Commercial fishing

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Commercial crab fishing at the Elbe River in June 2007. Greetsiel 33 Poseidon 01.jpg
Commercial crab fishing at the Elbe River in June 2007.

Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Large-scale commercial fishing is called industrial fishing.

Contents

The major fishing industries are not only owned by major corporations but by small families as well. [1] In order to adapt to declining fish populations and increased demand, many commercial fishing operations have reduced the sustainability of their harvest by fishing further down the food chain. This raises concern for fishery managers and researchers, who highlight how further they say that for those reasons, the sustainability of the marine ecosystems could be in danger of collapsing. [1]

Commercial fishermen harvest a wide variety of animals. However, a very small number of species support the majority of the world's fisheries; these include herring, cod, anchovy, tuna, flounder, mullet, squid, shrimp, salmon, crab, lobster, oyster and scallops. All except these last four provided a worldwide catch of well over a million tonnes in 1999, with herring and sardines together providing a catch of over 22 million metric tons in 1999. Many other species are fished in smaller numbers.

In 2016, of the 171 million tonnes of fish caught, about 88 percent or over 151 million tonnes were utilized for direct human consumption. This share has increased significantly in recent decades, as it was 67 percent in the 1960s. [2] In 2016, the greatest part of the 12 percent used for non-food purposes (about 20 million tonnes) was reduced to fishmeal and fish oil (74 percent or 15 million tonnes), while the rest (5 million tonnes) was largely utilized as material for direct feeding in aquaculture and raising of livestock and fur animals, in culture (e.g. fry, fingerlings or small adults for ongrowing), as bait, in pharmaceutical uses and for ornamental purposes. [2]

Economics

The industry, in 2006, also managed to generate over 185 billion dollars in sales and also provide over two million jobs in the United States, according to an economic report released by NOAA's Fisheries Service. [3] Commercial fishing may offer an abundance of jobs, but the pay varies from boat to boat, season to season. Crab fisherman Cade Smith was quoted in an article by Business Week as saying, "There was always a top boat where the crew members raked in $50,000 during the three- to five-day king crab season—or $100,000 for the longer snow crab season". [4] That may be true, but there are also the boats who do not do well; Smith said later in the same article that his worst season left him with a loss of 500 dollars. [4]

The industry has had to adapt through the years in order to keep earning a profit. A study taken on some small family-owned commercial fishing companies showed that they adapted to continue to earn a living but not necessarily make a large profit. [1]

Many people working in commercial fishing are self-employed, with some or all of their pay dependent on the proceeds from the sale of the fish caught. In the UK, the technical term for this is share fisherman, [5] which refers to anyone working without an employment contract, on a boat crewed by more than one person, and relying for their livelihood at least partly on a share of the profits or gross sales of the fishing boat's catch.

Methods and gear

Major fishing techniques. Bottom trawling is destructive. Fishing-methods.png
Major fishing techniques. Bottom trawling is destructive.

Commercial fishing uses many different methods to effectively catch a large variety of species including the use of pole and line, trolling with multiple lines, trawling with large nets such as seine-netting, and traps or pots. [6] Sustainability of fisheries is improved by using specific equipment that eliminates or minimizes catching non-targeted species.

Fishing methods vary according to the region, the species being fished for, and the technology available to the fishermen. A commercial fishing enterprise may vary from one man with a small boat with hand-casting nets or a few pot traps, to a huge fleet of trawlers processing tons of fish every day.

Commercial fishing gears in use today include surrounding nets (e.g. purse seine), seine nets (e.g. beach seine), trawls (e.g. bottom trawl), dredges, hooks and lines (e.g. long line and troll line), lift nets, gillnets, entangling nets, Pole and Line, and traps

Commercial fishing gear is specifically designed and updated to avoid catching certain species of animal that is unwanted or endangered. Billions of dollars are spent each year in researching/developing new techniques to reduce the injury and even death of unwanted marine animals caught by the fishermen. [7] In fact, there was a study taken in 2000 on different deterrents and how effective they are at deterring the target species. The study showed that most auditory deterrents helped prevent whales from being caught while more physical barriers helped prevent birds from getting tangled within the net. [8]

Occupational health and safety

Trawl fishermen wearing personal flotation devices in a January 2009 trial Trawl fishermen personal flotation devices.jpg
Trawl fishermen wearing personal flotation devices in a January 2009 trial

During 2010–2014, 188 commercial fishing fatalities occurred in the United States, with fatality rates in different fishing fleets ranging from 21 to 147 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers (FTEs), which is many times higher than the fatality rate for all U.S. workers. [9] During 1919 and 2005, 4111 fishermen died in fishing related accidents in the United Kingdom industry alone. [10] These deaths are generally a result of a combination of severe weather conditions, extreme fatigue because any one fisherman usually puts in a 21-hour shift, and dangerous equipment. [4] [11] Commercial fishing has been identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a priority industry sector in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) to identify and provide intervention strategies regarding occupational health and safety issues. [12] [13]

Hazards and hazard controls

San Miguel Rescue - The Coast Guard Rescued Three Commercial Fishermen San Miguel Rescue - The Coast Guard Rescued Three Commercial Fishermen.jpg
San Miguel Rescue - The Coast Guard Rescued Three Commercial Fishermen

Common causes of fishing-related deaths include vessel disasters, falls overboard, and onboard injuries. [14]

Between 2000 and 2010, most vessel disasters often were initiated by flooding, vessel instability, and large waves, and that severe weather conditions contributed to a majority of fatal vessel disasters. [14]

The most frequent cause of death is falls overboard. [15] Falling overboard specifically killed 182 fishermen in the period between 2000 and 2010. [16] This fatality rate is 3 times that of the next most dangerous job in the U.S. and more than 25 times that of the national average across all workers. [17] [11] Most falls overboard went unwitnessed, and in none of the cases documented was the victim wearing a personal flotation device (PFD). [14] Several institutions have tried to change the culture surrounding safety on commercial fishing boats, especially around wearing personal flotation devices. The Alaska Scallop Association mandates that every fisherman must wear a PFD while on deck of the boat, and other organizations have purchased more wearable PFDs. [16]

NIOSH prototype emergency stop (e-stop) being tested on the purse seiner F/V Lake Bay. NIOSH E-Stop Fishing.jpg
NIOSH prototype emergency stop (e-stop) being tested on the purse seiner F/V Lake Bay.

Onboard injuries often result when a crew member is caught in a line and pulled into a winch on deck. The installation of a readily accessible emergency stop switch on the winch can potentially prevent these kinds of injuries. [14] [18] Injury data collection systems have begun tracking fishing-related injuries (fatal and non-fatal), using publicly available reports such as news media. [19]

Regulation

The U.S. Coast Guard has primary jurisdiction over the safety of the U.S. commercial fishing fleet, enforcing regulations of the U.S. Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988 (CFIVSA). CFIVSA regulations focus primarily on saving lives after the loss of a vessel and not on preventing vessels from capsizing or sinking, falls overboard, or injuries on deck. CFIVSA regulations require that commercial fishing vessels carry various equipment (e.g., life rafts, radio beacons, and immersion suits) depending on the size of the vessel and the area in which it operates. [17] Not all commercial fishermen follow safety regulations and advice. One study of Maine fishermen found that less than 25% of the fishermen interviewed had recent training in first aid or CPR, only 75% of the boats had survival suits and only 36% had a survival craft. [11] Even the ships that did have the necessary equipment did not consistently have a captain that fully understood how to use the safety equipment. [11]

Environmental risk

The oceans cover nearly two thirds of the Earth's surface, and are continuously threatened by human behaviors and practices. By taking so many fish from the seas, humans have managed to remove entire links from the marine food chain. This causes a chain effect, leading to an overall upset of the delicate ecological balance.

Sharks are one of the ocean's most threatened groups (see list of threatened sharks) because they are mistakenly caught by vessels searching for fish, and end up getting tossed back into the ocean dead or dying [20] Some Asian cuisines value shark fin as a delicacy, incentivizing excessive catching of sharks and even finning practice among unregulated fishermen. This disappearance of sharks has enabled prey animals like rays to multiply, which alters the food chain dynamics.

Bycatch is the industry term for what they consider "unwanted or economically-worthless aquatic animals who are unintentionally caught using destructively indiscriminate fishing methods like longlines and driftnets, which generally target marketable marine creatures such as tuna and swordfish" [20] There are also billions of other animals that are killed in this manner every year such as: sea turtles, marine mammals, and sea birds. Between 1990 and 2008, it was estimated that 8.5 million sea turtles were fatally caught in nets or on longlines as bycatch.

Coral reefs are biodiversity-rich ecosystems which provide habitat for millions of aquatic species such as sponges, star fish, jellyfish, sea turtles, etc. Unfortunately, reef ecosystems are highly sensitive to chemical, temperature, and population changes. There has been an increasing disappearance of large predators such as barracuda, Nassau groupers, and sharks [20] This makes the reefs more vulnerable to invasion by non-native species.

Fish farming is the raising of fish for food in underwater enclosures, otherwise known as aquaculture. There are environmental hazards such as waste, damage to ecosystems, and negative effects on humans. [21] Because they are so densely packed together, the fecal matter that accumulates can create algal blooms, or deadly parasites and viruses that thrive on the filthy environment. These can infect wild fish that swim near the enclosure, or whole colonies of fish if an infected farm fish escapes the enclosure.

Overfishing occurs because fish are captured at a faster rate than they can reproduce. Both advanced fishing technologies and increased demand for fish have resulted in overfishing. The Food and Agricultural Organization has reported that "about 25 percent of the world's captured fish end up thrown overboard because they are caught unintentionally, are illegal market species, or are of inferior quality and size" [22] It should not go unnoticed that overfishing has caused more ecological extinction than any other human influence on coastal ecosystems.

The global environmental problem of oceanic microplastics is largely caused by plastic-made fishing gear that is wearing down by use, lost or thrown away. [23] [24]

See also

Sources

Definition of Free Cultural Works logo notext.svg  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO( license statement/permission ). Text taken from In brief, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2018​ , FAO, FAO.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing</span> Activity of trying to catch fish

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fisherman</span> Person who takes fish and sells or trade it

A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishery</span> Raising or harvesting fish

Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place. Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both in freshwater waterbodies and the oceans. About 500 million people worldwide are economically dependent on fisheries. 171 million tonnes of fish were produced in 2016, but overfishing is an increasing problem, causing declines in some populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trawling</span> Method of catching fish

Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net, that is heavily weighted to keep it on the seafloor, through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different species of fishes or sometimes targeted species. Trawls are often called towed gear or dragged gear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longline fishing</span> Commercial fishing technique

Longline fishing, or longlining, is a commercial fishing angling technique that uses a long main line with baited hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines called snoods or gangions. A snood is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end. Longlines are classified mainly by where they are placed in the water column. This can be at the surface or at the bottom. Lines can also be set by means of an anchor, or left to drift. Hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks can hang from a single line. This can lead to many deaths of different marine species. Longliners – fishing vessels rigged for longlining – commonly target swordfish, tuna, halibut, sablefish and many other species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overfishing</span> Removal of a species of fish from water at a rate that the species cannot replenish

Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally, resulting in the species becoming increasingly underpopulated in that area. Overfishing can occur in water bodies of any sizes, such as ponds, wetlands, rivers, lakes or oceans, and can result in resource depletion, reduced biological growth rates and low biomass levels. Sustained overfishing can lead to critical depensation, where the fish population is no longer able to sustain itself. Some forms of overfishing, such as the overfishing of sharks, has led to the upset of entire marine ecosystems. Types of overfishing include growth overfishing, recruitment overfishing, and ecosystem overfishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry</span> Economic branch

The fishing industry includes any industry or activity that takes, cultures, processes, preserves, stores, transports, markets or sells fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing, as well as the related harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors. The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery of fish and other seafood products for human consumption or as input factors in other industrial processes. The livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends directly or indirectly on fisheries and aquaculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillnetting</span> Type of fishing net

Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is generally referred to as a "cork line." The line along the bottom of the panels is generally weighted. Traditionally this line has been weighted with lead and may be referred to as "lead line." A gillnet is normally set in a straight line. Gillnets can be characterized by mesh size, as well as colour and type of filament from which they are made. Fish may be caught by gillnets in three ways:

  1. Wedged – held by the mesh around the body.
  2. Gilled – held by mesh slipping behind the opercula.
  3. Tangled – held by teeth, spines, maxillaries, or other protrusions without the body penetrating the mesh.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobster fishing</span> Aspect of the fishing industry

Lobsters are widely fished around the world for their meat. They are often hard to catch in large numbers, but their large size can make them a profitable catch. Although the majority of the targeted species are tropical, the majority of the global catch is in temperate waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drift netting</span> Fishing technique

Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. The nets are kept vertical in the water by floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weights attached to another rope along the bottom of the net. Drift nets generally rely on the entanglement properties of loosely affixed netting. Folds of loose netting, much like a window drapery, snag on a fish's tail and fins and wrap the fish up in loose netting as it struggles to escape. However, the nets can also function as gill nets if fish are captured when their gills get stuck in the net. The size of the mesh varies depending on the fish being targeted. These nets usually target schools of pelagic fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impact of fishing</span>

The environmental impact of fishing includes issues such as the availability of fish, overfishing, fisheries, and fisheries management; as well as the impact of industrial fishing on other elements of the environment, such as bycatch. These issues are part of marine conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. According to a 2019 FAO report, global production of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals has continued to grow and reached 172.6 million tonnes in 2017, with an increase of 4.1 percent compared with 2016. There is a growing gap between the supply of fish and demand, due in part to world population growth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Factory ship</span> Large oceangoing fish processing vessel

A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Modern factory ships are automated and enlarged versions of the earlier whalers, and their use for fishing has grown dramatically. Some factory ships are equipped to serve as a mother ship.

<i>The End of the Line</i> (book) Book by Charles Clover

The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat is a book by journalist Charles Clover about overfishing. It was made into a movie released in 2009 and was re-released with updates in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commercial fishing in Alaska</span>

Commercial fishing is a major industry in Alaska, and has been for hundreds of years. Alaska Natives have been harvesting salmon and many other types of fish for millennia Including king crab. Russians came to Alaska to harvest its abundance of sealife, as well as Japanese and other Asian cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in South Korea</span>

Until the 1960s, agriculture and fishing were the dominant industries of the economy of South Korea. The fishing industry of South Korea depends on the existing bodies of water that are shared between South Korea, China and Japan. Its coastline lies adjacent to the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the East Sea, and enables access to marine life such as fish and crustaceans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in China</span>

China has one-fifth of the world's population and accounts for one-third of the world's reported fish production as well as two-thirds of the world's reported aquaculture production. It is also a major importer of seafood and the country's seafood market is estimated to grow to a market size worth US$53.5 Billion by 2027.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in the United States</span>

As with other countries, the 200 nautical miles (370 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of the United States gives its fishing industry special fishing rights. It covers 11.4 million square kilometres, which is the second largest zone in the world, exceeding the land area of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in Russia</span>

The coastline of the Russian Federation is the fourth longest in the world after the coastlines of Canada, Greenland, and Indonesia. The Russian fishing industry has an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 7.6 million km2 including access to twelve seas in three oceans, together with the landlocked Caspian Sea and more than two million rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing in Cornwall</span> Economic activity

Fishing in Cornwall, England, UK, has traditionally been one of the main elements of the economy of the county. Pilchard fishing and processing was a thriving industry in Cornwall from around 1750 to around 1880, after which it went into an almost terminal decline. During the 20th century the varieties of fish taken became much more diverse and crustaceans such as crab and lobster are now significant. Much of the catch is exported to France due to the higher prices obtainable there. Though fishing has been significantly damaged by overfishing, the Southwest Handline Fishermen's Association has started to revive the fishing industry. As of 2007, stocks were improving. The Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee is one of 12 committees responsible for managing the corresponding Sea Fisheries District. The Isles of Scilly Sea Fisheries Committee is responsible for the Scilly district.

The fishing industry in Thailand, in accordance with usage by The World Bank, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other multinational bodies, refers to and encompasses recreational fishing, aquaculture, and wild fisheries both onshore and offshore.

References

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  2. 1 2 In brief, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2018 (PDF). FAO. 2018.
  3. ↑ "New Economic Report Finds Commercial and Recreational Saltwater Fishing Generated More Than Two Million Jobs". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on January 15, 2009. Retrieved 19 Apr 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Miller, Kerry. "Worst Jobs with the Best Pay". Businessweek. Archived from the original on October 23, 2006. Retrieved 19 Apr 2012.
  5. ↑ "Share fisherman: Income Tax and National Insurance contributions". GOV.UK. HM Revenue and Customs. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Fisheries - Become MSC certified - Marine Stewardship Council". www.msc.org.
  7. ↑ Werner T, Kraus S, Read A, Zollett E (2006). "Fishing Techniques to Reduce the Bycatch of Threatened Marine Animals". Marine Technology Society Journal. 40 (3): 50–53. doi: 10.4031/002533206787353204 .
  8. ↑ Pol M, Carr HA (2000). "Overview of Gear Developments and Trends in the New England Commercial Fishing Industry". Northeastern Naturalist. 7 (4): 329–336. doi:10.2307/3858514. JSTOR   3858514.
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  11. 1 2 3 4 Davis ME (2011). "Occupational safety and regulatory compliance in US commercial fishing". Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health. 66 (4): 209–16. doi:10.1080/19338244.2011.564237. hdl: 1912/5114 . PMID   22014193. S2CID   29071163.
  12. ↑ "CDC - NIOSH - NORA Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector Council". www.cdc.gov. 2018-03-21. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  13. ↑ "CDC - NIOSH Program Portfolio : Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing : Program Description". www.cdc.gov. 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Commercial Fishing Safety". NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topics. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  15. ↑ "Fishing Research - Northeast Center for Occupational Safety and Health". www.necenter.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  16. 1 2 Krah J, Unger RL (7 August 2013). "The Importance of Occupational Safety and Health: Making for a "Super" Workplace". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  17. 1 2 Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) (April 2008). "Commercial fishing fatalities--California, Oregon, and Washington, 2000-2006". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 57 (16): 426–9. PMID   18437116.
  18. ↑ Welch L (January 30, 2010). "Device makes fishing deck winch less lethal". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on March 24, 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  19. ↑ Weichelt B, Gorucu S (June 2019). "Supplemental surveillance: a review of 2015 and 2016 agricultural injury data from news reports on AgInjuryNews.org". Injury Prevention. 25 (3): 228–235. doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042671. PMID   29386372. S2CID   3371442.
  20. 1 2 3 "Commercial Fishing | Food Empowerment Project". www.foodispower.org. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  21. ↑ Urbina, Ian. “The Bane of Unsustainable Fishing.” The Safina Center, The Safina Center, 19 June 2020, www.safinacenter.org/blog/the-bane-of-unsustainable-fishing.
  22. ↑ "The Threats of Overfishing: Consequences at the Commercial Level". DUJS Online. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  23. ↑ Laville, Sandra (2019-11-06). "Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean, finds report". The Guardian . Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  24. ↑ Magazine, Smithsonian; Kindy, David. "With Ropes and Nets, Fishing Fleets Contribute Significantly to Microplastic Pollution". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
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