Tag Archives: fish stocks

Fisheries management: Fatal miscalculation leads to further declining fish stocks

By | May 26
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Credits: Engin Akyurt, pexels

Every year, maximum catch limits and quotas are set across Europe in a multi-stage process; nevertheless, many fish stocks in European waters are overfished. An analysis by scientists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Kiel University shows that catch limits are not sustainable because stock sizes are systematically overestimated and the politically set quotas regularly exceed the already excessively high recommendations… Read more »

GEOMAR: Small-scale currents are the cause of biodiversity around Cape Verde

By | May 21
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Credits: Sebastian Voortman, pexels

Why is the sea around the Cape Verde Islands so unusually productive, despite being located in the middle of a nutrient-poor region of the ocean? An international research team led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has now analyzed data from two decades of interdisciplinary observations. The analysis shows that three small-scale physical processes – eddies, internal waves, and wind fields – significantly promote… Read more »

Germany also lives far beyond its means when it comes to fish

By | April 2, 2025
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Credits: falco, pixabay

Last year, 12,1 kg of fish and seafood were consumed per capita in Germany, according to preliminary figures from the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) in its current Fish Supply Balance 2024 [1]. Fish is particularly popular in Germany at Easter and is traditionally on the menu for many people on Good Friday. But what many don't know: In purely mathematical terms… Read more »

Remote-controlled underwater videos provide new insights into saddleback bass spawning aggregations in the South Pacific

By | February 26, 2025
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Credits: M. Juncker, IFREMER

An international research team used remotely operated underwater video to study the spawning grounds of saddleback bass (Plectropomus laevis) in the South Pacific. The study, conducted by the French National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology (IFREMER) and the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), provides valuable information about the species' spawning areas and courtship behavior, as well as potential conservation measures. The saddleback bass (Plectropomus laevis) is a popular food fish that is heavily fished.… Read more »

Eating elephant seals provide insights into fish abundance in the Pacific

By | February 14, 2025
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Credits: ramroh, pixabay

For the past 60 years, marine biologists at UC Santa Cruz have been observing the behavior of northern elephant seals that come to the nearby Año Nuevo Marine Reserve. Because the elephant seals gather on the beach in their thousands, generations of researchers have been able to compile more than 350.000 observations of over 50.000 animals. This long-term research project thus possesses extensive historical and real-time data on… Read more »

“Perfect wave” carries eel larvae to the Mediterranean

By | January 11, 2025
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(Credits: Marko Freese/Thünen Institute)

The European eel is an endangered species. Its larvae migrate from the Sargasso Sea to Europe. Researchers at the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology have shown for the first time how the larvae use the current cycles of the Strait of Gibraltar to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The willow-leaf larvae of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) utilize the complex tidal currents in the Strait of Gibraltar to begin their journey… Read more »

Cormorants in winter – flexible adaptable artists on the water

By | December 18, 2024
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(Credits: University of Koblenz)

As soon as outside temperatures drop, the pressure on fish populations from cormorants is particularly high in Rhineland-Palatinate's waterways, as the number of cormorants in Rhineland-Palatinate increases significantly during the winter months. The EU project ProtectFish – “Protecting threatened river fish against predation,” with the participation of scientists from the University of Koblenz, is seeking a solution to this problem through measures that protect fish stocks… Read more »