Brief communications authors

There is plenty of evidence that fish stocks in coastal areas have been depleted. But little is known about fish that live in deeper waters. Many deep-sea species, although they live longer than shallow-water fish, also take longer to reach maturity. As a result, these species might have a harder time bouncing back from fishing. Jennifer Devine, a PhD student at Memorial University in St John's, Newfoundland, and her adviser Richard Haedrich, along with their colleague Krista Baker (not pictured below) surveyed five deep-sea species, and concluded that all are endangered (see page 29). Haedrich and Devine discussed the implications with Nature.

Why did you take on this study?

Haedrich: We've been interested for a while in Newfoundland with what's going on in fisheries, but we also see this as a very large-scale ecological experiment.

How did you choose the five species that you studied (roundnose grenadier, onion-eye grenadier, blue hake, spiny eel and spinytail skate)?

Devine: These are some of the more abundant deep-water species, and the data are there for them.

Haedrich: We needed to measure declines over three generations, but those data are generally lacking. We know that declines in other species are taking place, but we don't know the baseline or the generation time.

You call for urgent action to address the depletion of these species. What specific policies would you recommend?

Devine: Implementing marine protected areas — setting aside particular habitats or areas where these species spawn. Also, more informed catch quotas. Right now, the catch quotas aren't based on anything biological.

How do you think Canadian policy-makers will react to this study?

Haedrich: It takes a while for research to get into the system. If there is some awareness of problems, the wheels begin to turn slowly, and I suspect that there will be some impact on fishing practice. The government has tried to protect fish that live in shallow water, including cod. Policy-makers are in a tight place though, because lots of jobs depend on these fisheries. The point we are trying to make is that aggressive fishing affects not just species such as cod, halibut and redfish, but extends to other members of the fish community.