Long-lived deep-sea fishes imperiled by technology, overfishing

Many commercially prized fish from the depths of the world's oceans are severely threatened by over-fishing and the species' ability to recover is constrained by the fishes' long lifespans and low reproductive success, a panel of experts said today at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science. Some of the fish species living at depths greater than 500 meters take decades to reach breeding maturity, so there are no quick-fix remedies available to replenish the population, said Selina Heppell, a fisheries biologist from Oregon State University.