THE FISH RESOURCES OF THE OCEAN The Fish Resources of the Ocean Compiled and Edited by J. A. Gulland Published by Fishing News (Books) Ltd. 23 Rosemount Avenue, West Byfleet, Surrey, England © FAO, 1971 via delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome. The copyright in this book is vested in the Food and AgricultureOrganizationof theUnited Nations, for which Fishing Nei.vs (Books) Ltd. acts as publisher. The book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, by any method or process, without written permission from the copyright holder. Applications for such permission, with an outline of the purpose and extent of the reproduction desired, should be addressed toThe Director, PublicationsDivision,Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, via delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, 00100, Italy. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or consti- tutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers. Made and Printed in Great Britain by The Whitefriars Press Limited, London and Tonbridge Contents Foreword vii IWestern Central Pacific 109 Preface viii JEastern Central Pacific 121 Map Section. xi KSouthwest Pacific 131 A Northwest Atlantic 1 LSoutheast Pacific 136 B Northeast Atlantic 14 M Southwest Atlantic 146 C Mediterranean and Black Sea 36 N Southeast Atlantic 153 D Northwest Pacific 44 0 Antarctic 162 E Northeast Pacific 65 P Oceanic Resources 169 FEastern Central Atlantic . 77 Q Molluscan Resources 180 G Western Central Atlantic. 89 R Crustacean Resources 206 H Indian Ocean . 97 S Summary 246 [y] Foreword fish resources of the ocean form one of the (2) Very much greater catches could be taken by harvest- major sources of protein in the world. Though ing the smaller and less familiar animals such as THElarge, these resources are not inexhaustible. The lantern fish or krill. planning of the efficient development of fisheries through- out the world, therefore, requires estimates of the (3)Many individual stocks of fish are, in many parts of magnitude of the fish stocks being exploited. Such the world, being heavily, or too heavily, fished and estimates are also useful in providing early warning of are in need of management. when the limits of the resources are being approached, sothat the timely implementation of management These conclusions have already been taken note of by measures can be considered. FAO which, at its Fifteenth Conference in November The present volume, compiled in the Fishery Resources 1969, agreed that the major problems attendant upon the Division of the Department of Fisheries, is the first development and management of fisheries fell into four comprehensive attempt to estimate the magnitude of groups : these resources, in detail, throughout the world. Inevitably the assessment of the potential of the various stocks many of the individual estimates presented here will of fish throughout the world (for which this report depart from the true value, and some may already, by is the first step); the time this appears in print, have been shown by the rapid developments in the fisheries to be inerror. the development of fisheries on under-utilized stocks However, even the present estimates will serve to provide of familiar types of fish; some guidance for the development of fisheries, and the the rational management of heavily fished stocks; refining and updating of the information contained here is a major element of the progranune of the Department the development of new fisheries on the less familiar of Fisheries in association with scientists and research fish, institutions throughout the world. These elements are being incorporated in the growing Three major conclusions emerge from this report: programme of FAO's Department of Fisheries aimed at (1) The potential of the oceans is very large. Present ensuring that full and efficient use is made of the resources catches could be about doubled from the types of of the ocean for the benefit of all and, particularly, of the fish already familiar on the markets of the world. developing countries of the world. Food & Agriculture Organization, Ro Y T. JACKSON Rome. Assistant Director-General (Fisheries) [ vii Preface catches of fish from the oceans of the world have using for convenience the sea areas used in FAO's been increasing at a rate of some 7 % per year Yearbook of Fishery Statistics. Close cooperation was THE(doubling every 10 years), and reached 50 million maintained, where appropriate, with the regional fishery tons in 1967. In some areas and for some stocks, e.g. the bodies (ICES, ICNAF, etc.).Inifial preparation of larger demersal fish in the North Atlantic, it has long individual sections were made by the following authors been clear that catches have approached the level of the (where no author is specified here the initial draft was total potential production of the area. done by the editor). However, the relation between catches and potential Mediterranean and Black Sea is less clear for the oceans as a whole. Various estimates Mr. A. Ben Tuvia, of potential have been made ranging from 55 million Sea Fisheries Research Station, tons up to 2,000 million tons. Much of this difference Haifa, Israel can be accounted for by differences in the types of Northwest Pacific organisms includedall animals, excluding the smaller Dr. Y. Fukuda, zooplankton, or all fish, or all fish harvestable with Far Seas Fisheries Research Laboratory present techniques. Meaningful estimates should there- 1000 Orido, fore take into account the detailed composition of the Shimizu 242, Japan potential catches. The present report is intended to serve two main Indian Ocean and Western Central Pacific purposes; first, to provide basic information on resources Mr. R. S. Shomura to indicate possibilities for development of new fisheries US Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, and to facilitate the planning of such development; P.O. Box 3830, second, to provide an early warning of the need for Honolulu, Hawaii conservation and management when catches approach Southeast Pacific the potential limit of the resource. Mr. L. K. Boerema, Inevitably, in many areas the information is not Fish Stock Evaluation Branch, sufficient to produce accurate estimates, and a third Fishery Resources Division, major objective of this study is the encouragement of FAO, Rome research and the collection of basic data, such as catch Southwest Atlantic and Antarctic statistics, ecological data and the characteristics of the Prof. G. Hempel, population dynamics of marine organisms that are Institut für Meereskande existing or potential objectives of exploitation. From Hohenbergstr 2, these more accurate and realistic estimates can hopefully 2300 Kiel, Fed. Rep. of Germany be derived. The various sections have been prepared at Molluscan Resources intervals between 1966 and 1968 so that some sections Mr. A. C. Simpson, are considerably out of date. This has been only partially corrected by amendments during the final process of Fisheries Laboratory, editing. Burnharn-on-Cro uch, Essex, UK The presentation and procedures were developed Crustacean Resources following a meeting of a small advisory group of experts Dr. A. R. Longhurst, D. L. Alverson, Associate Regional Director of the US _National Marine Fisheries Service then US Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Seattle, USA; P.O. Box 271, A. S. Bogdanov, Director of the AII-Union Research La Jolla, Calif. 92037, USA Instituteof MarineFisheriesandOceanography These sections of the manuscript were circulated to the (VNIRO), Moscow, USSR; D. H. Cushing, Fisheries regional body (if existing) and to individual scientists Laboratory, Lowestoft, England; H. Kasahara, United known to have a major interest in the area. On the basis Nations Development Programme, New York (now with of comments received the revised text was prepared. the University of Washington, Seattle, USA); W. E. Certain resources were treated separately on a world, Ricker, Senior Scientist, Fisheries Research Board of rather than a regional basis, since their study involved Canada, Nanaimo, B.C. Canada; and the late M. B. rather specialized problems. 'These are the crustaceans, Schaefer,Institute of Marine Resources, La Jolla, the molluscs (excluding cephalopods) and the resources California, USAheld in Rome in December 1966. The of the open oceans. Seaweeds have been excluded from resources were considered separately for each sea area, the present report, though studies on these resources are being made, and it is hoped to include them in a later normal methods for exploited populations, using catch edition. and effort statistics, length and age composition data, etc. The value of this report and the reliability of the These, however, could cover only a fraction of the total estimates included in it, have been very greatly increased potential. For other stocks other methods had to be by the very numerous and detailed comments received used, based mainly on the estimation of the biomass of on t he early drafts. It is not possible to acknowledge the unexploited stocks. here individually all those who have spent considerable Three methods of assessing unexploited stocks, in a time and trouble in preparing comments, though special semi-quantitative manner were used: mention should be made of the original advisory group, exploratory fishing. The capture of fish by normal and of the late W. M. Chapman, who, though unable to or modified types of commercial fishing gear ; attend that meeting, had taken a very close interest in the egg or larval studies. The capture of the early studies as they progressed. stages in plankton nets; To enable as quantitative and complete a summary as echo surveys. possible of the total world resources to be produced, actual figures have been produced wherever possible as Exploratory fishing has the advantage that the data estimates of the potential catches from individual stocks, are immediately available in a suitable form for develop- even when the information is very scanty.