Research article2011Peer reviewedOpen access
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: management of Baltic cod stock requires an ecosystem approach
Moellmann, Christian; Blenckner, Thorsten; Casini, Michele; Gardmark, Anna; Lindegren, Martin
Abstract
In a recent ‘As We See It’ article, Cardinale & Svedäng (2011; Mar Ecol Prog Ser 425:297–301) used the example of the Eastern Baltic (EB) cod stock to argue that the concept of ecosystem regime shifts, especially the potential existence of alternative stable states (or dynamic regimes), blurs the fact that human exploitation (i.e. fishing) is the strongest impact on marine ecosystems. They further concluded that single-species approaches to resource management are functioning and that ecosystem-based approaches are not necessary. We (1) argue that the recent increase in the EB cod stock is inherently uncertain, (2) discuss the critique of the regime shift concept, and (3) describe why the EB cod stock dynamics demonstrates the need for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management
Keywords
Baltic cod · Climate · Ecosystem approach · Regime shifts · Hysteresis · Uncertainty
Published in
Marine Ecology Progress Series
2011, Volume: 431, pages: 293-297 Publisher: Inter Research
UKÄ Subject classification
Fish and Aquacultural Science
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09205
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/37089