Fisheries Series Part II: Commercial Policy & Management for Commercial Fishing

SAILFISHVERSION 14 TEENS TAKE ON BILLFISH CONSERVATION FISHERIES SERIES Part II: Commercial POLICY & MANAGEMENT for Commercial Fishing All About AQUACULTURE RECAPTURE MAPS Jr. Angler Profile SALES DE LA BARRE Cutler Bay Academy Welcomes The Billfish Foundation & Carey Chen CONTENTS Inside this issue of Sailfish FFEATURESEATURES 3 Fisheries Series Part II: Commercial Fishing 5 Aquaculture 7 Policy & Management of Commercial Fisheries 8 Commercial Fishing Review Questions 9 Cutler Bay Academy Students Enjoy Visit from TBF & Carey Chen 10 Billfish Advocacy at South Broward High ALSO INSIDE Get Involved: Track your school’s climate impact Recapture Maps Jr Angler Profile – Sales de La Barre We would like to extend our gratitude to the Fleming Family Foundation and the William H. and Mattie Wattis Harris Foundation for their belief in education as an important conservation tool. The Billfish Founation, educators, students, parents, the ocean and the fish are grateful for our sponsors generous donation that made this issue of Sailfish possible. Copyright 2014 • The Billfish Foundation • Editor: Peter Chaibongsai • Associate Editor: Elizabeth Black • Graphic Designer: Jackie Marsolais Sister Publications: Billfish and Spearfish magazines • Published by The Billfish Foundation • For subscription information contact: [email protected] by Jorie Heilman COMMERCIAL FISHING by Jorie Heilman What provides nutrition to 3 billion people gear advanced, humans could pursue food Top left: Aquacage snapper farm. Top right: Korean fishing boat. Below top to bottom: worldwide and is relied upon by 500 sources that were farther off the coast. Fishing boat in India. Commercial longline boat. Fishermen in the Seychelles. Commercial million people for their livelihoods? The Fish traps and nets were among the fishermen on a dock fixing a net. answer is commercial fishing, which, along first methods, and more modern fishing with artisanal and recreational fishing, techniques like hook and line are thought comprises the three sectors of the fishing to have started around 8,000 to 3,000 industry. This article is the second in years ago. a series that will focus on the different sectors of the fishing industry. Large-scale commercial fisheries took longer to progress than subsistence Commercial fishing is fishing done for fishing. By the 1500s the cod fishery in profit, usually on a large scale. Commercial Newfoundland had been established. The fishing can be broken down into two main 1600’s saw the development of the whaling categories, wild and farmed fisheries industry, another of the first large scale (aquaculture). Wild fisheries include an fisheries. Fishermen relied on schooners incredibly diverse array of methods and and other sailing vessels until the end of involve many different target species. the 1800s, when mechanization of the Aquaculture is both an ancient practice fleets greatly increased fishing capacity and and an emerging industry. The technology efficiency. Soon, the demand for fishery is improving rapidly, allowing more species products grew to such an extent, that to be farmed and sold. Both fields come larger catches became necessary. This with their own unique sets of conservation was accomplished by increasing the size issues and are interesting to study. However, and amount of fishing gear deployed. Long this article will only focus on the history, lining, a type of commercial fishing in which methods, and stakeholders of wild fisheries. hundreds of baited hooks are attached on a single line and set out behind a vessel, Fishing has a long and rich history. The first developed during this time to meet the real evidence that fishing took place is an increased demand for fish. analysis of remains found in China that date back 40,000 years. The remains show In order to meet the needs of the seafood that man consumed mostly freshwater market around the world, various fishing species. Archeological evidence indicates methods are implemented, targeting that seafood consumption probably began different species. The most common gear with mollusks, then freshwater species and types used by US fishermen are trawl then marine coastal species. The spread of nets, purse seine and longlines. Trawl fishing from inland to pelagic open ocean nets are ones that are dragged behind species can be explained by the evolution of fishing vessels and move on or parallel to technology over time. As boats and fishing the ocean floor. Another common fishing 3 PURSE SEINE Photo by: C. Ortiz Rojas, NOAA Fisheries. Courtesy of : Australian Fisheries Management Authority BOAT CIRCLES SCHOOL PURSE WIRE IS WINCHED IN, WITH WALL OF NET GATHERING THE NET & HARVESTING THE FISH Left: About 400 tons of jack mackerel caught by a purse seiner. Above is a diagram of how a purse seiner works. Purse seines are considered unsustain- able because they are not specifically designed to catch one type of species. technique is a purse seine. Seine nets Commercial fisheries target a wide governments, non-profits, exporters and have been used as long as fishing has variety of species ranging from shellfish the general public (consumers). These existed, but have grown larger and like clams and oysters, to very small are just a handful of those involved in more complex over time. These large fish like anchovies, to large highly the wild and farmed fisheries industry. nets encircle the fish and work well for migratory species like yellowfin tuna, It is estimated that one out of six jobs in catching species that form schools, like and cover every species in between. the U.S. rely on the marine environment anchovies, herring and some species of If someone will eat it, then someone in some way. tuna. Other types of fishing common in will catch and sell it. Due to the wide- commercial U.S. fisheries are long lines, The United Nations gillnets, dredges, and pots & traps. Convention on the Law of the Sea has 4 designated that every 3 photos below: Seaweed farming. Longline country have an mussel harvesting, and longline trawling. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) stretching two hundred nautical miles from their coastline, in which they have the right to all marine resources. The United States has the largest EEZ in the world, ranging coastline in the United States, covering an impressive 4.38 million each region specializes in different square miles –remember the USA has fisheries. For example, the Northeast coastlines outside of the domestic U.S. is known for lobsters, shellfish and like Alaska, Guam, Puerto Rico, etc. groundfish like black sea bass, whereas This area is even larger than the land the Pacific Northwest is famous for area of the U.S. which means there is salmon, halibut and crab. an opportunity for extensive fishing of which the U.S. can take advantage, but Fishing is a vitally important industry also must take care to manage wisely. with many stakeholders. It is estimated Of the three different fishing sectors, that fish (and shellfish) provide commercial industries are by far the essential nutrition for 3 billion people largest, which means they have major across the globe. 500 million people impacts on conservation worldwide. in developing countries rely directly or Careful management is required to indirectly on fishing for their livelihoods. ensure the millions who rely on fish for Stakeholders include fishermen, fish food and employment can continue to processors, stores and supermarkets, count on them for years to come. fisheries managers, federal and state 4 AQUACULTURE Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic and the farmed area. This method can organisms such as fish, crustaceans, be good for large species that require 5 molluscs and aquatic plants. a lot of space, such as cobia, grouper Top: Salmon farm. Above: Alaskan purse Aquaculture involves cultivating and tuna. seigner lifting a catch of Herring. (NOAA) freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions. While Another type of aquaculture is abalone. Land based farms like this are most people’s thoughts do not go right Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture good for species that do not require as to fish or molluscs when they think of (IMTA) or polyculture. This method much space to survive such as salmon. farming, aquaculture has been around utilizes the waste from one species to sustain another. Multi-trophic An idea similar to IMTA is aquaponics. for thousands of years and is an This combines aquaculture and increasingly common source of food. indicates that it is raising organisms at different levels of the food web. For hydroponics (growing plants in water). Historically, aquaculture has been example, an IMTA system might raise It works by setting up traditional employed by a number of cultures. a fish species like tilapia, a mollusk aquaculture fish ponds and then using 8,000 years ago, the Aborigines may like oysters and a primary producer nitrogen fixing bacteria to make the have raised eels. As early as 2,500 BCE, like seaweed. Uneaten food and waste waste water usable for growing plants. the Chinese would keep fish that got from the tilapia serve as sources of The plants purify the water allowing it trapped in lakes during floods for food. food and nutrients for the mollusks and to be reused in the aquaculture ponds. Since the late 1600s, the Japanese seaweed. This decreases the impact Many plants work well for hydroponics have been cultivating seaweed. that this type of aquaculture has on including lettuce, tomatoes and basil. the environment. Scientists need to Freshwater fish like tilapia or catfish are Aquaculture includes various methods do further study to figure out how often used in aquaponics systems. of farming marine and freshwater to maximize the environmental and Fish farming is the fastest growing organisms. One method is mariculture, economic benefits of these systems. which is raising the organisms in sector of animal production. In 1970, their natural environment. This often Not all aquaculture is done in the production was less than 1 kilogram means using pens placed in shallow ocean.

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