Reference
- fisheriesa general term used to denote all the activities concerned with the catching of fish commercially, whether by long-lining, net, or other means. Until about 1900, commercial fishing was largely unregulated. However, the introduction of modern fishing boats fitted with refrigeration—which allows the boats to remain longer over fishing grounds—and electronic aids such as sonar, meant that regulations on an international scale have had to be introduced. International efforts to try and curb overfishing, and to clamp down on those doing it illegally, are one of the environmental issues facing mankind today.
The carbon dating of fish bones in kitchen middens has shown that humankind has been catching marine fish for tens of thousands of years. In the 19th century a committee of investigation chaired by T. H. Huxley (1825–95) concluded that the oceans offer an inexhaustible resource of fish, and this attitude prevailed for decades afterwards. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2000 worldwide marine fisheries landed a little under 100 million tonnes of fish, providing 15% of animal protein, amounting to 13 kilograms (28 lb) per capita. However, this figure underestimates the fish that were killed, because at least 20% more were discarded as trash fish and by-catch.
Trawls dragged along the seabed leave a trail of destruction. It is estimated that over half the area of the North Sea is trawled over each year, some parts as frequently as ten times. Globally, over 50% of fish stocks are either overfished or fished to their maximum sustainable capacity, so fishery scientists are desperately seeking to establish how the catches can be maintained while still enabling fishermen to make a living. Marine fishing and aquaculture gives employment to about 20 million people worldwide, and has an annual value of $55 billion. The scales of various fisheries range from individual artisanal fishermen using simple basic equipment catching fish for their own consumption, to large technically sophisticated fishing boats that are fishing to sell their catch for profit.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
Perspectives
Fishing for a Solution
Fishing for a Solution provides a detailed, policy-based account of the development of Canada's fisheries relations with the European Union. It covers over 35 years of this contentious international relationship, from the extension of Canada's fisheries jurisdiction to 200 miles in 1977 and the creation of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) two years later, to the development of a proposed new NAFO Convention in 2007, which awaits formal approval. Based on the experience of participants from inside the deliberations and negotiations, the book explores the impact of Canada's internal politics on international fisheries negotiations. For anyone interested in the workings of Canadian foreign policy, resource policy or in the complexities of managing international relations, it offers a unique account of the development of Canada-EU fisheries relations, blending the academic perspective of a long-time student of those relations with the insights of two former senior public servants who led the international affairs directorate of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans .
All the Fish in the Sea
Between 1949 and 1955, the State Department pushed for an international fisheries policy grounded in maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The concept is based on a confidence that scientists can predict, theoretically, the largest catch that can be taken from a species' stock over an indefinite period. And while it was modified in 1996 with passage of the Sustained Fisheries Act, MSY is still at the heart of modern American fisheries management. As fish populations continue to crash, however, it is clear that MSY is itself not sustainable. Indeed, the concept has been widely criticized by scientists for ignoring several key factors in fisheries management and has led to the devastating collapse of many fisheries. Carmel Finley reveals that the fallibility of MSY lies at its very inception--as a tool of government rather than science. The foundational doctrine of MSY emerged at a time when the US government was using science to promote and transfer Western knowledge and technology, and to ensure that American ships and planes would have free passage through the world's seas and skies. Finley charts the history of US fisheries science using MSY as her focus, and in particular its application to halibut, tuna, and salmon fisheries. Fish populations the world over are threatened, and All the Fish in the Sea helps to sound warnings of the effect of any management policies divested from science itself.
Food from the Sea
Although the United States and other affluent nations havemore than an adequate food supply, other nations daily facethe specter of starvation. The world now has a critical population/food dilemma of potentially major proportions. Production fromthe sea and the land is not keeping pace with a world populationthat is doubling every thirty-five years. Unless this age-oldMalthusian problem is solved, millions face starvation and ultimatelydeath.The situation has stimulated substantial international interestin the sea as a source of food and raw materials. The potentialof the sea-not as a panacea, but as an important source of proteinto augment the world's food supplies and thereby as a meansof mitigating the crises we face-is a continuing theme throughoutthis book. At present, fish provide approximately 9 percentof the world's protein. Fish are sought not only for food butalso for recreation and pleasure. What forces determine the presentsupply and demand for fishery products? More important,what steps are needed to utilize the full potential of the sea asa source of food and recreation? This book explores these forcesand thus provides an insight into food potential from the sea.
Future of Commercial Fishing
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Technology has allowed an efficiency that is devastating to fisheries. In some U.S. fisheries conservation is a major priority. Aquaculture and better fishery science may take pressure off wild stocks.
Dangers of Commercial Fishing
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowAcoustic echo sounders transmits pings to the ocean floor and computerized chart plotters have replaced paper nautical charts. The fishing industry is in danger because of over fishing. Fishermen face potential disaster everyday they are at sea.
Model Fishery
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowSteve D'amato and Greenberg discuss economic, social, and environmental aspects of aquaculture. They visit Faroe Island, where ecologically safe salmon are farmed. The CEO of KVaroy explains differences in his company's methods.
Online Resources
- FisheryThe aim of the present study was to establish the baseline data on fishery biology of Sillaginopsis panijus which is very endemic in the southern coastal waters of Bangladesh. Altogether 300 individuals of S. panijus were sampled from five catchment areas within the Ganges delta in which males represent 46% and females 54% of the total sampled population. The overall sex ratio in the populations agrees with the expected value of 1:1 in normal population. The values of allometric coefficient (b) of the LWRs indicated positive allometric growth (b > 3) in female and combined sexes, while male showed a negative allometric growth (b < 3). All the relationships among length parameters (SL–TL, SL–FL and TL–FL) of the species were found significant with all (r2) values being >0.900. The mean values of CFs for males were higher than those of females in all different length classes. The study would expedite future studies on population assessment and sustainable conservation of the fish species along the southern coastal region of Bangladesh.
- The fishery went away: The impacts of long-term fishery closures on young people's experience and perception of fisheries employment in Newfoundland coastal communitiesThere is a growing body of research documenting the impacts of fisheries collapses on communities and fisheries workers. Less attention has been paid to the sustainable use of fisheries resources so that future generations have access to these resources, or to the creation of mechanisms that might contribute to the intergenerational continuity of recruitment of fisheries workers and the regeneration of fisheries communities. In this paper we report on young people’s experiences and perceptions of fisheries employment in Newfoundland and Labrador to deepen our understanding of the resiliency of small-scale fisheries. We found that these young people’s experiences of fisheries employment are extremely limited and their perceptions of the quality of fisheries work is primarily negative while, at the same time, they recognize its importance to the vitality of their communities. We argue that stock collapses and subsequent downsizing and regulatory changes in the industry have disrupted intergenerational continuity in fisheries work and shaped how young people view their communities and options.
The World's Largest Fishery
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowCaptain Juan Castro discusses advantages of night fishing; Peruvian anchoveta catches are not for human consumption. Greenberg explains reduction fishery operations. Former Vice Minister of Fisheries Patricia Majluf believes people should eat the omega three rich anchovies, not export them for aquaculture.