones, outbreaks of diseases and other symptoms of ecological instability," Dr Bradbury said. Using palaeoecological, archaeological, historical and ecological records the team developed the first accurate chronological snapshots of our oceans, dating back 125 thousand years.

"Oysters, pearls and conches were so abundant, they posed a hazard to those navigating our ancient seas and a few centuries ago whales, sharks, seals, turtles, manatees, dugongs and sea cows numbered in the tens of millions," Dr Bradbury said.

Marine scientists hope the research will motivate governments and activists to change tack on conservation and fishing practices. "This knowledge allows us to create scientifically sound strategies to restore and regenerate our oceans, in ways which make our current efforts seem amateurish," Dr Bradbury said.

"Using these data we now have the opportunity to rebuild our coastal seas and restore their productivity."

For further information contact:
Dr Roger Bradbury, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, 02 6125 0656 (w) or 0419 221 003 (m) Clarissa Thorpe, Media Liaison Manager, on 02 6125 5575 (w) or 0416 249 245 (m)

No:55/2001

© 2000 Marketing & Communications Division,
The Australian National University.
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Last Modified Tue, July 16, 2002