Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems Jeremy B C Jackson et al Science 293 629 2001 DOI 10 1126 science 1059199 The following resources related to this article are available online at www sciencemag org this information is current as of September 4 2007 Supporting Online Material can be found at http www sciencemag org cgi content full 293 5530 629 DC1 A list of selected additional articles on the Science Web sites related to this article can be found at http www sciencemag org cgi content full 293 5530 629 related content This article cites 62 articles 16 of which can be accessed for free http www sciencemag org cgi content full 293 5530 629 otherarticles This article has been cited by 625 article s on the ISI Web of Science This article has been cited by 57 articles hosted by HighWire Press see http www sciencemag org cgi content full 293 5530 629 otherarticles This article appears in the following subject collections Ecology http www sciencemag org cgi collection ecology Information about obtaining reprints of this article or about obtaining permission to reproduce this article in whole or in part can be found at http www sciencemag org about permissions dtl Science print ISSN 0036 8075 online ISSN 1095 9203 is published weekly except the last week in December by the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1200 New York Avenue NW Washington DC 20005 Copyright 2001 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science all rights reserved The title Science is a registered trademark of AAAS Downloaded from www sciencemag org on September 4 2007 Updated information and services including high resolution figures can be found in the online version of this article at http www sciencemag org cgi content full 293 5530 629 ECOLOGY THROUGH TIME REVIEW Historical Overfishing and the Recent Collapse of Coastal Ecosystems Ecological extinction caused by overfishing precedes all other pervasive human disturbance to coastal ecosystems including pollution degradation of water quality and anthropogenic climate change Historical abundances of large consumer species were fantastically large in comparison with recent observations Paleoecological archaeological and historical data show that time lags of decades to centuries occurred between the onset of overfishing and consequent changes in ecological communities because unfished species of similar trophic level assumed the ecological roles of overfished species until they too were overfished or died of epidemic diseases related to overcrowding Retrospective data not only help to clarify underlying causes and rates of ecological change but they also demonstrate achievable goals for restoration and management of coastal ecosystems that could not even be contemplated based on the limited perspective of recent observations alone Few modern ecological studies take into account the former natural abundances of large marine vertebrates There are dozens of places in the Caribbean named after large sea turtles whose adult populations now number in the tens of thousands rather than the tens of millions of a few centuries ago 1 2 Whales Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 0244 USA Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archeology Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Box 2072 Balboa Republic of Panama 3National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis 735 State Street Suite 300 Santa Barbara CA 93101 USA 4Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Zoology University of Florida Gainesville FL 32611 USA 5Department of Wildlife Fish and Conservation Biology University of California Davis CA 95616 USA 6Department of Anthropology 155 Pettengill Hall Bates College Lewiston ME 04240 USA 7 Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia 8Department of Anthropology University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403 USA 9U S Geological Survey A 316 Earth and Marine Sciences Building University of California Santa Cruz CA 95064 USA 10 Center for Coral Reef Biodiversity Department of Marine Biology James Cook University Townsville QLD 4811 Australia 11Department of Geophysical Sciences University of Chicago 5734 South Ellis Avenue Chicago IL 60637 USA 12Institute of Marine Sciences University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 3431 Arendell Street Morehead City NC 28557 USA 13 Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington DC 20560 0121 USA 14School of Marine Sciences University of Maine Darling Marine Center Orono ME 04573 USA 15Department of Ecology Evolution and Marine Biology University of California Santa Barbara CA 93106 USA 1 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed Email jbcj ucsd edu Deceased manatees dugongs sea cows monk seals crocodiles codfish jewfish swordfish sharks and rays are other large marine vertebrates that are now functionally or entirely extinct in most coastal ecosystems 3 10 Place names for oysters pearls and conches conjure up other ecological ghosts of marine invertebrates that were once so abundant as to pose hazards to navigation 11 but are witnessed now only by massive garbage heaps of empty shells Such ghosts represent a far more profound problem for ecological understanding and management than currently realized Evidence from retrospective records strongly suggests that major structural and functional changes due to overfishing 12 occurred worldwide in coastal marine ecosystems over many centuries Severe overfishing drives species to ecological extinction because overfished populations no longer interact significantly with other species in the community 5 Overfishing and ecological extinction predate and precondition modern ecological investigations and the collapse of marine ecosystems in recent times raising the possibility that many more marine ecosystems may be vulnerable to collapse in the near future Importance of Historical Data Most ecological research is based on local field studies lasting only a few years and conducted sometime after the 1950s without longer term historical perspective 1 8 13 Such observations fail to encompass the life spans of many ecologically important species 13 14 and critically important environmental disturbances such as extreme cyclones or ENSO El Nin o Southern Oscillation events 8 as well as longer term cycles or shifts in oceanographic regimes and productivity 15 17 To help address
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