Coastal marine habitats at the interface of land and sea are subject to threats from human
activities in both realms. Researchers have attempted to quantify how these various threats …

Overfishing is a major environmental problem in the oceans. In addition to the direct loss of
the exploited species, the very act of fishing, particularly with mobile bottom gear, destroys …

The great mass extinctions of the fossil record were a major creative force that provided
entirely new kinds of opportunities for the subsequent explosive evolution and diversification …

Towed bottom-fishing gears are thought to constitute one of the largest global anthropogenic
sources of disturbance to the seabed and its biota. The current drive towards an ecosystem …

T he oceans encompass habitats ranging from highly productive coastal regions to lightless,
high-pressure, and low-temperature deep-sea environments. The benthic (bottom-living) …

The 1996 Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act mandates that
regional fishery management councils must designate essential fish habitat (EFH) for each …

Marine protected areas are increasingly being used to protect biologically rich habitats,
resolve user conflicts, and help restore overexploited stocks and degraded areas. The …

Because human actions alter the physical nature of aquatic ecosystems similarly worldwide,
the extinction risk among many freshwater fishes that share particular life-history traits may …

Concerns over the potential ecological effects of fishing have increased with the expansion
of fisheries throughout the marine waters of the United States. Effects of Trawling and …

There are ample data that suggest fisheries exploitation affects not only target stocks but
also communities of organisms, ecological processes, and even entire ecosystems …