Great Fish Baseline
JB: This is Earth and Sky. The largest predators of the sea – such as giant bluefin tuna, giant marlins, and hammerhead sharks – might be quickly disappearing according to some scientists.
DB: We spoke with Ransom Myers, a professor of biology at Dalhousie University in Canada.
JB: Meyers found that the biomass – the numbers in weight of fish – for ocean predators has been reduced to one-tenth of what it was in the 1950’s. The number he’s finding now can be used as a baseline, a known quantity to compare with the past or future.
Myers: Having a baseline allows you to look at where you are compared to where you were historically. For example, if you go to Africa, and you go to many areas which are over-harvested, the game is shot out, and there’s overgrazing by goats, you would not believe the diversity and wonder of the wildlife in the Serengeti. And so without any knowledge of the Serengeti, you would not know that properly managed ecosystems can produce such diverse and wondrous animals. So it’s the loss of knowledge of the great fish in the oceans that we’re trying to recover by doing this historical statistical analysis.
JB: We’ll have more with Ransom Myers – tomorrow. Thanks today to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following person was interviewed for today’s program. Our thanks to:
Prof. Ransom A. Myers
Killam Chair of Ocean Studies
Department of Biology
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
Additional Teacher Resources
USINFO.STATE, International Information Programs: Census of Marine Life Catalogs 5 Million Records, 38,000 Species: 70 Countries Collaborate on $1 Billion Database of Marine Species
This article explains the significance of the worlds first Census of Marine Life (CoML)?a massive international collaboration to catalog and map marine species worldwide. This census displayed rapid, ongoing discovery of new ocean life. The census baseline database assembled more than 5.2 million new and existing records that map the distribution of 38,000 marine species.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Marine Protected Areas: Finding a Balance Between Conservation and Fisheries Management?History and Background of Marine Conservation
This site provides a historical perspective of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The history focuses on the global decline of marine biomass and the subsequent conservation efforts that led up to the creation of MPAs. The site also illustrates the benefits of creating a baseline study as a reference point when working with population figures.
