Fishing down the deep: Accounting for within-species changes in depth of fishing

New estimates of the global mean depth of fishing, which consider both the between and within species changes over time, showed a stronger shift to deeper water than estimated previously based only on between-species changes. The new estimates show a linear increase in the mean depth of fishing of 62.5 m decade(-1), corresponding to an increase of about 350 m for the period since 1950. These values are about 5 times higher than those obtained by using between-species change in catch composition over time, suggesting that deep water species and habitats are under a more serious threat from fishing than hitherto assumed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.