Commercial Fishing
Traditionally they have been little exploited for human food, but are a major target of "industrial fishing" for animal feed and fertilizer. Increasing fishing of them is thought to be causing problems for some of their natural predators, especially the auks which take them in deeper water.
An instance of this was the RSPB linking a population crash of sea birds in the North Sea to fishing for sand eels. This led to political pressure for the closure of this fishery; the seabird populations subsequently improved. However, a second population crash of seabirds which occurred with no effect on the stocks of sand eel, cast doubt on this link.
Read more about this topic: Sand Eel
Famous quotes containing the words commercial and/or fishing:
“The commercial class has always mistrusted verbal brilliancy and wit, deeming such qualities, perhaps with some justice, frivolous and unprofitable.”
—Dorothy Nevill (1826–1913)
“O mud
For watermelons gutted to the crust,
Mud for the mole-tide harbor, mud for mouse,
Mud for the armored Diesel fishing tubs that thud
A year and a day to wind and tide; the dust
Is on this skipping heart that shakes my house,”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)