Evidence of indiscriminate fishing effects in one of the world's largest inland fisheries.

ABSTRACT: While human impacts like fishing have altered marine food web composition and body size, the status of the world's important tropical inland fisheries remains largely unknown. Here, we look for signatures of human impacts on the indiscriminately fished Tonle Sap fish community that supports one of the world's largest freshwater fisheries. By analyzing a 15-year time-series (2000-2015) of fish catches for 116 species obtained from an industrial-scale 'Dai' fishery, we find: (i) 78% of the species exhibited decreasing catches through time; (ii) downward trends in catches occurred primarily in medium to large-bodied species that tend to occupy high trophic levels; (iii) a relatively stable or increasing trend in catches of small-sized species, and; (iv) a decrease in the individual fish weigh

SUBMITTER: Ngor PB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5997758 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature