Source: Stuff.co.nz
Author: Michael Field
A summer at Antarctica’s McMurdo Sound has come up with the alarming finding for scientists – the region’s population of toothfish shows signs of collapsing.
Since commercial fishing of the top fish predator began in the late 1990s, the scientific catch in McMurdo Sound, home to US and New Zealand bases, has fallen 81 per cent in recent catch rates relative to the pre-commercial era.
University of Auckland biologist Clive Evans says 490 hours of fishing at previously productive places in the Sound over the summer “came up with a single little fish”.
“This is telling us something.”
Continue reading: http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6595293/McMurdo-Sounds-toothfish-population-at-risk#share