Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Jorge Csirke, Michael Glantz, and James Hurrell
- Preface
- 1 History of international co-operation in research
- 2 A short scientific history of the fisheries
- 3 Habitats
- 4 Variability from scales in marine sediments and other historical records
- 5 Decadal-scale variability in populations
- 6 Biophysical models
- 7 Trophic dynamics
- 8 Impacts of fishing and climate change explored using trophic models
- 9 Current trends in the assessment and management of stocks
- 10 Global production and economics
- 11 Human dimensions of the fisheries under global change
- 12 Mechanisms of low-frequency fluctuations in sardine and anchovy populations
- 13 Research challenges in the twenty-first century
- 14 Conjectures on future climate effects on marine ecosystems dominated by small pelagic fish
- 15 Synthesis and perspective
- Index
15 - Synthesis and perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Jorge Csirke, Michael Glantz, and James Hurrell
- Preface
- 1 History of international co-operation in research
- 2 A short scientific history of the fisheries
- 3 Habitats
- 4 Variability from scales in marine sediments and other historical records
- 5 Decadal-scale variability in populations
- 6 Biophysical models
- 7 Trophic dynamics
- 8 Impacts of fishing and climate change explored using trophic models
- 9 Current trends in the assessment and management of stocks
- 10 Global production and economics
- 11 Human dimensions of the fisheries under global change
- 12 Mechanisms of low-frequency fluctuations in sardine and anchovy populations
- 13 Research challenges in the twenty-first century
- 14 Conjectures on future climate effects on marine ecosystems dominated by small pelagic fish
- 15 Synthesis and perspective
- Index
Summary
Summary
The Small Pelagic Fish and Climate Change (SPACC) program was created to facilitate research on the dynamics of populations of small pelagic fish, including anchovy and sardine. These populations exhibit large variations in size, extent, and production on the scale of decades. At times, anchovy and sardine alternate in abundance. Collectively, small pelagic fish often occupy a central role in the food web they occur in, often described as a wasp-waist ecosystem. Humans are an integral part of those ecosystems. Variability of populations of small pelagic fish is believed to be due primarily to variations in climate and fishing, but the mechanisms of these relations remain unknown in most cases. It is also uncertain whether these ecosystems alternate between states, e.g. regimes, and whether inherent variability may limit our ability to predict their future states. The fisheries for populations of small pelagic fish are increasingly global in nature. While the global catch of small pelagic fish constitutes approximately one quarter of the world fish catch and has been relatively constant during the past several decades, the catch of individual taxa and stocks varies much more. The management of these fisheries will be challenged by increasing demand for human consumption and mariculture in light of their finite and variable production, importance within the ecosystem, and unprecedented climate change, and will depend on both science and governance. We recommend continued, global research on climate change effects on small pelagic fish, and its periodic assessment for use by decision makers.
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- Climate Change and Small Pelagic Fish , pp. 344 - 351Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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