When hurricanes temporarily halt fishing, marine food webs recover quickly
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 - 11:30
in Earth & Climate
Fishing has a strong impact on coastal marine food webs, but it's a hard effect to measure. When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in 2017, it temporarily halted fishing in one area of the Gulf Coast and set up a natural experiment for our team. We found that when the hurricane halted recreational fishing, populations of sport fish rebounded almost immediately, causing a cascade of effects throughout marine food webs in the area.