ABSTRACT
The long-term sustainability of biological resources in the sea requires the application of sound principles for the conservation and management of resources at risk from overexploitation, environmental stress, and global climate change. Mitigating actions to reduce stress on living resources in the oceans are required to ensure the long-term sustainability of biomass yields. Scientists and managers of the states of Oregon and California have developed a plan for research, monitoring, and management of marine resources of the Northern California Current ecosystem. In the North Sea ecosystem the large-scale changes in the species composition of the catches from a pelagic dominance to demersal species dominance during the 1960s and 1970s have been attributed to both changing hydrographic conditions and overexploitation. The need for both biological and environmental monitoring in the North Sea ecosystem has been emphasized following the Symposium on Long-Term Changes in the Fish Stocks of the North Sea ecosystem.
