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Fisheries Collapse Fisheries Collapse The EU is the world's largest seafood market, taking in 40 percent of all imported fish, with a large chunk coming from developing countries. Spaniards consume a hundred pounds (45 kilograms) of seafood a year per person, nearly double the European average and exceeded only by Lithuanians and Portuguese. Thresher sharks in Mexico's Gulf of California will be sold locally for food; their fins will be cut off and likely shipped to Hong Kong, where shark-fin soup is a prized dish. The global fin trade alone claims an estimated 40 million sharks a year, devastating stocks of a fish that is generally slow growing and slow to reproduce. Many countries, including the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, and Australia, have banned shark-finning, but consumers' tastes have yet to change. Now banned in many countries, deep trawling with nets held open by heavy doors bulldozes the seabed and catches sea life indiscriminately—more than 50 percent of all discarded species. Everything surrounding a Mexican trawlerman's hands will go to waste; he will sell only the shrimp. With competition intensifying to supply mostly European markets, fishing grounds off West Africa are going the way of Europe's: toward depletion. These Senegalese, who had hoped to catch desirable export species such as shrimp or sole, will throw away the fish in their nets—wasting valuable protein for Africa. Hooked without a permit, a dorado—sold as mahi-mahi—was caught on an illegal longline off Mexico. With thousands of baited hooks, longlines extend for miles, often snaring fish unintentionally, notably sharks, as well as hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds every year. In longline fishing, eventually discarded bycatch makes up nearly 30 percent of the take. Guitarfish, rays, and other bycatch are tossed from a shrimp boat in the Gulf of California. During the past decade, efforts to reduce bycatch have begun to pay off with better net and hook designs, pingers on nets to repel marine mammals, and streamers behind boats to frighten away seabirds. A reef off Indonesia—laid bare to supply restaurants with live fish—now attracts divers searching for lobsters, the last remaining valuable species. Many species of global importance are captured using cyanide, traps, or dynamite. Northern Spain: whether children of fishing families will choose to make their living through fishing is, for the first time, an open question. Oceans and Seas The fate of a global commons Structure of Lecture Define the resource Track its distribution in the world Review the History of the resource History of use Conservation History This section includes policy considerations Explore its political dimensions Stakeholders Property issues Structure of Lecture Define the resource Track its distribution in the world Review the History of the resource History of use Conservation History This section includes policy considerations Explore its political dimensions Stakeholders Property issues What is the resource? Fish for consumption Biodiversity Hydropower, esp wave-powered turbines Fishery An area with an associated fish or aquatic population which is harvested for its value (commercial, recreational, subsistence). It can be saltwater or freshwater, wild or farmed. Marine vs. Freshwater Marine means salt water Marine refers to “the sea”, which includes oceans From Latin marinus Fresh water (or “Inland fisheries”) refers to nonsalty waters – rivers, lakes, streams. Tuna and other large fish Shellfish Crustaceans Large Mammals Trout and other Fresh water species Harvesting Methods Industrial Fishing (Shrimp Trawling) Trawling for fish Deep Trawling Purse Seine Fishing Longline Fishing “Indigenous” or Small Scale Fishing Fisheries – a global resource Food fish accounts for about 20% of animal proteins in the global diet. 99% of all fish come from coastal areas Structure of Lecture Define the resource Track its distribution in the world Review the History of the resource History of use Conservation History This section includes policy considerations Explore its political dimensions Stakeholders Property issues But first…a quick law lesson th 17 century to early th 20 : “freedom of the sea” Considered a three-mile belt along national coast lines to be sovereign territory 1945: US extended control out to the continental shelf. Other nations followed. Protected natural resources Protected fisheries Allowed better pollution control Law lesson (con’t) 1945-1973: Many complicated laws hashing out claims to the sea and its resources 1973-1994: United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea Established Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), extends 200 miles from nations’ coasts Established “territorial waters” – 12 miles out, where nations can set laws and regulations Established the UN as the site for negotiation over competing claims Image Credit: Global Education Project Data: UN FAO What is the trend shown in this graph? Why do you think the trend exists? What might this trend mean for the future of fisheries? For global economic relations? General Trends to Notice World capture rates have leveled out in the last decade (excluding China), while the growth of aquaculture has made up for population growth China is the largest producer of captured fish and aquaculture China produces twice as much fish per capita than the global average Most productive fisheries are located in coastal areas within Exclusive Economic Zones Bu there has been a rise in open sea fishing, especially for deep sea species Spike in deep water fishing Causes: Technological improvements Increasingly restricted fishing zones Decreasing resources in coastal zones • • What possible impact could this have to marine organisms? What possible solutions might be worked out? Inland Fisheries Structure of Lecture Define the resource Track its distribution in the world Review the History of the resource History of use Conservation History This section includes policy considerations Explore its political dimensions Stakeholders Property issues Global Fishing Zones 99% of fish catches are in upwelling zones or coastal zones. Coastal zones are the most susceptible to transformation from landward activities. Fish Stocks as Stress Indicators What are some fishing practices that deplete fish resources? How do they contribute to the decline of fisheries? Now banned in many countries, deep trawling with nets held open by heavy doors bulldozes the seabed and catches sea life indiscriminately—more than 50 percent of all discarded species. A reef off Indonesia—laid bare to supply restaurants with live fish—now attracts divers searching for lobsters, the last remaining valuable species. Many species of global importance are captured using cyanide, traps, or dynamite. Thresher sharks in Mexico's Gulf of California will be sold locally for food; their fins will be cut off and likely shipped to Hong Kong, where shark-fin soup is a prized dish. The global fin trade alone claims an estimated 40 million sharks a year, devastating stocks of a fish that is generally slow growing and slow to reproduce. Many countries, including the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, and Australia, have banned shark-finning, but consumers' tastes have yet to change. Hooked without a permit, a dorado—sold as mahi-mahi—was caught on an illegal longline off Mexico. With thousands of baited hooks, longlines extend for miles, often snaring fish unintentionally, notably sharks, as well as hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds every year. In longline fishing, eventually discarded bycatch makes up nearly 30 percent of the take. Everything surrounding a Mexican trawlerman's hands will go to waste; he will sell only the shrimp. With competition intensifying to supply mostly European markets, fishing grounds off West Africa are going the way of Europe's: toward depletion. These Senegalese, who had hoped to catch desirable export species such as shrimp or sole, will throw away the fish in their nets—wasting valuable protein for Africa. Guitarfish, rays, and other bycatch are tossed from a shrimp boat in the Gulf of California. During the past decade, efforts to reduce bycatch have begun to pay off with better net and hook designs, pingers on nets to repel marine mammals, and streamers behind boats to frighten away seabirds. Areas of Concern for Over-fishing Reduction in Shark Species, 1986-2000 Decline in Northeastern US Fish Harvests (1982-1996 Collapse of the Northeastern Cod Fishery Collapse of the Pacific Sardine Catch Reduction in Northwest Atlantic Large Fish Biomass, 1900-1999 1900 (in metric tons per km sq) 1950 Examples of “large fish” are cod, halibut and tuna 1975 1999 Fish Stock Depletion (North Atlantic) Fisheries Impact: Intrinsic v. Extrinsic Yields Beyond this point, fish harvest exceeds fish production How do property rights in the sea relate to the decline of fisheries? How might property rights be configured differently to change the ending of the degradation story? Conservation Efforts Catch limits Restriction of fishing licenses Lessening demand on wild fish stocks through aquaculture Aquaculture: Risk and Promise Image Credit: Global Education Project Data: UN FAO Aquaculture now at 43% of total world fish production (2005) Chinese aquaculture accounts for nearly 70% of the world total What are some of the benefits of aquaculture over wild fish catching? Image credit: Pew Trusts A Healthy Coral Reef Ecosystem Reefs grow in the warm euphotic zone Coral Reef Stressors Thermal stress is a principal cause of reef die-off. Additional stressors are mostly physical, including: •Damage from dredging and excavation •Trampling by divers •Fracturing due to removal of sponges and fish •Blocking of photosynthesis by sediments Excavating a Coral Reef for an Airport Development Trampling of Coral Reefs by Divers Catching Tropical Fish on a Reef Creating an Artificial Reef (offshore New Jersey) Reef-building or dumping? Retired New York City subway cars dumped off Cape May, New Jersey in 2003 to form an artificial reef An Ecological Parable Changes in economic processes and behaviors are the most dramatic cause of ecosystem transformation Focusing on species and small-scale practices often literally misses the forest for the trees, or the ocean for the fish Bycatch How do local conditions change as the result of changes at other scales (national, global, etc)? What conditions local conditions? Resources consulted for this lecture Cutter, Susan L. and William H. Renwick (1999) Exploitation Conservation Preservation. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. Hardin, Garrett (1968) "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, no. 162: 1243-48. MacPherson, C. B. (1978) "The Meaning of Property," in Property, University of Toronto Press, Toronto. McCay, B. (2000) ”Property Rights, the Commons, and Natural Resource Management” in Kaplowitz, M. D., Property Rights, Economics, and the Environment. Stanford, CT: JAI Press McCay, Bonnie J. (2006). "Oyster Wars, Public Trust, and the Law in New Jersey," in New Jersey's Environments: Past, Present, and Future, ed. Neil M Maher, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ. Ostrom, Elinor and the National Research Council (2002). The Drama of the Commons: Committee on the human dimensions of global change, National Academies Press.