A new article in Proceedings of the Royal Society B about the effects of balanced fishing from Nis Jacobsen et al. Click through if you want to know more
The consequences of balanced harvesting of fish communities
Jacobsen NS, Gislason H, Andersen KH. 2014
Proc. R. Soc. B 281: 20132701. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2701
"Balanced harvesting" is a radical new proposal to the management of fished populations. The concept is to balance the fishery with the production of new biomass. A balanced fishery is unselective and targets mainly small, and often immature individuals, and to a much smaller degree large fish. It is a controversial concept, as this fishing strategy allows young fish to be caught before they have a chance to reproduce.
We use a fish community model where fish are resolved in sizes, from egg to spawning adults, to investigate the consequences of this pattern compared to more traditional fishing patterns. We find that unselective "Balanced harvesting" can provide a slightly larger total protein catch and fewer disturbances to the fish community than a traditional selective fishing pattern. We also find that the multispecies maximum sustainable yield is reached at high fishing mortalities, where large species collapse. However, the catch is comprised of mostly very small fish that return low prices and are unsuitable for a Western market. So, even though balanced harvesting has some good properties it is an unlikely strategy for Western fisheries management.
Read the article here