Barcoding Marine Life Blog
Fish stock collapse
March 06, 2007
Experts have forewarned since years that Oceans are drastically overfished. The new report "State of the world Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA)" shows the extent of this tragedy.
- 25% of all fish stocks is endangered
- of these 17% are critically overused and 7% are declining rapidly
- about 52% of the stocks are so massively exploited that any progression is impossible
In December 2006 Boris Worm and colleagues already stated: "Our findings further suggest that the elimination of locally adapted populations and species not only impairs the ability of marine ecosystems to feed a growing human population but also sabotages their stability and recovery potential in a rapidly changing marine environment." (Worm et al. 2006).
The FAO calls the lack of political intention to account. The state of knowledge is high and proposals for a change are known for a long time. Many CoML projects and expeditions have provided a profound basis of knowledge to enable projections such as SOFIA. DNA Barcoding can serve as an important stock management and quota control tool. Historical methods of identifying, naming and classifying fishes are largely based on visible morphology. Modern taxonomic work includes analysis of a host of other traits, including internal anatomy, physiology, behavior, genes and geography; yet morphological traits remain the cornerstone of existing taxonomic treatments. However, there are limitations to relying primarily on morphology when attempting to identify fishes during various stages of their development not considered in original treatments, or when examining fragmentary or processed remains. Even when an intact adult specimen is the subject of identification, the morphological characters and other traits used to discern species are often so subtle and complex that each taxonomist can critically identify only a segment of the global fish fauna.
Given the global decline of fish stocks and the estimated $200 billion USD annual value of fisheries worldwide, barcoding initiatives such as FISH-BOL will address socially relevant questions concerning market substitution and quota management of commercial fisheries.
