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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Photo: "Roving Bandits" Depleting Fisheries, Experts Say


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Green sea urchins eat seaweed growing on the ocean floor.

Growing demand for uni—the name for sea-urchin sushi—has prompted some fishers to move rapidly between fisheries, overharvesting the sedentary species.

To illustrate these fishers' movements, researchers have created a map showing the increasing ranges where the so-called roving bandits have been harvesting urchins since 1945 (see the map).

Photograph courtesy Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence