Fish in the hand of humans – a Baltic Seminar. At the Baltic seminar last week two interesting presentations were given, one about the linkage between benthic vegetation cover and fish recruitment and production and the other one the strong impact by large fishing companies.First, Johan Eklöf, Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, presented the impact of cascading effects and the close interaction between rooted aquatic plants and seaweeds and fish recruitment of for instance pike and perch in shallow Baltic Sea bays. Shown both in more and more scientific studies and experiments.
In the first figure the positive effect of large fish is shown on the filamentous algae and how rooted aquatic plants benefit the recruitment of fish .e.g perch in shallow parts of the archipelago.
Fig. 2 shows that there seems to be a threshold of 20 % cover that is optimal for recruitment.This was followed by a presentation by Henrik Österblom, from Stockholm resilience centre about the large impact of big companies managing the fish stocks, both, on a global scale and in the Baltic Sea.
The seminar ended with a panel discussion addressing the question if the fish stocks are in the hand of humans and if we will be able to find ways of sustainable use of and management of fish stocks.
Can the knowledge of the strong link between vegetation and fish recruitment be transferred to better management of shallow bays and coastal areas? Sofia Wikström and Gustaf Almqvist at the Baltic Sea centre, Stockholm University added to the discussion about the need of further improving our understanding of these complex ecosystems for a long-term sustainable management of fish species like pike and perch.
Baltic Sea Weed Blog 