Estimating global biomass and biogeochemical cycling of marine fish with and without fishing
Bianchi, Daniele (University of California. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences)
Carozza, David A. (Université du Québec à Montréal . Département de Mathématiques)
Galbraith, Eric (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Guiet, Jérôme (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
DeVries, Timothy (University of California. Department of Geography)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	The biomass and biogeochemical roles of fish in the ocean are ecologically important but poorly known. Here, we use a data-constrained marine ecosystem model to provide a first-order estimate of the historical reduction of fish biomass due to fishing and the associated change in biogeochemical cycling rates. The pre-exploitation global biomass of exploited fish (10 g to 100 kg) was 3. 3 ± 0. 5 Gt, cycling roughly 2% of global primary production (9. 4 ± 1. 6 Gt year-1) and producing 10% of surface biological export. Particulate organic matter produced by exploited fish drove roughly 10% of the oxygen consumption and biological carbon storage at depth. By the 1990s, biomass and cycling rates had been reduced by nearly half, suggesting that the biogeochemical impact of fisheries has been comparable to that of anthropogenic climate change. Our results highlight the importance of developing a better mechanistic understanding of how fish alter ocean biogeochemistry.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM-2015-0552 European Commission 682602
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Science advances, Vol. 7, Issue 41 (October 2021) , art. eabd7554, ISSN 2375-2548

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd7554
PMID: 34623923

11 p, 979.9 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles