Can ecological knowledge catch up with deep-water fishing? a North Atlantic perspective

Deep-water fishes have: only recently moved from being objects of scientific curiosity to objects of commercial exploitation. For an increasing number of species, today a single trawl captures more specimens than science has ever seen since the time of Linnaeus. The deep-water environments now being fished are more complex both physically and biologically in general than is the shallower continental shelf. yet the shelf experience directs deep-water fishery expansion. Ecological considerations suggest that deep-water populations and ecosystems may be even more vulnerable to disruption than were those of the shelf. But the rate at which scientific study progresses lags well behind the rate at which deep-water fisheries develop. It often seems, in fact, that a fishery may be over before scientific study begins in earnest. Approaches to understanding based on theory and a holistic appreciation of how the deep-water world works can help, as can critical examination and mapping of a fishery's history. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.