MIAMI, March 29 (UPI) -- U.S. and Canadian researchers say over fishing large sharks has allowed smaller sharks to wipe out bay scallops on the Atlantic Coast.
A team led by Dalhousie University biologist Ransom Myers has found that the removal of predatory sharks such as bull, great white, dusky and hammerhead along the U.S. Atlantic Coast has led to an explosion of ray, skate and small shark prey species that feed on shellfish.
The report, published in the journal Science, builds on a 2003 study that showed rapid declines in great sharks in the northwest Atlantic since the mid-1980s.
"Large sharks have been functionally eliminated from the east coast of the (United States), meaning that they can no longer perform their ecosystem role as top predators," co-author Julia Baum of Dalhousie said in a release.
The report said cownose rays completely devastated the scallop population, putting an end to North Carolina's bay scallop fishery.
Sharks are targeted in numerous fisheries and are snagged as bycatch in fisheries targeting tuna and swordfish.
Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science, said the findings "underscore the need to take a more holistic ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management."
