Decline of UK fish stocks “far worse” than previously thought

Researchers from the University of York and the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) have for the first time analysed the change in fish stocks together with the size and number of boats involved in catching them over a period of more than 100 years. Their findings suggest that the damage to fisheries is greater and has taken place over a much longer period than previously acknowledged.

The research, entitled 'The Effects of 118 years of Industrial Fishing on UK Bottom Trawl Fisheries’ used UK Government data to calculate 'landings of fish per unit of fishing power’ (LPUP) from 1889 to 2007.

It found that today’s UK trawl fishing fleet has to work 17 times harder than in 1880s – when most of its boats were powered by sail – to make the same catch. In that time, LPUP declined 500 times for halibut, more than 100 times for haddock and more than 20 times for plaice. Cod has declined by 87 per cent.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Callum Roberts, from the University of York’s Environment Department, said: "This research makes clear that the state of UK bottom fisheries – and by implication European fisheries, since the fishing grounds are shared – is far worse than even the most pessimistic of assessments currently in circulation."

"We were astonished to discover that we landed over four times more fish into England and Wales in 1889 than we do today," added Ruth Thurstan, lead author of the study from the University of York’s Environment Department. "For all its technological sophistication and raw power, today’s trawl fishing fleet has far less success than its sail-powered equivalent of the late 19th century because of the sharp declines in fish abundance."

Simon Brockington, head of Conservation at the MCS and an author of the study, said it was now vital that governments recognised the changes that have taken place. "Over a century of intensive trawl fishing has severely depleted UK seas of bottom living fish like halibut, turbot, haddock and plaice," he said.

"The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy gives an opportunity to set stock protection and recovery targets that are reflective of the historical productivity of the sea."

The research has been published in Nature Communications, the new online science journal from the publishers of Nature.

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Related links
www.nature.com/ncomms
www.york.ac.uk/environment
www.mcsuk.org