Fisheries
Generally, a fishery is an entity
engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority
to be a fishery. According
to the EAO, a fishery is
typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of
fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats, purpose of
the activities or a combination of the foregoing features". The definition often includes a
combination of fish and fishers in a region, the latter fishing for
similar species with similar gear types.
A
fishery may involve the capture of wild fish or raising fish through fish farming or aquaculture. Directly or indirectly, the livelihood
of over 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and
aquaculture. Overfishing,
including the taking of fish beyond sustainable levels, is reducing fish stocks and employment in many world regions. A report by Prince Charles' International
Sustainability Unit, the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund and 50in10 published in July 2014
estimated global fisheries were adding $270 billion a year to global GDP, but
by full implementation of sustainable fishing, that figure could rise by as
much as $50 billion.
The
Term “Fish”
- In biology – the term fish is most strictly used
to describe any animal with a backbone that
has gills throughout
life and has limbs, if any, in the shape of fins. Many
types ofaquatic animals commonly referred to as fish are
not fish in this strict sense; examples include shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish.
In earlier times, even biologists did not make a distinction — sixteenth
century natural historians classified also seals, whales, amphibians, crocodiles,
even hippopotamuses, as well as a host of aquatic
invertebrates, as fish.
- In fisheries – the term fish is used as a
collective term, and includes mollusks, crustaceans and
any aquatic animal which is harvested.
- True fish – The strict biological definition of a fish, above,
is sometimes called a true fish. True fish are also referred to as finfish or fin fish to distinguish them from
other aquatic life harvested in fisheries or aquaculture.
Types
Fisheries are
harvested for their value (commercial, recreational or subsistence).
They can be saltwater or freshwater, wild or farmed.
Examples are the salmon fishery of Alaska, the cod fishery off the Lofoten islands, the tuna fishery of the Eastern
Pacific, or theshrimp farm fisheries
in China. Capture fisheries
can be broadly classified as industrial scale, small-scale or artisanal, and
recreational.
Close
to 90% of the world’s fishery catches come from oceans and seas, as opposed to inland
waters. These marine catches have remained relatively stable since the
mid-nineties (between 80 and 86 million tonnes). Most marine fisheries are based near
thecoast.
This is not only because harvesting from relatively shallow waters is easier
than in the open ocean, but also because fish are much more abundant near the coastal shelf, due to the
abundance of nutrients available there from coastal
upwelling and land runoff.
However, productive wild fisheries also exist in open oceans, particularly by seamounts,
and inland in lakes and rivers.
Most
fisheries are wild
fisheries, but farmed
fisheries are
increasing. Farming can occur in coastal areas, such as with oyster farms, but
more typically occur inland, in lakes, ponds, tanks and other enclosures.
There
are species fisheries worldwide for finfish, mollusks, crustaceans and echinoderms,
and by extension, aquatic
plants such as kelp. However, a very
small number of species support the majority of the world’s fisheries. Some of
these species are 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 harvest of over
22 million metric tons in 1999. Many other species are harvested in smaller
numbers.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs andaquatic
plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating
freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be
contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish. Broadly speaking, finfish and
shellfish fisheries can be conceptualized as akin to hunting and gathering
while aquaculture is akin to agriculture. Mariculture refers to aquaculture practiced in
marine environments and in underwater habitats.
According
to the FAO, aquaculture "is
understood to mean the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs,
crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some form of intervention in
the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding,
protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate
ownership of the stock being cultivated." The reported output from global
aquaculture operations would supply one half of the fish and shellfish that is
directly consumed by humans; however, there are issues about the
reliability of the reported figures. Further,
in current aquaculture practice, products from several pounds of wild fish are
used to produce one pound of apiscivorous fish
like salmon.
Particular
kinds of aquaculture include fish farming, shrimp
farming, oyster
farming, mariculture, algaculture (such as seaweed
farming), and the cultivation of ornamental
fish. Particular methods include aquaponics and integrated multi-trophic aquaculture,
both of which integrate fish farming and plant farming.
