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      Impacts of fishing low-trophic level species on marine ecosystems.

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          Abstract

          Low-trophic level species account for more than 30% of global fisheries production and contribute substantially to global food security. We used a range of ecosystem models to explore the effects of fishing low-trophic level species on marine ecosystems, including marine mammals and seabirds, and on other commercially important species. In five well-studied ecosystems, we found that fishing these species at conventional maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels can have large impacts on other parts of the ecosystem, particularly when they constitute a high proportion of the biomass in the ecosystem or are highly connected in the food web. Halving exploitation rates would result in much lower impacts on marine ecosystems while still achieving 80% of MSY.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Science
          Science (New York, N.Y.)
          American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
          1095-9203
          0036-8075
          Aug 26 2011
          : 333
          : 6046
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Wealth from Oceans Flagship, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia. tony.d.smith@csiro.edu
          Article
          science.1209395
          10.1126/science.1209395
          21778363
          18b4ba74-c227-4a39-a381-a6b27d17a8b5
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