Book Description

Over the last fifty years, human exploitation of marine resources has become more efficient as the understanding of the habits and behaviour of the various species available in the sea gradually increased. Thus, technologies have developed naturally over time and fishing gears and practices have become more sophisticated. These technical advances in fishing gear have generally led to more efficient economic fishing operations and better access to resources. However, fishing implies the harvesting of marine organisms directly from their natural environment, therefore general awareness of environmental problems due to the exploitation of fishery resources has also increased. In particular, the poor selectivity of some gears is responsible for the capture of juveniles, immature and undersized specimens of many species, with negative consequences on the state of stocks. In addition, bycatch in marine fisheries is a major source of human-caused mortality of marine megafauna, often leading to the capture of vulnerable species. Finally, many bottom-towed gears are responsible for high impacts on bottom communities and habitats, with cascading consequences on the entire marine ecosystem. All these impacts can lead to changes in the structure, function and integrity of ecosystems, including effects on the food webs and multispecies predator-prey relationships.