Fishing in the 21st Century

1. Fishing in the 21st Century

2. The 3 Major (commercial) Technologies: Longlining Trawling Gill (Drift) Netting

3. Other Technologies Purse Seining Open-water Aquaculture Harpooning Traps and pots Ponds Hook&Line Trolling

4. The Big Picture • Up to Yr 2000, increased tech & effort resulted in increased catch • Global catch increased 500% btwn 1950-1997 • Peaked in 1997 at 96 million tons • Nature article: actually peaked in 1987 at about 80 million tons Reg Watson* & Daniel Pauly*; Nature, Nov 01

5. Example: Shark Catch off Hawaii: 1991-2001 Source: NFWS government statistics

6. Example 2: Billfish Catch Source: NOAA Fisheries

7. Some scary Long-line Stats: • Longlining most prevalent technology used • Estimated 2 billion longline hooks set each year • Once caught 10 fish for 100 hooks set. Now, 1 per 100. • Bycatch includes 40,000 turtles and 200,000 birds/year Mother Jones, March 2006

8. The issues with Trawling • Levels seafloor 150x that of clearcuts yearly Mother Jones, March 2006 • Before and after pics of trawling • Deep sea corals and sponges are long-lived and important to habitat structure • In one trawl-pass in AK, 2200 lbs of coral was collected • Source: NOAA, http://www.mcbi.org/destructive/Destructive.htm

9. Drift (Gill) Nets Lost monofilament nets don’t decompose & become “ghost nets” that continue to kill for years A young Right Whale (1 of 300) died last month in gillnet gear. NOAA banned all gillnets until the end of March (breeding season) source: MSNBC, 2006 CFG banned gillnets to 60 fathoms in CA from Point Reyes to Santa Barbara to protect sea otters and birds. Defenders of Wildlife.org

10. The Major Issues: Bycatch: Overfishing: Habitat damage:

11. Bycatch • Bycatch: unwanted catch usually dead or dying thrown overboard • Globally: 25% of total catch • For each lb of shrimp, 2-10 lbs of bycatch • Bycatch of dolphins in tuna industry led to consumer boycotts and the “dolphin safe” label • Turtle bycatch led to the use of TEDs in US shrimp fishery TED Shrimp bycatch Source: MBAYAQ.org

12. Habitat Damage • Broad term for habitat issues. Includes: • Bottom destruction from trawling • Pollution from land and water • Loss of wetlands/mangroves, etc due to development/farming Phuket island, Thailand. Dark red on coasts represents mangroves. Source: Gov of Thailand

13. Overfishing • 1 large bluefin tuna can garner $100,000 on Tokyo fish market • 10% of all large fish (tuna, swordfish, marlin, etc) and ground fish (cod, halibut, flouder) remain in world source: Worm & Myers, 2003 • Long-lived fish: • Rockfish (over 200yrs) • Orange Roughy (100yrs) • Big fish play essential ecological roles: predation and competition create stability and biodiversity source: Hixon, Oregon State University • You might think that fish farming is a solution……but

14. Fish Aquaculture:Not all Equal • Farmed salmon • laced with PCBs, • require 3lbs of wild fish for each 1lb of salmon, • Pass disease to wild salmon • Farmed shrimp • In Thailand (leading exporter), 60% of mangroves have been eliminated for shrimp farms • Mangroves provide habitat for 80% of tropical fish spawning • Farmed Tilapia & Catfish • Are freshwater fish • Farmed in in-land ponds where waste can be processed and disease confined • Are herbivorous Sources: MBAQ, American University, Mother Jones: March 2006

15. What’s a conscientious person to do? • Drop him? • NO!

16. Bycatch solutions • Pingers protect porpoises. Required on all drift nets in gulf of Maine since 1999 • Longlining has been done at night when endangered short-tailed albatross are around • Source: MBAYAQ.org

17. Habitat Solutions • In Sept 2005, new bill in house would protect deep sea corals, study bottom trawling more • Presidential order in 2000 established Marine Protected Area Center. (More on this later)

18. Overfishing Solutions • To end the Tragedy of the Commons. • HW: Read “The Catch” from Mother Jones, March 2006