In a recent paper by Villy Christensen and colleagues the work confirming the decline in larger species of fish around the world is confirmed. Once believed immutable due to their massive size and volume, today’s oceans are no longer the same oceans of our grandparents. In just a few generations, human activity has radically transformed ocean ecosystems. Case in point: Recent research has found that populations of predatory fish around the world have declined by a shocking two-thirds in the last century alone, with most of the damage coming since the advent of industrialized fishing practices in the 1970s, reports Scientific American. Although you might not think at first that fewer predators lurking in the oceans is such a bad thing, animals at the top of the food chain can be important indicators of ecological health. They are also often considered keystone species, and their disappearance can harm the ecosystem all the way down the food chain. To read more:
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