Small Fish Said Vital to Seas; Lower Catches Urged

[n2doc]

By Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - Small fish play a big role in the oceans and catches should be cut sharply to safeguard marine food chains from plankton to blue whales, an international team of experts said on Thursday.

Rising human exploitation of little fish -- including anchovy, sardine, herring, mackerel and capelin -- had had far less attention in marine research compared to big commercial species such as cod, tuna, swordfish or salmon, they said.

Over-fishing of small fish has "significant effects on other parts of the marine ecosystems," said Tony Smith, the lead author of the study at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia.

He said that the findings, published in the journal Science, were the first comprehensive analysis of how catching small fish, as well as shrimp-like krill, can disrupt marine food chains and so affect human food supplies.

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=small-fish-said-vital-to-sea

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. Good articles over at Mother Jones..

....on the importance of menhaden (pogies) to the Atlantic littoral ecosystem, and the threat to them from industrial fishing.