Marine Conservation Science and Policy Service learning Program Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs, cephalopods, crustaceans, and echinoderms. The term is not normally applied to catching aquatic mammals, such as whales, where the term whaling is more appropriate, or to farmed fish.

Module 4: Marine Issues

Section 2: Fishing and Bycatch Sunshine State Standard SC.912.N.1.1, SC.912.N.1.4, SC.912.E.7.4, SC.912.L.14.3, SC.912.L.14.7, SC.912.L.14.8, SC.912.L.14.10, SC.912.L.15.2, SC.912.L.15.13

Objectives Students will:    

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Experience the ―tragedy of the commons‖ as it relates to fishing resources. Consider social, environmental, and economic impacts of overfishing. Identify sustainable fishing practices. Carry out group simulations of common fishing methods and assess why these methods and sharks' reproductive biology are together contributing to a rapid decline in shark populations. Investigate coastal marine communities; Identify the benefits that seagrass provide to the environment; Describe the proper way to collect organisms for scientific observation Observe and compare the characteristics of different organisms and the adaptations that allow them to live in the area they were collected

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Vocabulary Adaptation- the features of an organism that allow it to survive in a particular area Benthic- organisms that live on the seafloor Biodiversity- describes the variety or number of species that exists in an area Bycatch- Harvest of fish or shellfish other than the species for which the fishing gear was set. Examples are blue crabs caught in shrimp trawls or sharks caught on a tuna longline. Bycatch is also often called incidental catch. Gill net- A type of fishing net that catches fish by their gills or gill covers. Habitat- a specific place where a community of organisms live that provides everything those organisms need to survive Invertebrate- an organism that has no backbone Longlining- A type of commercial fishing which uses hundreds of baited hooks on a line that can be many miles long. Mangroves- salt-tolerant trees that grow in coastal habitats Seagrass- flowering, marine plants that live completely underwater Sustainability- Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, or the health of the planet. Sustainable Fisheries Act- The 1996 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that imposed new requirements for federal fishery managers to prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, reduce Bycatch, and protect essential fish habitats. Sustainable fishery- a fishery that is managed so that it can continue long-term, into the future without depleting either the targeted fish or other marine resources. Tragedy of the commons- A metaphor used to illustrate the conflict between individual interests and the common good. The term was popularized by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 Science article "The Tragedy of the Commons." Trawl nets- A conical fishnet dragged through the water or, in the case of bottom trawl, along the seafloor. This is one of the most destructive types of fishing equipment. Vertebrate- an organism that has a backbone

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Background Introduction Although humans live mostly on land, the Earth is truly a water planet. In our solar system, the ―blue planet‖ is unique, covered with seemingly endless oceans. These deep ocean stretches give us food, trade items, trade routes, recreation, and entertainment. From surfers to developers, people are drawn to ocean shores. Everyone wants to see the latest natural treasure washed up from the depths. Nearly 72% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. The oceans hold 1,300,000,000 km3 of water. So it should come as no surprise that the interaction between global climate and the oceans has fascinated scientists for years. The work of French oceanographer and undersea biologist Jacques Cousteau opened up the unseen ocean depths world to everyone. Cousteau invented the equipment that made ocean exploration possible. SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) and the iron lung allowed divers to reach depths previously impossible. Today, SCUBA diving is probably at its all time high as a recreational sport. More and more people are fascinated by the complex and beautiful world beneath the waves.

Yet even with all the sophisticated instrumentation that scientists and oceanographers possess today, the ocean still keeps many of its secrets.

Oceans An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's

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surface (an area of some 361,000,000 square kilometers (139,000,000 sq mi)) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Scientists estimate that 230,000 marine life forms of all types are currently known, but the total could be up to 10 times that number.

Fisheries Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising and/or harvesting fish, which is determined by some authority to be a fishery According to the FAO, 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, or taking of fish beyond sustainable levels, is reducing fish stocks and employment in many world regions.

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 of aquatic 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.

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In fisheries – the term fish is used as a collective term, and includes mollusks, crustaceans and any aquatic animal which is harvested. 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 the shrimp 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 midnineties (between 80 and 86 million tonnes). Most marine fisheries are based near the coast. 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 coastal upwelling and the abundance of nutrients available there. However, productive wild fisheries also exist in open oceans, particularly by seamounts, and inland in lakes and rivers.

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Most fisheries are wild fisheries, but increasingly fisheries are farmed. 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 and crustaceans, 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 tones 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.

What is a commercial fishery? A commercial fishery is the industry of catching a particular fish species or other marine species for profit. Commercial fisheries exist throughout the world.

What is the status of our fisheries? Although humans have exploited marine species for millennia, advances in technology over the last few decades have greatly altered the way humans exploit fisheries. Overfishing—fishing faster than the fish can replenish— is now the greatest threat to marine biodiversity. Today, thirteen of the planet’s fifteen major oceanic fishing areas are now fished at or beyond capacity. The problem has grown to such proportions that the populations of some fished species, such as haddock and bluefin tuna, have been decimated.

Is fish farming a better alternative? With a growing world population and marine fisheries in decline, fisheries experts have long hoped that aquaculture might one day take up the slack. In some ways it already is, but a growing number of marine scientists believe that parts of the industry may instead contribute to the further decline of marine resources. The intense controversy pertains to which species are being farmed and how they are being farmed. Salmon, shrimp and tuna are examples of carnivorous animals that must be fed other fish. Most farms raising these species ultimately consume more fish than they produce. The profit motive also inclines many farms to implement large-scale, industrial practices that can 6

result in pollution, the destruction of marine habitat, and a tendency to generate diseases that pose a risk to both wild fish and consumers. In order to be truly sustainable, aquaculture operations need to operate in ways that do not harm marine ecosystems or coastal communities; that neither consume more resources than they produce. In China, millions of people depend on farms that raise carp, an herbivorous fish that requires no fishmeal. Carp are omnivorous species like catfish and tilapia that can be farmed with very little need of fishmeal or fish oil. Farms that raise shellfish like abalone, clams, oysters and mussels also produce a net gain in protein for a hungry world. These kinds of aquaculture are best suited for truly taking pressure off our over-exploited oceans.

What’s the big deal? For human populations, fishing has long been a way of life, a source of food and income. It is the livelihood for some 200 million people worldwide. Approximately 20 percent of the animal protein consumed by humans is derived from fish. Since living marine resources continue to be overexploited by an industry too large for the resources available, many fisheries are collapsing. This means species are declining, a major world food source is being put at risk, jobs are being lost, and ecosystems are inalterably changing.

Fishing Methods There are many fishing techniques or methods for catching fish. The term can also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs (shellfish, squid, octopus) and edible marine invertebrates. Fishing techniques include hand gathering, spear fishing, and netting, angling and trapping. Recreational, commercial

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and artisanal fishers use different techniques, and also, sometimes, the same techniques. Recreational fishers fish for pleasure or sport, while commercial fishers fish for profit. Artisanal fishers use traditional, low-tech methods, for survival in third-world countries, and as a cultural heritage in other countries. Mostly, recreational fishers use angling methods and commercial fishers use netting methods. There is an intricate link between various fishing techniques and knowledge about the fish and their behavior including migration, foraging and habitat. The effective use of fishing techniques often depends on this additional knowledge.

Trawls Trawling is one of the most common methods of fishing in the world. Trawling involves towing one or more trawl nets behind a boat or in between two boats, either through the water column or along the ocean’s floor. Trawl nets are usually shaped like a cone or funnel with a wide opening to catch fish or crustaceans and a narrow closed end called a cod-end. Trawls can be used in water of various depths down to around 3000m, and nets differ by their mesh size.

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Demersal trawl There are two basic types of trawls used in Commonwealth fisheries: demersal trawls and midwater trawls. Demersal trawls are used to catch fish or prawns that live on the bottom of the ocean. Trawlers targeting finfish often use one net (this is called a single trawl) or two nets (twin trawl), whereas prawn trawlers may use a twinrig (towing two nets) or quad-rig (towing four nets). Both demersal and midwater trawls use otterboards to keep the mouth of the net open.

Midwater trawl There are two basic types of trawls used in Commonwealth fisheries: demersal trawls and midwater trawls. Midwater trawls fish in the water column and are used to catch a variety of pelagic fish species. Some fisheries may use paired trawls, where two boats pull one net. Midwater trawl nets may incorporate acoustic technology to tell the skipper the position of the net in the water column, the opening/spread of the net and the volume of fish entering the net. Additional instruments on the net can record the speed at which the net is traveling. Both demersal and midwater trawls use otterboards to keep the mouth of the net open.

Seines Seine nets are usually long flat nets like a fence that are used to encircle a school of fish, with the boat driving around the fish in a circle. Purse seine and Danish seine nets are used in Commonwealth fisheries.

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Purse Nets In a purse seine the top of the net is floated at the ocean’s surface and the bottom of the net is held under the water by lead weights. A wire that is threaded through the bottom of the net can be tightened to close the bottom of the net trapping the fish inside. The net is then pulled in toward the boat and the catch is either pumped or lifted out with small nets or the whole net is brought aboard.

Danish seine Danish seines are similar to a small trawl net but more simply constructed with no otterboards and very long warps – the boat drags the long wire warps and the net around the fish and the action of the warps herd fish towards the central net.

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Bottom set gillnet Gillnets are long rectangular panels of netting with diamond-shaped mesh that are held vertically in the water column and anchored either so that the net touches the bottom or so it is suspended above the ocean floor. Fish swim into the net and are entangled by the gills, fins and spines. The nets are kept vertical by the floats along the top and weights along the bottom. Only demersal gillnets (touching the ocean’s floor) are permitted in Australia, and are used by one Commonwealth fishery to catch school and gummy sharks.

Longlines Longlines are set horizontally either on the ocean floor (demersal longlines) or near the surface of the water (pelagic longlines). Longlines can be tens of kilometres long and carry thousands of hooks. Baited hooks are attached to the longline by short lines called snoods that hang off the mainline.

Demersal longline Demersal longlines are set horizontally on the ocean floor. They can be many kilometres long and carry thousands of hooks. Baited hooks are attached to the longline by short lines called snoods that hang off the mainline. Demersal longlines are anchored to the sea floor. Auto longlining is another type of longlining - it is basically demersal longlining except that some of the functions (for example baiting 11

the hook) are automated.

Pelagic longline Pelagic longlines are set near the surface of the water. Longlines can be many kilometres long and carry thousands of hooks. Baited hooks are attached to the longline by short lines called snoods that hang off the mainline. Pelagic longlines are not anchored and are set to drift near the surface of the ocean with a radio beacon attached so that the vessel can track them to haul in the catch. Pelagic longlines are usually used to catch large tuna and billfish species.

Dropline Droplines are similar to longlines but are set vertically either down underwater cliffs or just in the water column. They have a weight at the bottom, a series of hooks attached to snoods, and a float at the top of the line. They are not usually as long as longlines and don’t have as many hooks.

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Squid jig Squid jigging can be carried out using either mechanically powered or hand operated jigs. Overhead lights illuminate the water and attract the squid which gather in the shaded area under the boat. Squid are caught using barbless lures on fishing lines which are jigged up and down in the water. Using barbless lures means that as the lures are recovered over the end rollers, the squid fall off into the boat.

Dredges Towed dredges are used to collect shellfish such as scallops from the sea floor. The dredge used in the Commonwealth scallop fishery is constructed of a heavy steel frame covered with steel mesh but open on the front side which is towed and is used to dig scallops out of the sand and mud. The dredge is towed along the bottom until it is full, then lifted onto the boat and the contents tipped out.

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Traps Fish traps are currently permitted in one Commonwealth fishery and some other fisheries are trialing the method. Traps are baited so that fish are enticed to swim into them and are set up with mazes or funnelshaped entrances so that fish cannot escape once inside the trap.

Turtle Excluder and Bycatch Reduction Device Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) are used in trawl fisheries to allow fish that are not targeted by the fishers to escape from the net before it is hauled back into the boat. It is good news for the marine environment as it reduces the amount of bycatch that dies as a result of trawling.

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Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) TEDs are used in northern prawn trawl fisheries as an escape hatch for turtles. If turtles cannot escape from a trawl net they cannot reach the surface to breathe and may drown. TEDs consist of a grid across the codend of the net which forces turtles and other large objects out of the net without the prawn catch escaping.

Seal Excluder Devices (SEDs) SEDs are very similar to Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) but they are designed for use by seals instead of turtles. They are used in the southern demersal trawl fisheries where seals are more likely to be caught.

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Vessel monitoring system Vessel Monitoring Systems consist of a tracking unit on the vessel, an Automatic Location Communicator (ALC), the transmission medium – Inmarsat C satellite and the base station. In our VMS, ALCs with a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) are fitted to each vessel and regularly beam information on vessel position, course and speed via an Inmarsat communications satellite to a land earth station (LES) in Perth, and then by land line to a computer base station at our head office in Canberra. We can request automatic reports from vessels at any time as required.

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Fish Farming (Aquaculture) Open Net Pens or Cages Open net pens and cages enclose fish in offshore coastal areas or in freshwater lakes. Salmon and tuna are typically raised in net pens or cages.

Ponds Ponds enclose fish in a coastal or inland body of fresh or salt water. Wastewater can be contained and treated. Shrimp, catfish and tilapia are some of the most common species raised in ponds.

Raceways Farmers divert water from a waterway, like a stream or well, so that it flows through channels containing fish. Farmers usually treat the water before diverting it back into a natural waterway. The government requires strict regulation and monitoring of on-site and nearby water quality. In the U.S., farmers use raceways to raise rainbow trout.

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Recirculating Systems Recirculating systems enclose fish in tanks, where water is treated and recirculated through the system. Almost any finfish species such as striped bass, salmon and sturgeon can be raised in recirculating systems.

Shellfish Culture Farmers grow shellfish on beaches or suspend them in water by ropes, plastic trays or mesh bags. The shellfish farmed using these methods are filter feeders and require only clean water to thrive. Oysters, mussels and clams are cultured using these methods.

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Bycatch Bycatch- Fish and Animals Caught and Wasted Worldwide, fisheries throw away 25% of their catch. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, one in four animals caught in fishing gear dies as Bycatch—unwanted or unintentional catch. Tons of fish are tossed out, dead or dying, because they're not the kind the fishermen wanted to catch. The discarded animals may have no market value, or there may be no room on the boat to bring them to shore. Or the Bycatch may be a marketable species, but too small to sell. Sometimes, fish are discarded because the fishermen lack the proper permits to land them. Dolphins, sea turtles, seals and whales all get caught by accident in fishing gear and drown. Seabirds, including endangered albatrosses, drown when they snatch baited hooks and are pulled under water. The term Bycatch is usually used for fish caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish. It may however also indicate untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting. Bycatch are either of a different species or juveniles of the target species. The OECD (1997) defines bycatch as "total fishing mortality excluding that accounted directly by the retained catch of target species". There are at least four different ways the word bycatch is used in fisheries:    

Catch which is retained and sold but which is not the target species for the fishery Species/sizes/sexes of fish which fishermen discard Non-target fish whether retained and sold or discarded Unwanted invertebrate species such as echinoderms and non-commercial crustaceans

Since the development some 50 years ago of cheaper fishing gear and bigger, faster boats, thousands of kilometres of nets and lines have been set in the world's oceans each day. Modern fishing gear, often invisible to sight and extremely strong, is very

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efficient at catching the desired fish species - as well as anything else in its path. A staggering amount of marine life is hauled up with the catch, and then usually discarded overboard dead or dying.

Examples of Bycatch Shrimp trawling The highest rates of incidental catch of non-target species are associated with shrimp trawling. In 1997, the FAO documented the estimated bycatch and discard levels from shrimp fisheries around the world. They found discard rates (bycatch to catch ratios) as high as 20:1 with a world average of 5.7:1 Shrimp trawl fisheries catch two percent of the world total catch of all fish by weight, but produce over one third of the world total bycatch. US shrimp trawlers produce bycatch ratios between 3:1 and 15:1. Trawl nets in general, and shrimp trawls in particular, have been identified as sources of mortality for cetacean and finfish species. When bycatch is discarded (returned to the sea) it is often dead or dying. Recent sampling in the South Atlantic rock shrimp fishery found 166 species of finfish, 37 crustacean species, and 29 other species of invertebrate among the bycatch in the trawls. Another sampling of the same fishery over a two year period found that rock shrimp amounted to only 10% of total catch weight. Iridescent swimming crab, dusky flounder, inshore lizardfish, spot, brown shrimp, longspine swimming crabs, and other bycatch made up the rest. Despite the use of bycatch reduction devices, the shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Mexico removes about 25-45 million red snapper annually as bycatch, nearly one half the amount taken in directed recreational and commercial snapper fisheries.

Cetacean Cetaceans, such as dolphins, porpoises, and whales, can be seriously affected by entanglement in fishing nets and lines, or direct capture by hooks or in trawl nets. Cetacean bycatch is increasing in intensity and frequency. In some fisheries, cetaceans are captured as bycatch but then retained because of their value as

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food or bait. In this fashion, cetaceans can become a target of fisheries. One example of bycatch is dolphins caught in tuna nets. As dolphins are mammals and do not have gills they may drown while stuck in nets underwater. This bycatch issue has been one of the reasons of the growing ecolabelling industry, where fish producers mark their packagings with something like "Dolphin Friendly" to reassure buyers. However, "dolphin friendly" does not mean that dolphins were not killed in the production of a particular tin of tuna, but that the fleet which caught the tuna did not specifically target a feeding pod of dolphins, but relied on other methods to spot tuna schools.

Albatross Of the 21 albatross species recognised by IUCN on their Red List, 19 are threatened, and the other two are near threatened. Two species are considered critically endangered: the Amsterdam Albatross and the Chatham Albatross. One of the main threats is commercial longline fishing, because the albatrosses and other seabirds which readily feed on offal are attracted to the set bait, become hooked on the lines and drown. An estimated 100,000 albatross per year are killed in this fashion. Unregulated pirate fisheries exacerbate the problem.

Sea turtles Sea turtles, already critically endangered, have been killed in large numbers in shrimp trawl nets. Estimates indicate that thousands of Kemp's Ridley, loggerhead, green and leatherback sea turtles are caught in shrimp trawl fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and the US Atlantic annually. Sea turtles can sometimes escape from the trawls. In the Gulf of Mexico, the Kemp’s Ridley turtles recorded most interactions, followed in order by loggerhead, green, and leatherback sea turtles. In the US Atlantic, the interactions were greatest for loggerheads, followed in order by Kemp’s Ridley, leatherback, and green sea turtles.

Mitigation Concern about bycatch led fishermen and scientists to find ways of reducing unwanted catch. There are two main approaches. One approach is to ban fishing in areas where bycatch is unacceptably high. Such area closures can be permanent, seasonal, or for a specific period when a bycatch problem is registered. Temporary area closures are common in some bottom-trawl fisheries 21

where under-sized fish or non-target species are caught unpredictably. In some cases fishermen are required to relocate when a bycatch problem occurs. The other approach is alternative fishing gear. A technically simple solution is to use nets with a larger mesh size, allowing smaller species and smaller individuals to escape. However, this usually requires replacing the existing gear. In other cases, it is possible to modify gear. The "bycatch reduction device" (BRD) and the Nordmore grate are net modifications that help fish escape from shrimp nets. BRDs allow many commercial finfish species to escape. The US government has approved BRDs that reduce finfish bycatch by 30%. Spanish mackerel and weakfish bycatch in the South Atlantic was reduced by 40%.However, recent surveys suggest BRDs may be less effective than previously thought. A rock shrimp fishery off Florida found the devices did not exclude 166 species of fish, 37 crustacean species, and 29 species of other invertebrates. In 1978, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) started to develop turtle excluder devices (TEDs). A TED uses a grid which deflects turtles and other big animals, so they exit from the trawl net through an opening above the grid. US shrimp trawlers and foreign fleets which market shrimp in the US are required to use TEDs. Not all nations enforce the use of TEDs. For the most part, when they are used, TEDs have been successful reducing sea turtle bycatch. However, they are not completely effective, and some turtles are still captured. NMFS certifies TED designs if they are 97% effective. In heavily trawled areas, the same sea turtle may pass repeatedly through TEDs. Recent studies indicate recapture rates of twenty percent or more, but it is not clear how many turtles survive the escape process. The size selectivity of trawl nets is controlled by the size of the net openings, especially in the "cod end". The larger the openings, the more easily small fish can escape. The development and testing of modifications to fishing gear to improve selectivity and decrease impact is called "conservation engineering."

Bycatch- What is a Problem? The numbers are truly frightening. For example: 

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Many of the fish and other animals caught in fishing gear are thrown away as unwanted bycatch - amounting to many millions of metric tonnes of marine life wasted each year. Over 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year, making bycatch the single largest cause of mortality for small cetaceans and pushing several species to the verge of extinction. According to some scientific estimates, as many as 250,000 endangered loggerhead turtles and critically endangered leatherback turtles are caught

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annually on longlines set for tuna, swordfish, and other fish, with thousands more killed in shrimp trawls. 26 species of seabird, including 17 albatross species, are threatened with extinction because of longlining, which kills more than 300,000 seabirds each year. 89% of hammerhead sharks and 80 per cent of thresher and white sharks have disappeared from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean in the last 18 years, largely due to bycatch. Shrimp trawlers catch as many as 35 million juvenile red snappers each year in the Gulf of Mexico, enough to have an impact on the population. Billions of corals, sponges, starfish, and other invertebrates are caught as bycatch every year

Wherever there is fishing, there is bycatch. And the sheer numbers of animals being needlessly killed makes bycatch one of the greatest and most pervasive threats to life in the oceans. Indeed, bycatch could well be the final nail in the coffin for many endangered marine species. It's also an expensive problem: fishers lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year because of the loss of juvenile and non-target fish to bycatch. On top of this, with so many fish, including juvenile fish, being wastefully discarded, bycatch is contributing to the global problem of overfishing and declining marine ecosystem health, and endangering food security in poorer countries.

Picture: By-catch of whale shark

Bycatch hurts us all Sharks, swordfish and red snapper are just a few of the fishes harmed by accidental kills. Bycatch often takes young fish that could rebuild depleted populations if they were allowed to grow up and breed. The animals we catch and throw away have important roles to play in marine food webs. By killing these animals, we're taking food away from tunas, salmon, swordfish, dolphins, sea lions and other ocean wildlife.

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You made a difference to dolphins! Consumer pressure works. The U.S. and Europe are the biggest markets for canned tuna. But when hundreds of thousands of dolphins died as bycatch in purse seine nets, concerned consumers forced the tuna industry to change. Unfortunately, some "dolphinsafe" fishing methods are not safe for sea turtles, sharks, Wahoo, mahi-mahi and young tunas. These animals, and many others, die at staggering rates now that purse seiners are working to avoid dolphins.

Be Part of the Solution By making better seafood choices using the Seafood Watch card, you know which fish are caught with little Bycatch. That way you can support responsible fishermen and help reduce wasted catch.

Bycatch - Solutions We're learning to catch with care Fishermen truly don't want to haul in bycatch —it wastes their time, wears out their gear, and can be costly if consumers object to the kill. Around the world, fishermen are working with scientists to reduce wasted catch.

The way we fish makes a difference Some fishing methods are selective and take little bycatch; other ways of fishing take a heavy toll. Catching shrimp in trawl nets can kill up to 10 pounds of other animals for each pound of shrimp. New devices, like the Nordmore grate, are helping to reduce bycatch in 24

some shrimp trawl fisheries. Even better, catching shrimp in traps lets fishermen release 98% of unwanted animals alive. That's why you'll find trap-caught shrimp on our Best Choices list.

Pingers protect porpoises Fishermen off New England found a way to warn whales and porpoises away from their nets: electronic beepers, or "pingers." The pingers make a sound under water, which helps sea mammals avoid the net. Since January 1999, pingers have been required on gillnets in the Gulf of Maine to reduce accidental kill of harbor porpoises.

Trap doors save turtles Sea turtles were drowning in shrimp trawls across the world's tropical oceans, and people wanted that to change. U.S. fishermen invented the Turtle Excluder Device, or TED—a trap door in the net that lets turtles swim free. TEDs are now required on U.S. shrimp boats, and the U.S. bans imports of shrimp from countries that don't require TEDs. Georgia fisher Sinky Boone invented one of the first Turtle Excluder Devices, a hatch that lets sea turtles escape shrimp nets.

Longlining gets better for birds Longliners in many areas now rig special lines to scare away endangered albatrosses and other seabirds. Other longliners fish at night, when birds aren't active. Scandinavian longliners are using gear that reels out the baited hooks under water, where birds can't grab them. Near Hawaii, longliners now dye their bait blue, so birds can't spot it easily.

Circle hooks The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and other partners to introduce a new type of hook in eastern Pacific longline fisheries that reduces marine turtle deaths by as much as 90 per cent without adversely affecting catches of swordfish and tuna. The new "circle" hooks are much less likely to be swallowed by turtles than traditional J-shaped hooks, which cause suffocation or internal bleeding when swallowed. Circle hooks are also easier to unhook from a

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snagged

animal.

Management can change to reduce Bycatch Today, many fisheries manage the entire fishing fleet as a unit. If the total amount of wasted catch goes over the limit, all boats in the fleet must stop fishing. Many in the industry feel this punishes careful fishermen, holding them responsible for others who waste a lot of catch. One option is "vessel bycatch allowances," which set limits for individual boats. This gives each captain the maximum incentive to "fish clean." In the eastern tropical Pacific, tuna boats use this system to cut down on wasted catch

Longline fishing It is controversial in some areas because of by-catch. Mitigation methods have been successfully implemented in some fisheries. These include:     

weights to sink the lines quickly streamer lines to scare birds away from baited hooks while deploying the lines setting lines only at night with minimal ship lighting (to avoid attracting birds) limiting fishing seasons to the southern winter (when most seabirds are not feeding young) and not discharging offal while setting lines.

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Activity: Fishing for the Future Credit: “Fishing for the Future”, © by Facing the Future: People and the Planet, 2004 (used with permission). Adapted from “Fishing with Jim” by teachers Jim Hartmann and Ben Smith.

Duration: 45 minutes Overview Through a fishing simulation, students model several consecutive seasons of a commercial fishery and explore how technology, population growth, and sustainable practices impact fish catch and fisheries management.

Materials        

Plain M&Ms, one 14-ounce bag for up to 30 students Peanut M&Ms, one 14-ounce bag for up to 30 students Small cups, 1 per student Serving bowls, medium size, 1 per group Spoons, 1 per group Straws, 1 per student Watch, for timing activity Handout Fishing Log, 1 per student (http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/educators/activities/docs/Fishingfishery-facts.pdf)



Handout Fishery Facts, 1 per student

(http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/educators/activities/docs/Fishing-

fishing-log.pdf)

Background Garrett Hardin coined the phrase ―tragedy of the commons‖ in 1968. Hardin describes cows grazing on a common land. Since there is no direct cost to using the land, individual ranchers are motivated to add to their herds in order to increase their personal wealth. But each added animal damages the pasture a small, perhaps imperceptible, amount. Ultimately, this gradual degradation destroys the commons. Each rancher acting alone is behaving in an appropriate, rational manner, yet the sum total of all the ranchers' actions destroys the resource for them all. From 1950 to 1990, there was a fivefold increase in the world annual fish catch. An increasing demand for fish coupled with environmentally damaging fishing practices are leading to another tragedy of the commons. Roughly 70 percent of the planet's marine stocks are fully or over exploited, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. In this activity, students will simulate fishery activity in different oceans. As students progress through the fishing seasons, they will likely overfish their oceans and will have to migrate to other oceans to meet their basic needs. Most groups will eventually create 27

a total crash of fish stocks in all the oceans. This demonstration will clearly indicate the benefits of sustainable fishing practices.

Before You Begin    

Check for peanut allergies in your class. You can do the activity using only plain M&Ms, if necessary. For a class of 20, you will have five or six groups of three to four students each. Each group will start with 20 plain and 10 peanut M&Ms. Count out the first round of M&Ms and place them in cups or bags. Copy the Fishery Facts and Fishing Log handouts. As a pre- or post-activity reference, have students read the handout Fishery Facts. For additional references, read Chapter 5 ―Global Trends - Food, Water, and Income‖ and Chapter 6 ―Environmental Sustainability‖ from Facing the Future's publication Global Issues & Sustainable Solutions (www.facingthefuture.org).

What To Do Before the Activity 

As a pre- or post-activity reference, have students read the handout Fishery Facts. For additional references, read Chapter 5 ―Global Trends - Food, Water, and Income‖ and Chapter 6 ―Environmental Sustainability‖ from Facing the Future's publication Global Issues & Sustainable Solutions (www.facingthefuture.org).

The Activity 

Introduce and discuss the concept of sustainability using the following definition:

“Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without limiting the ability of people, other species, and future generations to survive.”       

Ask why sustainability might be an important goal for a society and what might be difficult about realizing this goal. Tell students that today they're going to go fishing and explore some of these sustainability issues. Explain the game rules: Each student will be a ―fisher‖ whose livelihood depends on catching fish. Peanut M&Ms represent the largest and most valuable fish (tuna, swordfish, et cetera). Plain M&Ms represent the next most-valuable fish (cod, salmon, et cetera). Each fisher must catch at least two fish (large or small) in each round to survive (i.e., get enough fish to either eat or sell). 28

           



When the fishing begins, students must hold their hands behind their backs and use the ―fishing rod‖ (straw) to suck ―fish‖ (M&Ms) from the ―ocean‖ (bowl) and deposit them into their ―boat‖ (cup). The fish remaining in the ocean after each fishing season represent the breeding population, and thus one new fish will be added for every fish left in the ocean (bowl). Divide the class into groups of three or four students and have each group choose an ocean name such as North Atlantic, North Pacific, Arctic, Mediterranean, et cetera. Give each group one serving bowl and each student one cup, one straw, and one copy of the handout Fishing Log. Put 20 plain and 10 peanut M&Ms in each group's bowl. Say ―start fishing‖ and give the students 20 seconds for the first ―season‖ of fishing. Have each fisher count his or her catch (M&Ms in their cup) and record the data in their Fishing Log. Fishers who did not catch the two-fish minimum must sit out for the following round. Add one new fish for every fish left in the ocean (bowl). Allow fishers to use their hands on the straws during the second session to represent ―new technology.‖ After the second fishing season, give one fisher from each group a spoon representing more new fishing technology such as trawl nets, sonar equipment, et cetera. Continue the game for round three. Ask, ―What happened when ocean group [name] ran out of fish? How are the fishers going to survive now?‖ (One option is to move to another ocean.) Allow students to ―invade‖ other ocean groups when their ocean is depleted, but don't tell them that they can do this beforehand. Fishers may either go as a group to another ocean or they may disperse to other oceans. Repeat fishing, recording, and replenishing fish stocks until either sustainable fishing is achieved or until all (or most) groups fish out their ocean.

Reflection 



Have students do a free-write on the following quote by John C. Sawhill, relating it to the fishing activity: ―In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.‖ (John Sawhill is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of The Nature Conservancy.) Use the following sample questions to lead a discussion about the activity: 1. 2. 3. 4.

How did you feel when you realized that you had depleted your fish stock? How did you feel when other fishers joined your ocean group? How does this activity relate to real ocean and fishery issues? What's missing in this game? (Impacts to nonhuman animals that rely on fish for their survival, population growth, et cetera.)

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5. What happens to a resource when you have infinite population growth, growing technology, and a finite resource? 6. Are there any commonly owned resources in our region or community? If so, what are some similar issues around them, and how can they best be managed? (Air is a commonly used resource - how do we deal with air pollution? Forestry or animal grazing rights also sometimes create similar discussions. You might also talk about city, national parks, and other public lands, and the competing uses and needs.) Have students brainstorm ways to have a sustainable fishery. What rules could be developed? (For example, limits on type of equipment allowed, amount and type of fish, shorter seasons.)

Assessment Ask students to write, draw, or chart an explanation of factors that affect management of fish populations and identifies the goal of sustainable fisheries. (Responses should reflect such factors as technology, environmental conditions, market prices, and consumer choices.)

Extensions   

   

Read Garrett Hardin's essay ―The Tragedy of the Commons‖ and discuss how it is reflected in this game. For a downloadable version, go to The Tragedy of the Commons. Repeat the activity after the class has experienced the ―tragedy of the commons‖ and discussed sustainable practices to see if they can harvest in a sustainable manner. Students can research which fish are harvested in a sustainable manner and which are being depleted. Have them do an advertising campaign in their school promoting the consumption of sustainable fish and avoiding the consumption of threatened fish. (This might include researching the kind of fish served in your school cafeteria, developing a system that protects threatened fish, and presenting it to your cafeteria staff, principal, and school board.) For recommendations about which seafood to buy or avoid, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website Seafood Watch or the Audubon website What's a Fish Lover to Eat? Have students research a local fishery and include interviews with local fishers, biologists, and other people involved with the fishery. Have students choose one of the major world fisheries, such as salmon, cod, or tuna, and develop a sustainable fishing plan, paying attention to international laws and treaties. Have students investigate fish farming and its environmental and economic impacts. Have students research federal and state laws relating to economic use of public lands by private companies and individuals. Determine whether these laws

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   o o o o o

balance environmental protection and economic development. If not, outline new laws to create such a balance. Do a watershed planning/protection project to help protect fisheries from environmental damage. Participate in a beach or river cleanup project. Join an Ocean/Fisheries Action Network such as: Center for Marine Conservation Ocean Action Network Marine Fish Conservation Network National Audubon Society Living Oceans Program SeaWeb World Wildlife Fund Conservation Action Network

More Information Visit the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Fisheries Resource website. For information and pictures about the state of the world's fisheries, see the New International Magazine on-line issue on fishing. To explore sustainable seafood choices, visit the Seafood Watch web site or The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), an independent non-profit organization that promotes responsible fishing practices. Seafood Information Center, a clearinghouse for sharing seafood knowledge

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Activity: Sharks in Decline Activity adapted from Oceans of Life - An Educator's Guide to Exploring Marine Diversity , a resource of World Wildlife Fund's Windows on the Wild biodiversity education program. For more information on WOW please visit www.worldwildlife.org/windows.

Objectives 

Carry out group simulations of common fishing methods and assess why these methods and sharks' reproductive biology are together contributing to a rapid decline in shark populations.

Materials          

bandanas or other strips of cloth 3 Nerf balls or other soft objects that can be thrown safely 2 12-foot ropes/clothesline 8 to 12 clothespins notebook paper Straws, 1 per student 8 or more 7-inch embroidery hoops 4 mesh bags or fabric with holes of different sizes (such as from bags for onions, bait, or hosiery) mixture of dry beans (1/4 pound each of lima, pinto, kidney, lentil, and black beans) 4 large (7-inch diameter) plastic containers copies of Fishing Worksheet A and Fishing Worksheet B

Background When shark-attack stories make the news day after day, people start to think that sharks are becoming more aggressive or that their populations are growing. However, sharks aren't increasing in numbers or ferocity. In fact, sharks are suffering significant population declines. Scientists estimate that some species of coastal sharks have declined by between 50 and 75 percent in just the last 20 years. One reason that shark populations have declined so rapidly is that many common fishing methods accidentally capture sharks in addition to the targeted fish. Another reason is that a growing market for shark meat, shark fins, and other shark products has made sharks a direct target of fishers who previously didn't capture sharks, or at least didn't keep the sharks if they were caught. But these practices might not take such a dramatic toll on sharks if it weren't for some basic aspects of sharks' reproductive biology. Sharks are slowgrowing, late-maturing animals that don't reproduce very quickly. And they are extremely susceptible to population declines if large numbers of them are killed. This activity contains a series of simulations that explore different fishing methods and how they intentionally or unintentionally lead to the capture of sharks. Then the activity 33

highlights why some fishing methods are so disruptive to shark populations, particularly in light of sharks' reproductive biology.

Before You Begin 1. Before beginning any of the simulations, push desks to the sides of the room, leaving a large open space in the middle. 2. Gather the materials for the simulations. 3. Copy Charts A, B, C, and D from ―Fishing Worksheet A‖ onto the board, and make a copy of ―Fishing Worksheet A and Fishing Worksheet B‖ for each student.

What To Do 1.

Discuss fishing 

a. b. c. d. 2. 

Ask students if they have any idea how people catch fish in the open ocean. Have a few students share what they know about the topic, then tell them that you're going to conduct a series of classroom exercises to show different fishing methods and their effectiveness in catching targeted species. Write the following list on the board: Hook and line Gill nets and drift gill nets Longlines Trawling Simulation A Hook and LineThe hook-and-line fishing method is used by sport fishers as well as by some commercial fishers. In this simulation, some of your students are going to be fishing for yellowfin tuna using a hook and line. The other students are going to be the tuna, sharks, and other sea creatures. Ask three volunteers to be fishers. Have the fishers stand aside while you divide the remaining members of the class as follows: 1. 3 to 4 pairs of students (with arms linked) = adult tuna 2. 3 to 4 individual students = juvenile tuna 3. 3 to 4 pairs of students (with arms linked) = adult sharks 4. 3 to 4 individual students = juvenile sharks 5. remaining students = other fish

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Tie a bandana or strip of cloth around the arm of every tuna. You need not label the other students, but they should remember what identity they've been assigned. Now present the rules of the game. The fishers will have one minute to ―fish‖ for a tuna from the group. Since it wouldn't be safe to throw a hook and line at their classmates, they'll ―fish‖ by throwing the Nerf ball or other soft object. To make things harder for the fishers, they have to be touching a desk with a part of their body when they throw the ball. None of the fish may run. Any fish the fishers hit is considered ―caught‖, but if it's not an adult tuna, the fishers should ―throw‖ the fish back into the group and toss the ball again. Have the adult tuna that are caught stand next to the fishers who caught them. Whichever fisher has caught the most adult tuna when the minute is over wins the game. To begin the game, group the fish in the middle of the room. Then tell the fishers to begin. As the fishers catch their fish, record the results on the board on Chart A. (Be sure to count every fish caught, even if the fish is thrown back.) You might want to do another round of fishing if time permits. (To do this, ―restock‖ the waters and select new fishers.) Afterward, have the students copy the results from the board onto Fishing Worksheet A and analyze the results. How many fish were caught that were not adult tuna? Tell the students that sharks are generally able to survive when they are caught using a hook and line and then thrown back. That being the case, what was the expected total shark mortality in these simulations? (Answers will vary, but it's unlikely that many would die.) 3. Simulation B: Gill Nets 

Explain to the students that some commercial fishers use gill nets to catch fish in the open ocean. Gill nets allow a fish to fit its head and gill covers, but not its fins or other parts of its body, through the net holes. The gill covers get caught in the net and prevent the fish from wriggling loose. So any fish that are larger at the gills than the holes in the net will get stuck. Once pulled onto the deck of a fishing boat, the fish will quickly die. You might point out that, in addition to being directly targeted by commercial fishers, a lot of sharks are accidentally caught in gill nets by fishers that are targeting tuna.



Some gill nets are fixed in one place and collect fish until they're hauled in. Others are allowed to float through the open water. (These floating gill nets are called drift nets.) Sometimes drift nets get lost; they can float for years gathering fish and other sea creatures in them.



To simulate gill net fishing, select one student to be the fisher. Have that person place the two ropes down on the floor to create three equal-sized ―lanes‖. Then have that person secretly designate one lane to be where the gill net will be. (Be sure the person tells you which lane he or she has selected before the other students start ―swimming‖.) 35



Meanwhile, divide the rest of the students as follows (you need not label them, but they should remember the identity they've been assigned): 1. 1/4 of the students = adult tuna 2. 1/4 of the students = juvenile tuna 3. 1 student = sea turtle 4. 1 student = dolphin 5. 2 to 4 students = small fish 6. 1/2 of remaining students = adult sharks 7. other 1/2 of remaining students = juvenile sharks Now gather the students at one end of the classroom, and tell them they have to walk to the other end. When they reach the ropes, they should continue down one of the three lanes. Tell them that the fisher has placed a gill net across one of these lanes, but since fish cannot see gill nets, neither can the students. Tell them that they cannot change their lane once they have selected it. The marine creatures should ―swim‖ from one end of the room to the other, and they should stay in their lanes at the other end of the room. Then have the fisher announce which lane had the gill net, and have him or her count up the catch. All the small fish would have been able to swim through the netting in the gill net. The remaining creatures should be considered caught. Run through the simulation again if time permits, recording both simulations on Chart B. Have the students copy the figures onto Fishing Worksheet A, Chart B and compare with the results logged on Chart A. 4. Simulation C: Longlines 



Explain to the group that longlines are just what they sound like: long, thin cables or monofilament strands that stretch as far as 40 miles across the ocean. (Help your students understand this distance by comparing the distance to a place about 40 miles away from your classroom.) Tell the students that on a longline, there is a float attached to the cable every few hundred feet and a baited hook every few feet. Longlines are often used to capture tuna and billfish such as swordfish. But they also unintentionally catch many sharks. Choose two people to be longline fishers. Give them one rope, the clothespins, and 10 or more pieces of paper. Then have them go out into the hall and clip the paper on the rope in whatever distribution they want. Tell them that they'll learn how to ―fish‖ with their longline when they get back into the room. While the fishers are out of the room, divide the group as follows

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

(again, you need not label them, but the students need to remember the identity they've been assigned): 1/4 of students = adult tuna 1/4 of students = juvenile tuna 2 students = sea turtles 1 student = dolphin 1/2 of remaining students = adult sharks other 1/2 of remaining students = juvenile sharks

Tell the fish to stand around the room in any configuration they want. The only thing they may not do is stand directly behind another fish. Tell the fish you haven't yet decided which side of the room (front or back) the fishers will start from, so there's no point in bunching up at the back of the class. Bring the two fishers in and have them stand at the front or back of the room with their rope stretched out across the classroom. Explain that the papers on their longline are meant to represent their baited hooks. They should hold the rope so that the papers pass over the heads of some fish and brush against others. Then have them walk slowly down the length of the classroom, being sure not to shift their longline just to hit a particular fish. The fish may not duck or shift their bodies to avoid one of the ―hooks‖. Every time a fish is brushed by a piece of paper, that student should remove the paper. (In real life, once a hook has caught a fish, no other fish can be caught on it.) Then the fish that are caught should go to the front of the room and identify themselves. Repeat the simulation if time permits. Discuss the outcome of the fishing, record it on Chart C (with students copying the figures to Fishing Worksheet A, Chart C), and compare the results with those recorded on Charts A and B. 5. Simulation D: Trawling Explain that trawl nets are large, heavy nets that are dropped to the ocean floor, and then dragged just above or along the ocean bottom to catch shrimp and other fish. The nets are then hauled to the surface and emptied onto the deck of a fishing boat. Fishers sort through the catch, throwing back what they don't want. While trawl nets make it relatively inexpensive to catch lots of fish, they also catch many unwanted animals, which often don't survive. Dragging the heavy trawl nets along the ocean bottom also damages sensitive seafloor habitats. Organize the class into four teams. Give each team at least two embroidery hoops with different size mesh and a container filled with beans. In this simulation, your students will play the part of shrimp fishers. Tell the students to assume that the different beans are different species of fish. Ask each team to choose one variety of bean to represent shrimp and another to represent sharks. Remember

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that shrimp are quite small relative to most other marine animals, including mammals, fish, and other crustaceans. The team members should take turns selecting a net and dragging the net through the beans. After each turn, have that person count the results of his or her catch. How many shrimp did that person catch? How much of the catch was bycatch? Tell the students to record their results on Chart D and Worksheet A. Encourage different team members to try out different size nets, which may mean trading nets with other teams until they've used all four net sizes. 6.

Discuss simulations. 

7.

Ask the students if they have any questions about the simulations. In each simulation, were they surprised by how many sharks and other fish were caught, even though they weren't the targeted species? Explain that this unwanted catch is called bycatch. Some students may express dismay that fishers are responsible for killing so many marine mammals and fish that they don't use. You might explain that people are working to minimize this bycatch, but that it is difficult and expensive to change common and ingrained practices.

Assign “Fishing Worksheet B” for homework.  Use the worksheets as a means of assessing each student's understanding of the concepts (see Assessments). Then return the sheets to the students and set aside a class period to review and discuss the answers. (An answer sheet is provided at the end of the activity.)

8. Discuss status of sharks. 

Tell your students that because of current fishing practices, many kinds of sharks are experiencing huge population declines. In fact, scientists estimate that humans kill at least 100 million sharks every year. What are some ways that people could try to reduce this number? (Set limits on shark catches, set limits on the size of sharks that fishers may catch, reduce consumer demand for shark fins, or change fishing methods.) Why might these changes be difficult to implement? (It's hard to rally public concern for sharks; many sharks move from one country's waters to another's, so fishing limits set by one or two countries won't guarantee that sharks are protected; current fishing methods are profitable to the commercial fishing industry, so any changes are likely to be resisted.)

9. Research shark conservation.  As a wrap-up to the activity, have your students research current efforts in shark conservation. They should search the Web, contact environmental organizations, check the newspaper for articles, and so on. Allow students to share their findings with the rest of the class.

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ReSOURCES http://www.afma.gov.au/information/students/default.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishery http://www.fisheriessupply.com/ http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ http://www.fao.org/fishery/en http://www.noaa.gov/fisheries.html http://www.fws.gov/fisheries/ http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_gear.aspx http://www.smartgear.org/smartgear_bycatch/bycatch_problem/

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