Farming, forestry and fisheries make up just 1% of the non-oil economy, but food and drink production is far larger, with revenues of £13bn-plus, and Scottish salmon and whisky exported around the world.
This groundbreaking study lead by Chris Costello, PhD shows that "data poor" fisheries make up a majority of the world's catch, around 80percentt.
According to a recent World Bank study, fisheries make up one quarter of Mauritania's natural wealth, but the waters off the country in north-western Africa are being overfished.
Additionally, the use of multiple sizes of gillnets, as is frequently the case in commercial fisheries, makes the gillnet selectivity curves even more difficult to estimate.
The BAP on fisheries makes numerous references to the potential impacts of fisheries on genetic diversity and stresses the necessity to guarantee 'genetic sustainability' and safeguard genetic stocks (see Table 3).
Finally, the high species diversity in catch composition (more than 150 important commercial species) of Mediterranean fisheries makes it difficult to detect a decline, changing patterns and trends of individual stocks.
These differences affect the level and nature of the contribution that fisheries make to national, sub-regional and regional food security and economies, as well as affecting relative priorities or most appropriate choices of action.
Pollution doubtless put pressure on species inhabiting the area, but the timing of fish population declines in relation to developments in the fishery make it clear that it was fishing, not other human impacts, that has primary responsibility for the downfall of Clyde fish populations.
It is also home to scores of thousands of people who depend on its resources – from artisanal fishing communities to the commercial fisheries sector – making it in many ways a microcosm of the entire Coral Triangle bioregion, where environmental protection must be balanced with the needs of growing coastal populations.
