Eutrophication on the North Sea Continental Zone, a Blessing in Disguise.

摘要

North Sea landings of demersal fish rose after 1963 to more than 1 million tons from a rather constant level of about 400,000 tons since 1909. Landings of bivalves from the Dutch coastal zone increased greatly after 1950. From the data presented, a structural change in productivity of the Southern and Central North Sea in the period 1950-1985 as the result of eutrophication of the continental coastal waters emerges as the most likely cause of the enhanced commercial production. Therefore, the continuing decrease of the discharge of phosphate to the southern North Sea since the beginning of the eighties, is likely to have negative effects on the production of fish and shellfish in the S-E North Sea.