欢迎参加“线下活动”的民意调查，请留下你的想法和建议，我们会根据大家的投票热度来组织活动。BY MARINA BAMBANS & CLAIRA YOUNG, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TERRESTRIAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MAJORS, AND SARAH M. COLOSIMO, AQUATIC AND FISHERY SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE
Imagine walking into a bar where the walls are lined with photographs of fishermen showing off their trophy catches. You might first notice the unmistakable, or even regrettable, fashions of the decades from which they were taken, as well as the enormity of the prized fish caught. But to some scientists’s eyes, these photos are more than just a time warp; they hold important ecological data.
Dr. Loren McClenachan is a historical ecologist who thinks creatively about how to fill gaps in our understanding of ecosystems and species abundances through time. She uses historical data in the form of photographs as well as maps, nautical charts, exploitation and trade documents, newspaper articles, logbooks, catch reports, and oral histories to travel into the past and view information that would otherwise be all but lost.
The core principle of historical ecology is that “understanding present biotic conditions requires viewing them through the lens of past interactions with human societies” (McClenachan et al. 2015). By considering data that extends further back in time, we can obtain a more panoramic picture rather than just a snapshot from today. Dr. McClenachan uses “then and now” comparisons between historical and modern ecological data, with a goal to inform current management and conservation decisions.
Trophy fish caught on Key West charter boats: (top to bottom) 1957, early 1980s, 2007. (Photos: Monroe County Public Library and McClenachan)
A picture is worth a thousand words data points
Dr. McClenachan used photographs taken between 1956 and 1985 to document the loss of the large trophy fish in the Florida Keys, and compared them with photographs that she took in 2007. She found a major shift in species composition across reef communities through time, with larger predatory fish being fished first, followed by a steep decline in the sizes and weights of fish caught more recently. Historically, catches were dominated by large sharks and goliath groupers, but today, the catches are almost exclusively small snappers. Interestingly, Dr. McClenachan found that the cost of fishing trips did not decrease, meaning customers paid approximately the same price for a ~20 kg trophy fish as they do for a ~2 kg trophy fish now, some 50 years later.
A case of shifting baseline syndrome: where did all the fish go?
The loss of top predators in the Florida Keys stems from chronic overfishing of the most desired, or largest fish, and Dr. McClenachan’s work is a pivotal example of shifting baselines. Shifting baseline syndrome is a measure of the ecosystem at a point in time that becomes the new normal, or as Dr. Daniel Pauly explains: “each generation of fisheries scientists accepts as a baseline the stock size and species composition that occurred at the beginning of their careers, and uses this to evaluate changes” (Pauly 1995).
People will continue to fish while marine ecosystems undergo extreme changes in community structure
Dr. Loren McClenachan
If the motivation of trophy fishing is to be out on the water, beer in hand and catching fish, then maybe relative size or cost is irrelevant. But without historical context, how would we know otherwise? It is hard to deny the feelings that these trophy fish photographs evoke, reminiscent of a time when our marine ecosystems were in a better state. Dr. McClenachan’s novel research shows how history can inspire and motivate our conservation of marine ecosystems, and can even benefit users.
A little history in marine historical ecology
The discipline of marine historical ecology continues to grow, and is important for animals that have been significantly exploited over short periods of time. For example, Kittinger et al. (2011) used catch landings and restaurant menus to consider the depletion of green turtles in Hawaii, once thought to have been attributed to tourism. This study revealed that the abundance of green turtles was depleted prior to the major tourism influx to the Hawaiian Islands, and was caused by increasing fishing pressure due to local market demand. SAFS’ very own Dr. Trevor Branch employed logbook records to establish baseline data for Antarctic blue whales (Branch et al. 2004). He showed that while the population had been increasing since 1974, the current abundance was still below 1% of pre-exploitation levels and that protections should remain.
Interdisciplinary uses for historical data
Dr. McClenachan’s use of historical data serves as another excellent example of the value of interdisciplinary work, a consistent theme of this year’s Bevan Series. The integration of social science and traditional science can provide greater context to our conservation and management efforts, and has the potential to expand the reach beyond our field. The importance of historical data is clear: losing information about past populations and natural ecological variability is a risk to current marine ecosystems and protections for them into the future.
It might never to be possible to find all the necessary source documents and fill in all of the data gaps, but use of best practices shows that historical findings often produce surprising results that provide important insights on past population trends and the ability to develop hypotheses for future research (McClenachan et al. 2015).
All good things take time, and historical ecology is no exception. Dr. McClenachan invests in learning about each unique ecosystem before determining what story it might tell. She does not set out to answer specific questions immediately, instead she is inspired by what data is available.
You may never look at photographs of trophy fish in a bar as you did before — we certainly won’t. We hope that Dr. McClenachan’s research makes you, the beholder, see photographs of fisherpeople with their trophy fish and wonder about what historical data lies within. There might just be a story waiting to be told.
The article is reproduced from, https://sites.uw.edu/bevanseries/2018/02/28/data-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/
