11 research outputs found
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Export After Flooding of Agricultural Land by Coastal Managed Realignment
Stable C and N Isotope Composition of Primary Producers and Consumers Along an Estuarine Salinity Gradient: Tracing Mixing Patterns and Trophic Discrimination
Seed selection and storage with nano-silver and copper as potential antibacterial agents for the seagrass Zostera marina: implications for habitat restoration
Relative Impacts of Natural Stressors on Life History Traits Underlying Resilience of Intertidal Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.)
High Sulfate Reduction Efficiency in a UASB Using an Alternative Source of Sulfidogenic Sludge Derived from Hydrothermal Vent Sediments
By-catch Reduction Techniques in European Fisheries: Traditional Methods and Potential Innovations
Fishing activities
Unlike the major anthropogenic changes that terrestrial and coastal habitats underwent during the last centuries such as deforestation, river engineering, agricultural practices or urbanism, those occurring underwater are veiled from our eyes and have continued nearly unnoticed. Only recent advances in remote sensing and deep marine sampling technologies have revealed the extent and magnitude of the anthropogenic impacts to the seafloor. In particular, bottom trawling, a fishing technique consisting of dragging a net and fishing gear over the seafloor to capture bottom-dwelling living resources has gained attention among the scientific community, policy makers and the general public due to its destructive effects on the seabed. Trawling gear produces acute impacts on biota and the physical substratum of the seafloor by disrupting the sediment column structure, overturning boulders, resuspending sediments and imprinting deep scars on muddy bottoms. Also, the repetitive passage of trawling gear over the same areas creates long-lasting, cumulative impacts that modify the cohesiveness and texture of sediments. It can be asserted nowadays that due to its recurrence, mobility and wide geographical extent, industrial trawling has become a major force driving seafloor change and affecting not only its physical integrity on short spatial scales but also imprinting measurable modifications to the geomorphology of entire continental margins.Fil: Oberle, F.K.J.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; EspañaFil: Puig, P.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; EspañaFil: Martín de Nascimento, Jacobo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentin