An assessment of “fishing down marine food webs” in coastal states during 1950–2010

Mean trophic level of fishery landings（MTL） is one of the most widely used biodiversity indicators to assess the impacts of fishing. Based on the landing data compiled by Food and Agriculture Organization combined with trophic information of relevant species in Fish Base, we evaluated the status of marine fisheries from 1950 to 2010 for different coastal states in Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We found that the phenomenon of ＂fishing down marine food webs＂ occurred in 43 states. Specifically, 27 states belonged to ＂fishing-through＂ pattern, and 16 states resulted from ＂fishing-down＂ scenario. The sign of recovery in MTL was common in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans（occurred in 20 states）, but was generally accompanied by significantly decreased catches of traditional low trophic level species. In particular, 11 states showed significant declining catches of lower trophic levels. The MTL-based assessment of ＂fishing down marine food webs＂ needs to be interpreted cautiously.

Safety assessment of condensed phosphate intake from fishery and processed marine food products in Korea with respect to gender,age,and region

Condensed phosphates are used as food additives,especially in marine products and meat,to improve food quality.The import and consumption of fishery and processed marine food products in Republic of Korea have reportedly increased by~5 per cent annually.However,processed marine food products are often intentionally adulterated with excessive amounts of condensed phosphates to increase their weight.Excessive intake of condensed phosphates via consuming processed marine food products can lead to various adverse effects on human health due to anionic imbalance.Herein,we conducted a safety assessment of condensed phosphates in 14 types of fishery and processed marine food products in Korea for the first time.Subgroup analysis of various factors including gender,age,and region was also performed,and the risk level of exposure for each group was estimated.Safety assessments by age and gender indicated that infants were at the highest risk.In the regional safety assessment,Chungnam,the most inland region,showed the lowest risk.For both the general and the high-intake groups(95th percentile)in all classifications,the risk was lower(<20 per cent)than the international standard,and the phosphorus content of the 14 types of processed marine products in Korea was confirmed to be safe for human consumption.

Ancient fish weir technology for modern stewardship: lessons from community-based salmon monitoring

Introduction:The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that indigenous people have a fundamental right to contribute to the management of the resources that support their livelihoods.Salmon are vital to the economy and culture of First Nations in coastal British Columbia,Canada.In this region,traditional systems of management including weirs-fences built across rivers to selectively harvest salmon-supported sustainable fisheries for millennia.In the late-19th century traditional fishing practices were banned as colonial goverments consolidated control over salmon.Outcomes:In collaboration with the Hei ltsuk First Nation we revived the practice of weir building in the Koeye River.Over the first four years of the project we tagged 1,226 sockeye,and counted 8,036 fish during fall stream walks.We used a mark-recapture model which accounted for both pre-spawn mortality due to variation in temperature,and tag loss,to produce the first mark-resight estimates of sockeye abundance in the watershed(4,600-15,000 escapement).Discussion:High river temperatures are associated with increased en route morality in migrating adult sockeye.We estimated pre-spawn mortality ranged from 8-72%across the four years of study,highlighting the degree to which climate conditions may dictate future viability in sockeye salmon populations.These results demonstrate the power of fusing traditional knowledge and management systems with contemporary scientific approaches in developing local monitoring.