A Global Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Fishing on Marine Organism Species Richness

Abstract

Understanding the effect of fishing activities on marine organism species richness is important for managing fisheries. Previous reviews and meta-analyses have focused on the relationship between bottom-fishing gears and invertebrate species richness, but there is a lack of understanding around other fishing gears (e.g., long lines and gillnets) and other taxa (e.g., ray-finned fishes). The authors present an updated global meta-analysis to synthesize the effects of marine fishing on the species richness of invertebrates and ray-finned fishes and how a broader array of fishing gears affect marine organism species richness.