Final Research Paper: Rough Draft

This Aint Just Another Fish Tale

Living in today’s world gives humans many advantages. Thanks to advancements in technology, accomplishing almost any task has become much easier, and everyday activities have become much more convenient. The world of commercial fishing is no exception to this fact, and our world is suffering because of it. Technology on today’s fishing boats allow fisherman to hunt down schools of fish and simply drop there nets and scoop them up. By doing this, commercial fishing boats are able to catch multiple tons of fish in just a couple hours of work. Although there are currently rules and regulations on commercial fishing, the government should increase enforcement because fish populations are being depleted, aquatic ecosystems are being destroyed, and those who depend on the fishing industry will suffer.
Commercial fishing regulations vary from country to country, and are often hard to enforce. Here in the United States, there are Federal commercial fishing regulations that must be fallowed. On top of the Federal rules, there are also rules for individual states. According to the Gulf Council, State fishing regulations are to be fallowed as long as they do not exceed limits that are set by the Federal Government. The council also notes that state regulations are in place to protect species of fish that are not covered by Federal regulations. All fishing regulations lay out criteria such as minimum size limits, which state how big a fish needs to be in order to keep it. Criteria can also include trip limits and total quota caps. Trip limits are limitations for how much fish a vessel can come in with, and quota caps limit how much each vessel can catch in one fishing season. In addition to catch criteria, rules are in place that regulate where vessels can catch fish, and what kind of fishing techniques they can use (such as drag netting or single-hook line).
It would seem that having all these rules would help limit the damage done to the fishing population. However, taking a closer look at these regulations shows that they really aren’t all that effective. In a commercial fishing pamphlet that is handed out by the Fishery Management Council, it shows that there are in fact no trip limits or quota caps for many species of fish. Where there are limits, they are often amounts such as “6,000 lbs gutted weight” for trip limits, and quotas of 1.02 million pounds “gutted weight.” These numbers were for “Deep-water Groupers,” but there were other fish species that had similar amounts. The truly scary fact about these restrictions is that they are for single shipping vessels. This means that there are hundreds of boats out there that are potentially bringing in over a million pounds of fish each. Also remember that this is one classification of fish in a single fishing season, and restrictions are based on “gutted weight.”
With poor regulations such as these it’s not so hard to imagine the impact fishing vessels have over the world’s fish population. As a matter of fact, the World Wildlife Foundation states that “52% of the world’s fisheries are fully exploited, and 24% are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion.” This means that over 76% of the world’s fisheries are in danger of being completely wiped out. Numbers like these are astonishing, and at the rate we are going, the unthinkable could become a reality. WWF goes on to say that if commercial fishing keeps up the same pace, every single species that is currently being fished for food could be completely collapsed by the year 2048. This may seem like a long way away, but future generations could be facing a world without the joy, and sometimes necessity, of fish for food.
There have been efforts all over the world to try and control fish population, but they simply aren’t enough. Besides laughable Federal regulations, there have also been bans on fishing in some areas. While this tactic does work, banned areas are usually fairly small, and limited compared to how many their should be. Nigel Williams backs up this idea in a 1998 article from the national publication, Science. He points out that “findings indicate that more such protected areas must be created if there is to be any chance of salvaging vanishing ecosystems.” Sadly, since his article in 1998, it would seem that little has been done about the overfishing problem.
A common adage says that “desperate times call for desperate measures.” By the statistics given by the WWF, there is no question we are in desperate times. Extreme measures have been taking place in some regions, and luckily it appears that we may still have time to fix our problem. According to a study done by Ball State University, the Indiana commercial fishery on Lake Michigan was closed down completely in 1997. Their study indicates that 10 years after the closure, mean length of local yellow perch had increased, and so had the proportion of female fish. Of course this was just one fishery, and in truth, it made little difference in our global problem. However, successful experiments such as these do give a sliver of hope to those concerned about the current condition of our oceans.
Unfortunately, fish populations aren’t the only thing suffering from current fishing methods. Over the last half-century, huge advancements in fishing technology have increased catch production, but have also created a huge problem for our world’s coral reefs. Trawling is a technique that has been used for decades. According to the WWF, coral reefs used to be safe from this fishing technique because the sharp coral would rip up the fisherman’s nets. The World Wildlife Foundation points out that this all ended in the 1980s when large rubber tires were added to the end of the nets, allowing the trawlers to move over the coral without getting damaged. According to the same article, a study was done here in Alaska which showed that after a single pass by a drag net, 55% of the effected coral still showed signs of damage a year later.
In most places new laws and regulations are being put in place that prohibit the use of trawling in shallow reef areas. The regulations usually limit the commercial fishing vessels to fish with multiple hooked lines. While this helps tremendously with reef damage near shorelines, deeper sea waters continue to be effected by insufficient protective guidelines. Technology again plays a big role in the creation of these problems. Where trawling at large depths used to be near impossible, it is now very common for vessels to fish at depths nearing a mile or more. In 2002 there was a study done by the Royalty Society in the northeast Atlantic Ocean which researched the amount of damage done to deep coral during normal fish trawling operation. During the study the fishing vessel would troll at depths up to 1500m. The study report noted that “coral by-catch” was common, and that some pieces were up to 1 sq. meter in size and up to 4550 years old. The damage done during this study had a large impact on the ocean bottom by its self, but what needs to be taken into account is that the study covered only a fraction of a per cent of the global damage done by trawling vessels. Quantifying such devastating effects on our ocean’s ecosystems makes it hard to justify the lack of protection these reefs receive.
Most people realize that commercial fishing is quickly depleting fish populations, and many people are aware of the damage it causes our coral reefs, but very few people realize the impact commercial fishing has on themselves and millions of others around the world. If the commercial fishing industry is allowed to keep harvesting fish at the current pace, it wont be long before they fish themselves out of business. That would mean the end of a $158 billion industry according to Business 2.0 Magazine. That’s 158 billion dollars worth of jobs that people currently use to support their families with food and shelter. Unfortunately owners of big commercial fishing companies are only thinking about the money they can make now. They show little, if any concern for the future of not only their workers, but also the millions of people around the world who depend on fish for food. Sure, we all have the ability to enjoy delicious tilapia or halibut now, but that pleasure will come to an end if something isn’t done to tighten up current rules and regulations on commercial fishing.
Unfortunately we live in a world where making money is priority number one for most people, and many will do whatever it takes to earn their living. This is the attitude that is causing the depletion of the world’s fish population and the destruction of their habitat. Sadly, there isn’t much anyone can do to change this mindset, but that doesn’t mean marine animals and coral reefs can’t be saved. If governments around the world would tighten current fishing regulations and create more non-fishing zones, marine ecosystems would surely become more healthy and rich. However, if people continue to turn there backs on the problem, we will soon see the collapse of global fisheries, complete destruction of their ecosystems, and millions of people around the world will be out of jobs and a valuable food source. It’s up to the government to make sure this doesn’t happen, and it’s time to step up before it becomes too late.




Resources

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. “2008 Commercial Fishing Regulations for Gulf of Mexico Federal Waters.” January 2008.
http://www.gulfcouncil.org/Beta/GMFMCWeb/downloads/com%20brochure2008web.pdf

“Problems: Poorly Managed Fishing.” World Wildlife Foundation. Updated February, 2008.
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/problems/problems_fishing/in dex.cfm

Williams, Nigel. “Overfishing disrupts entire ecosystems.” Science. February 1998. p279:809-810.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/279/5352/809

T. E. LAUER, J. C. DOLL, P. J. ALLEN, B. BREIDERT, J. PALLA. “Changes in yellowperch length frequencies and sex ratios following closure of the commercial fishery and reduction in sport bag limits in southern Lake Michigan.” Fisheries Management and Ecology, pg. 15 (2008)
http://libapps.uaf.edu:2080/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2007.00567.x

Hall-Spencer, Jason; Allain, Valerie; Fossa, Jan H. “Trawling Damage to Northeast Atlantic Ancient Coral Reefs.” The Royal Society. Biological Sciences.(2002). http://libapps.uaf.edu:2066/view/09628452/sp020009/02x0148r/0?current Result=09628452%2bsp020009%2b02x0148r%2b0%2c3F&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2
Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26gw%3Djtx%26 jtxsi%3D1%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Dcommercial%2Bfishing%252C%2 Bcoral%26wc%3Don

Durst, Sidra. “Problem no. 6: Overfishing. Kona Blue’s Deep-ocean Aquaculture Could Help Save Declining Fish Populations.” Business 2.0 Magazine. CNN. January 26, 2007.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/24/magazines/business2/Prob6_Overfishing.biz2/i ndex.htm