Fishing

About: Fishing is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26543 publications have been published within this topic receiving 455552 citations. The topic is also known as: angling.

Economic Impacts of Changes in Fish Population Dynamics: The Role of the Fishermen’s Harvesting Strategies

Abstract: Using a bioeconomic model of the cod (Gadus morhua) and capelin (Mallotus villosus) fisheries of the Barents Sea, this study assesses the role of the fishermen’s behavior in reducing or intensifying the effects on the stocks caused by altered population dynamics. The analysis focuses on the economic development of the fisheries employing a coupled stock size–hydrography-based fishing strategy, which attempts to maximize returns from fishing over a given number of fishing periods. Results show that if the fishing strategy is based on a short optimization period of only two fishing periods, changes in population dynamics have a direct influence on the returns from fishing due to the strong pressure on the stocks applied by the fisheries. If the strategy is based on a longer optimization period, fishing activities may be deferred to allow for stock regrowth, which improves the economic performance of the fisheries. However, in that case, the relationship between population dynamics and fishing activities becomes less clear, as even a reduction of the carrying capacities of the two species allows for an increase in the amount of fish landed without causing a stock collapse due to an increased efficiency of fleet utilization. The simulations indicate that management considerations and the time horizon of the fishing strategy dominate the influence of altered population dynamics on the development of the stocks considered in the model.

Lessons Learned from Reconstructing Interactions Between Local Ecological Knowledge, Fisheries Science, and Fisheries Management in the Commercial Fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Abstract: Questions centered on the development of local and traditional ecological knowledge and the relationship of that knowledge to the development of conservation and management practices have recently attracted critical attention. We examine these questions with respect to the dynamic commercial fisheries of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The knowledge of fish harvesters coevolves with fishing practices and is embedded in a dynamic socioecological network that extends into and beyond the fisher, fishery households, and communities to include management, technologies, markets, and marine ecological conditions. Changes in these networks have moved knowledge and practices related to fishing in directions defined by policy, science, economic rationality, and new ecological realities. We characterize this movement as a shift along a continuum from local ecological knowledge (LEK) towards globalized harvesting knowledge (GHK) as harvesters become increasingly disconnected from socioecological relationships associated with traditional species and stocks. We conclude with a discussion of how LEK/GHK have interacted over time and space with other knowledge systems (particularly science) to influence management, and suggest that contingent, empirical evaluations of these interactions will provide a fruitful avenue for future interdisciplinary research.

Elasmobranchs in southern Indonesian fisheries: the fisheries, the status of the stocks and management options

Abstract: The biology of elasmobranchs makes them very vulnerable to fishing pressure and there is increasing international concern over their exploitation. In northern Australia the stocks of some species may be shared with those in southern Indonesia. Indonesia has the highest landings of elasmobranchs worldwide (>100,000 t p.a.) and millions of Indonesian artisanal fishers rely heavily on elasmobranchs taken in target fisheries. They are also taken by industrial trawlers and as bycatch in pelagic tuna fisheries. This paper, resulting from a collaborative project between Australia and Indonesia, summarises the elasmobranch fisheries; the characteristics of the fisheries are outlined, the status of the stocks are assessed, and management options described and discussed. The project focussed on representative markets and fish landing sites in southern Indonesia from 2001 to 2005. Data were from market surveys, the records of the Indonesian Directorate General of Capture Fisheries, and from research cruises. Data from the ongoing tuna monitoring programme showed that shark bycatch from the tuna fleets forms about 11% of shark landings in Indonesia. Yield per recruit and related analyses were used to integrate biological information to indicate the productivity of each species to allow for management policy options and constraints. Research cruise data show that catch rates of elasmobranchs in the Java Sea declined by at least one order of magnitude between 1976 and 1997. The results indicate strongly that many of the shark and ray species in Indonesia are overfished and that the most effective management strategy may need to involve capacity control, such as licencing, gear restrictions and catch limits, together with controls on the fin trade.

Farming the Sea

Abstract: Farming the Edge of the Sea By E. S. Iverson. Pp. 301. (Fishing News (Books): London, 1968.) 85s.

Eutrophication and Baltic fish communities

Abstract: The discharge of nutrients to the Baltic Sea has increased considerably during the 20th century. There are several indications that this eutrophication has affected the fish community. Changes in species composition have been reported from coastal areas, e.g. local increases in the abundance of pikeperch and decreases in whitefish. Total fish catches, dominated by herring, sprat, and cod, have increased tenfold in the past fifty years and doubled in the last twenty-five years. This increase is mainly due to intensified fishing, but possibly also to eutrophication and decreased fish predation by seals.