Abstract

One of the world’s largest and most severely deteriorated major marine ecosystems is the Black Sea. Anchovy, which has acted as the primary top predator species for the last 50 years following the depletion of large predatory fish stocks, underwent a significant stock decline around the end of the 1990s. Following the collapse, the eastern Black Sea in the south was the only area to continue having a sizable anchovy catch (400,000 tonnes), while the overall catch in the remainder of the sea was cut to almost one-third. As a result, the overfishing/recovery issue cannot be separated from recovery efforts aimed at the long-term, chronic degradation of the food web structure, and alternative fishery-related management methods must be adopted as part of an all-encompassing ecosystem-based management plan. The current study offers an ecosystem evaluation based on data, highlights the major environmental problems and dangers, and emphasises the crucial significance of a comprehensive strategy to address the connections between fisheries and ecosystems. Additionally, it emphasises the issue’s international scope.