Transcript FISH AND FISHERIES

Chapter 8: FISH AND FISHERIES
California Sardine Fishery
California sardine fishery
Date
Catch
1936-37
3/4 million
tons
1957-58
17 tons
Cannery Row,
Monterey, California
Peruvian Anchovy
and Sardine catches
Dynamics of Peruvian anchoveta and Peruvian sardine catch 1950-1998
From Anchovies to Sardines and Back: Multidecadal Change in the Pacific Ocean
Cod
1977: Exclusive
economic zones;
Govt. subsidies
Total
Northeast Atlantic
Northwest Atlantic
1960’s- Fishing
fleets from 15
countries
1992: Commercial Extinction:
25,000 people out of work
Atlantic cod catch 1950-2002
Plenty of examples
Australian Orange Roughy
Salmon
1998: Moratorium
Global Overfishing
Global
Fish
Catch
Purse-seine nets for herring
- introduced in 1966
1966: 1.7 million tons
1970: 20,000 tons
Seining
Fishing Factory Ship with two trawlers
Capacity reduction
New England Fishery
(cod, haddock, flounder):
1998:
•Recommended Catch reduced by 80%
•$24 million buyout completed for 78
fishing boats
•$5 million disaster relief
Theory of Maximum Sustainable
Yield (MSY)
• As effort increases, catch also
increases until a maximum is
reached.
• Any increase in effort beyond
this point results in reduced total
catch.
• The point of maximum catch is
the MSY.
• Fishing beyond MSY leads to
reduction in the breeding stock,
so reduction in the catch.
• Often assumed that fishing at
MSY will be sustainable
• It never was!
•
Theory of Management Strategies
(Analogy of harvesting apples by removing trees from the orchard)
“The global ocean has lost more than 90% of large
predatory fishes”
Myers, R.A. and Worm, B. (2003) Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature 423, 280 - 283
>1000 pounds, 55mph
1960’s: Sport Fish, used for cat food. 7 cents a pound
1980’s: Sushi etc. $94 a pound
Ken Fraser and the alltackle world record
bluefin tuna. It weighed
1,496 lbs. and was
caught off
Nova Scotia in 1979.
How to save the world's oceans from overfishing
Southern Bluefin Tuna
Western North Atlantic
Bluefin Tuna
Bluefin tuna at 6-12%
of their sustainable
level are poised on the
brink of extinction.
http://www.chambers-associates.org/Big-Marine-Fish/marlin.html
White Marlin
Fishing at 8 Times the
Sustainable Level
White marlin are less than 5 years from extinction.
Petition was filed to list under the Endangered Species Act
Biological Review Team of NMFS scientists completed assessment in December
2007, concluded that there was no reason to list the Atlantic White Marlin under the
ESA as either Endangered or Threatened.
Blue Marlin
Fishing at 4 Times the
Sustainable Level
- < 10 years from extinction.
U.S. regulations now prohibit fishing
(commercial and recreational) and
possession/sale of basking, whale,
white, sand tiger and bigeye sand
tiger shark from U.S. waters of the
Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and
Caribbean.
Sturgeons (source of Caviar)
27 species: ALL endangered
Caviar: 10% of the weight of the fish
1998: Moratorium
Historical: (Ca, Ore, Wa): 100 million /year
Now: 15 million /year (most from hatcheries)
107 stocks extinct; 89 endangered
Salmon
Threats to Salmon
• 1. 69 dams have been built on the
Columbia and its tributaries,
• 2. Degradation of spawning
streams by roads, development,
logging and agriculture
• 4. Eight years of below-normal
rainfall and sustained El Nino
ocean conditions
Anadromous life cycle
Each Recovery Domain contains
several stocks or ESUs (“Evolutionarily Significant Units”)
2002-2004: 26 ESU’s (=species) of salmon listed
ESA Recovery Program: Biennial Report to Congress, 2002-2004
The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted in
April 2008 to cancel all commercial salmon fishing
off the California and Oregon coasts this year.
- first time in history
This year's West Coast salmon
season is expected to be one
of the worst in history, because
of the collapse of Sacramento
River chinook, one of the West
Coast's biggest wild salmon
runs.
The council's decision still must
be confirmed by NOAA's
National Marine Fisheries
Service
The governors of Washington,
Oregon and California have
already signed letters seeking
a disaster declaration.
Salmon farming (“aquaculture”)
Source: David
Suzuki Foundation
Environmental
Impacts of
Salmon
Aquaculture
Genetic
contamination
Source: David
Suzuki Foundation
A New threat: Live reef fish trade
•Hong Kong: world's
largest importer of live
reef fish.
• Consumption is 25,000
tonnes per year, and
5,000 tonnes is exported
to Mainland China where
demand is increasing
Grouper and wrasse on display at the 'Unique Seafood'
restaurant in Singapore. Customers choose the live fish
they would like to have cooked for their main course.
Annual catch from two traders in North Borneo
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/m37138355873r000/fulltext.pdf
•This trade is
causing massive
depletion of coral
reef species
Filter-feeds on
Phytoplankton
Since we don't eat
menhaden, where are they
going? Into linoleum, soap,
paint and dog food. The oil
from menhaden becomes
lubricants and their dried
carcasses become feed.
Green color = excess phytoplankton.
Algal bloom can lead to eutrophication
And oxygen depletion
Fishing down the food chain
GLOBAL CHANGE:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15721210.200-the-rape-of-the-sea--fishing-fleets-are-rampaging-their-way-down-themarine-food-chain.html
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/marinefoodwebs.htm
Collapsed Invertebrate Fisheries
•California coast:
•Lobster
•Squid
•Abalone
•Sea urchin
•Chesapeake Bay:
•Blue crab
•Oysters
•Elsewhere:
•Shrimp
•Dungeness crab
•Alaskan King Crab
•Horseshoe crab
Serial Depletion in the Sea Urchin Fishery
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5767/1557/F1
Chesapeake Bay Fisheries
Blue crab
Oysters
Annual blue crab harvest chart shows that 2007 was one
of the worst years in history.
From Washington Post, August 28, 1996. Data from National Marine Fisheries Service
Atlantic
Horseshoe
Crab
The Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus)
Hard Times for Horseshoe Crabs
California Abalone
Red abalone
Intertidal black abalone on Santa Rosa Island,
California, before the population collapse in the
late 1980's. >100 per square meter!
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Five of the eight eastern Pacific abalone species were abundant enough to
support multimillion-dollar fisheries through most of the 20th century.
Abalone populations in southern California collapsed in the 1980s “under a
flawed management approach”
Fisheries for four abalone species were closed, but this may have been too
late to save the white abalone
Sustaining Harvest by Serial Depletion:
Abalone example
•
Fishery landings and income were sustained at the expense of a
series of abalone populations in different areas.
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/statusreviews/whiteabalone.pdf
Red
•Landings of red and pink abalone
declined in the 1970's
• Fishery shifted to green abalone in
shallow water and white abalone in
deep water.
Pink
White
Black
• When white and green abalone
populations collapsed, harvest
shifted to intertidal black abalone.
Dec. 21, 2006: Center for Biological
Diversity filed a petition for listing of
Black Abalone under the federal
Endangered Species Act.
• White: Listed as Endangered in
2001 (first federally endangered
marine invertebrate).
Draft Recovery Plan released
for public review in 2006
• Only legal harvest now is Red
Abalone
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/species/pinkabalone_detailed.pdf
http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/data/13030/zx/kt738nb1zx/figures/caljsiol_sio1ca175_118_087.gif
Squid Fishery
California’s “number 1 oceangoing cash crop”
1996 catch: 175 million pounds, worth $33.5 million.
1998 catch: zero
Antarctic Krill Fishery
A Time to Krill
Predicted Total Loss of Commercial Seafood
• In 2003, 29% of commercial fisheries had collapsed
• Extrapolation: All commercial fish and seafood
species will COLLAPSE by 2048
Trajectories of collapsed fish and invertebrate taxa over the past 50 years
(diamonds, collapses by year; triangles, cumulative collapses).
Data are shown for all (black), species-poor (<500 species, blue), and species-rich (>500 species, red) LMEs.
Global Loss of Biodiversity Harming Ocean’s Bounty
Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services
Fisheries Regulation in the U.S.:
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
IMPLEMENTATION OF TREATIES AND
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
-- Atlantic Salmon Convention Act of 1982
-- Atlantic Tunas Convention Act of 1975
-- Eastern Pacific Ocean Tuna Licensing Act of 1984
-- Fur Seal Act of 1966
-- North Pacific Anadromous Stocks Convention Act
of 1992
-- Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982
-- Pacific Salmon Treaty Act of 1985
-- South Pacific Tuna Act of 1988
-- Tunas Convention Act of 1950
-- Whaling Convention Act of 1949
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
ANNUAL AUTHORIZATIONS
-- Anadromous Fish Conservation Act
-- Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act
-- Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act
-- Central, Western, and South Pacific Fisheries Development Act
-- Endangered Species Act
-- Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986
-- Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976
-- Marine Mammal Protection Act
-- Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act
-- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine
-- Fisheries Program Authorization Act
Magnuson Fishery Conservation and
Management Act of 1976
• Brought all fisheries resources within 200
miles of all U.S. coasts under Federal
jurisdiction.
• Eight Regional Fishery Management
Councils established
• The Councils prepare fishery management
plans that allocate fishing rights, with
priority given to domestic fisheries.
Sustainable Fisheries Act ("Magnuson Act")
October 11, 1996.
New Limits to Prevent Overfishing.
Excludes social and economic factors from consideration
in setting fishing limits.
Fishery management plans must include measures to
rebuild overfished populations.
Additional Protections for Fish Habitat.
Regional Fishery Management Councils required to
identify a fishery's essential habitat.
Fishery Management Plans must minimize adverse
impacts to habitat caused by fishing.
Reductions in Bycatch. Fishery Management Plans must
contain measures to minimize damage to non-target
species.
January 12, 2007: Signed by President Bush
Fishery Conservation and
Management Reauthorization Act
•
“This Act will end over-fishing in America, help us replenish our
Nation's fish stocks, and advance international cooperation and
ocean stewardship.” (The White House)
•
Firm Deadline To End Over-Fishing In America By 2011.
– Directs Regional Fishery Management Councils to establish annual quotas
in Federally-managed fisheries to end over-fishing by 2010 for fish stocks
currently undergoing over-fishing and by 2011 for all other Federallymanaged fish stocks.
•
Enforcement of Fishing Laws.
– Those who break the law can lose their individual fishing quotas.
– Expands cooperation between State and Federal officials for enforcement
– Encourages the use of the latest technology in monitoring
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New programs to improve the quality of information used by fishery
managers
Establishes regional registries for recreational fishermen
Promotes community-based efforts to restore local fish habitats by
helping Federal agencies partner with State and local organizations.
Main problem in Fisheries Regulation
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Fisheries are usually treated as a public resource (a “commons”)
The “tragedy of the commons” (Garret Hardin)
– a parable about a "commons" -- a public pasture that is open to all local
herdsmen.
– Each herdsman owns his cattle, but nobody owns or controls the commons.
– Each herdsman is free to use the commons, and each herdsman is free to
choose the number of animals that he will graze on it.
– Hardin describes what happens under these conditions:
• Each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons.
• But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a
commons.
• The commons will be over-grazed
•
An additional problem with fisheries: “Roving Bandits”
– When a local resource is depleted, a fishing fleet can move on and
contribute to Serial Depletion. There is NO incentive to conserve stocks
•
Existing and proposed legislation fails to provide for ownership of the
“commons” so does not provide incentive to conserve stocks
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5767/1557
How to save the world's oceans from overfishing
Progress since 1996?
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s82.htm
A few stocks recovering
OK to eat
(abundant, well managed,
no serious bycatch)
NOT OK to eat
(SIGNIFICANT problems
regarding status or management)
From the Audubon Seafood Wallet Card
May be OK to eat
(Some concerns about
status or management)