Sustainable Fishing Practices: Current Challenges and Solutions

1. 4 Questions What are our current fishing practices? What impacts do these practices have on the ocean floor? What are the major problems plaguing our oceans? What are some solutions?

2. What are the current fishing practices?

3. Trawler fishing Fish farming in cage Spotter airplane Sonar Purse-seine fishing Trawl flap Trawl lines Fish school Trawl bag Drift-net fishing Long line fishing Buoy Float Lines with hooks Deep sea aquaculture cage Fish caught by gills Fig. 12-A, p. 255

4. Purse Seines

5. Trawler fishing Fish farming in cage Spotter airplane Sonar Purse-seine fishing Trawl flap Trawl lines Fish school Trawl bag Drift-net fishing Long line fishing Buoy Float Lines with hooks Deep sea aquaculture cage Fish caught by gills Fig. 12-A, p. 255

6. What impacts do these have on ocean life? • Area of ocean before and after a trawler net, acting like a giant plow, scraped it. Figure 12-2

7. What are the current problems in our oceans? • The major decline in the worldwide catch of fish since 1990 is because of over-fishing. • By-catch- fish or animals that were not meant to be caught. • Pollution in the 5 major gyres ( Trash patches) • Whaling

8. Overfishing and Extinction: Gone Fishing, Fish Gone • About 75% of the world’s commercially valuable marine fish species are over fished or fished near their sustainable limits. • Big fish are becoming scarce. • Smaller fish are next. • We throw away 40% of the fish we catch. • We needlessly kill sea mammals and birds.

15. BYCATCH • Overfishing and BYCATCH • Sea Turtles

16. Whaling • IWC: International Whaling Commission • Set up in 1946 • 1986 Zero whale catch was introduced (except for subsistence fishermen which have limited numbers) • JAPAN Whaling : RESEARCH • “North Pacific (2) - JARPN II (2000 and ongoing) It included sub-projects on: 1) feeding ecology (including prey consumption and preferences of cetaceans and ecosystem modeling); 2) stock structure; 3) environmental effects on cetaceans and the marine ecosystem http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17312460 http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/03/01/japan-retreats-whale-hunt • WHALE WARS

17. Sustainable Fishing Practices

20. How do we do this… • Market Place • Read labels • Economic Incentives • TEDs • Round hooks • No more subsidies • Optimum sustainable yield • Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQ’s) • Regulatory Approaches • IWC • Japan Whaling Research • Exclusive Economic Zones vs. high seas • Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s)

21. Aquacultures aka Blue Revolution Advantages Disadvantages Large waste output Destroy habitats Uses grain to feed some species Dense populations susceptible to disease. Escapes threatens wild fish populations (Disease, competition and interbreeding) • Possibly support 50% of world’s seafood need. • Low fuel cost • High yield in low volume of water • Reduces overharvesting

22. Aquaculture: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/library/aq_video_gallery.html • Sustainable fishing in the Coral Triangle:http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/conservation/marine/sustainable_fishing/ • TED’s:http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/threats-to-animals-environment/turtle-excluder/