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The Response of Fish Communities to Climate and Human-Induced Changes Inferred from Fishery Landings in an Enclosed Bay

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Abstract

Variations in the fish community structure in Omura Bay, an enclosed bay in the East China Sea, were investigated using long-term fishery landing data over the past five decades (1965–2006). We confirmed that the fish community structure in Omura Bay showed three conspicuous regimes during the study period. Anchovies dominated in the pelagic domain with abundant and various demersal fish species in the first phase (1965–1978). Demersal fish declined remarkably with the dominance of sardines in the pelagic domain during the second phase (1979–1987), and the fish community was simplified with the return of anchovies and no recovery of demersal fish in the third phase (1988–2006). These changes were significantly related with periodic large-scale climate changes and cumulative regional-scale human impacts. The replacement of sardine/anchovy caused by a climate regime shift in the North Pacific contributed to the fish community regime shifts in Omura Bay. Moreover, habitat degradation such as depletion of dissolved oxygen combined with climate-induced changes in food web systems resulted in a rapid reduction in demersal fish. Contraction of the habitat volume due to an increase in oxygen-restricted water simplified the fish community structure and eventually reduced fishery landings in Omura Bay. These findings demonstrate that long-term fish community responses to large-scale climate changes and regional-scale human impacts can be observed in a coastal enclosed bay, providing useful information for fisheries management in areas with climate and human-induced changes.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by a grant-in-aid for scientific research (No. 22248022) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. We thank Dr. K. Abo at the National Research Institute of Aquaculture, Fisheries Research Agency, for providing the Omura Bay temperature data.

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  1. Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nagasaki University, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan

    Sangdeok Chung, Hirokazu Suzaki & Hideaki Nakata

  2. Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Oiwake, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Akihide Kasai

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  1. Sangdeok Chung
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  2. Hirokazu Suzaki
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Correspondence to Sangdeok Chung.

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Communicated by Charles Simenstad

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Chung, S., Suzaki, H., Kasai, A. et al. The Response of Fish Communities to Climate and Human-Induced Changes Inferred from Fishery Landings in an Enclosed Bay. Estuaries and Coasts 38, 1365–1375 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9884-4

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