Sailfish #14

Sailfish Version 14

Teens

Take

on

Billfish

C o n s e r vat i o n

Fisheries Series Part II: Commercial

Policy & Management

for Commercial Fishing

All About Aquaculture

recapture maps Jr. Angler Profile Sales de La Barre

Cutler Bay Academy Welcomes The Billfish Foundation & Carey Chen

Contents Inside this issue of Sailfish

FEATURES features 3

Fisheries Series Part II: Commercial Fishing

5

Aquaculture

7

Policy & Management of Commercial Fisheries

8

Commercial Fishing Review Questions

9

Cutler Bay Academy Students Enjoy Visit from TBF & Carey Chen

10

Billfish Advocacy at South Broward High

also inside Get Involved: Track your school’s climate impact Recapture Maps Jr Angler Profile – Sales de La Barre

We would like to extend our gratitude to the Fleming Family Foundation and the William H. and Mattie Wattis Harris Foundation for their belief in education as an important conservation tool. The Billfish Founation, educators, students, parents, the ocean and the fish are grateful for our sponsors generous donation that made this issue of Sailfish possible.

Copyright 2014 • The Billfish Foundation • Editor: Peter Chaibongsai • Associate Editor: Elizabeth Black • Graphic Designer: Jackie Marsolais Sister Publications: Billfish and Spearfish magazines • Published by The Billfish Foundation • For subscription information contact: Education@billfish.org

by Jorie Heilman

Commercial Fishing

by Jorie Heilman

What provides nutrition to 3 billion people worldwide and is relied upon by 500 million people for their livelihoods? The answer is commercial fishing, which, along with artisanal and recreational fishing, comprises the three sectors of the fishing industry. This article is the second in a series that will focus on the different sectors of the fishing industry.

Commercial fishing is fishing done for profit, usually on a large scale. Commercial fishing can be broken down into two main categories, wild and farmed fisheries (aquaculture). Wild fisheries include an incredibly diverse array of methods and involve many different target species.

Aquaculture is both an ancient practice and an emerging industry. The technology is improving rapidly, allowing more species to be farmed and sold. Both fields come with their own unique sets of conservation issues and are interesting to study. However, this article will only focus on the history, methods, and stakeholders of wild fisheries.

Fishing has a long and rich history. The first real evidence that fishing took place is an analysis of remains found in China that date back 40,000 years. The remains show that man consumed mostly freshwater species. Archeological evidence indicates that seafood consumption probably began with mollusks, then freshwater species and then marine coastal species. The spread of fishing from inland to pelagic open ocean species can be explained by the evolution of technology over time. As boats and fishing

gear advanced, humans could pursue food sources that were farther off the coast.

Fish traps and nets were among the first methods, and more modern fishing techniques like hook and line are thought to have started around 8,000 to 3,000 years ago.

Top left: Aquacage snapper farm. Top right: Korean fishing boat. Below top to bottom: Fishing boat in India. Commercial longline boat. Fishermen in the Seychelles. Commercial fishermen on a dock fixing a net.

Large-scale commercial fisheries took longer to progress than subsistence fishing. By the 1500s the cod fishery in Newfoundland had been established. The 1600’s saw the development of the whaling industry, another of the first large scale fisheries. Fishermen relied on schooners and other sailing vessels until the end of the 1800s, when mechanization of the fleets greatly increased fishing capacity and efficiency. Soon, the demand for fishery products grew to such an extent, that larger catches became necessary. This was accomplished by increasing the size and amount of fishing gear deployed. Long lining, a type of commercial fishing in which hundreds of baited hooks are attached on a single line and set out behind a vessel, developed during this time to meet the increased demand for fish.

In order to meet the needs of the seafood market around the world, various fishing methods are implemented, targeting different species. The most common gear types used by US fishermen are trawl nets, purse seine and longlines. Trawl nets are ones that are dragged behind fishing vessels and move on or parallel to the ocean floor. Another common fishing

3

PURSE SEINE Photo by: C. Ortiz Rojas, NOAA Fisheries.

Courtesy of : Australian Fisheries Management Authority

BOAT CIRCLES SCHOOL WITH WALL OF NET

PURSE WIRE IS WINCHED IN, GATHERING THE NET & HARVESTING THE FISH

Left: About 400 tons of jack mackerel caught by a purse seiner. Above is a diagram of how a purse seiner works.

Purse seines are considered unsustainable because they are not specifically designed to catch one type of species.

technique is a purse seine. Seine nets have been used as long as fishing has existed, but have grown larger and more complex over time. These large nets encircle the fish and work well for catching species that form schools, like anchovies, herring and some species of tuna. Other types of fishing common in commercial U.S. fisheries are long lines, gillnets, dredges, and pots & traps.

Commercial fisheries target a wide variety of species ranging from shellfish like clams and oysters, to very small fish like anchovies, to large highly migratory species like yellowfin tuna, and cover every species in between.

If someone will eat it, then someone will catch and sell it. Due to the wide-

3 photos below: Seaweed farming. Longline mussel harvesting, and longline trawling.

ranging coastline in the United States, each region specializes in different fisheries. For example, the Northeast is known for lobsters, shellfish and groundfish like black sea bass, whereas the Pacific Northwest is famous for salmon, halibut and crab.

Fishing is a vitally important industry with many stakeholders. It is estimated that fish (and shellfish) provide essential nutrition for 3 billion people across the globe. 500 million people in developing countries rely directly or indirectly on fishing for their livelihoods.

Stakeholders include fishermen, fish processors, stores and supermarkets, fisheries managers, federal and state 4

governments, non-profits, exporters and the general public (consumers). These are just a handful of those involved in the wild and farmed fisheries industry.

It is estimated that one out of six jobs in the U.S. rely on the marine environment in some way.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has designated that every country have an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) stretching two hundred nautical miles from their coastline, in which they have the right to all marine resources. The United States has the largest EEZ in the world, covering an impressive 4.38 million square miles –remember the USA has coastlines outside of the domestic U.S. like Alaska, Guam, Puerto Rico, etc.

This area is even larger than the land area of the U.S. which means there is an opportunity for extensive fishing of which the U.S. can take advantage, but also must take care to manage wisely.

Of the three different fishing sectors, commercial industries are by far the largest, which means they have major impacts on conservation worldwide.

Careful management is required to ensure the millions who rely on fish for food and employment can continue to count on them for years to come.

aquaculture Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants.

Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions. While most people’s thoughts do not go right to fish or molluscs when they think of farming, aquaculture has been around for thousands of years and is an increasingly common source of food.

Historically, aquaculture has been employed by a number of cultures.

8,000 years ago, the Aborigines may have raised eels. As early as 2,500 BCE, the Chinese would keep fish that got trapped in lakes during floods for food.

Since the late 1600s, the Japanese have been cultivating seaweed.

Aquaculture includes various methods of farming marine and freshwater organisms. One method is mariculture, which is raising the organisms in their natural environment. This often means using pens placed in shallow ocean areas. The large photo at the top of the page shows salmon pens.

An aspect to note of mariculture is that water flows freely between the ocean

and the farmed area. This method can be good for large species that require a lot of space, such as cobia, grouper and tuna.

Another type of aquaculture is Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) or polyculture. This method utilizes the waste from one species to sustain another. Multi-trophic indicates that it is raising organisms at different levels of the food web. For example, an IMTA system might raise a fish species like tilapia, a mollusk like oysters and a primary producer like seaweed. Uneaten food and waste from the tilapia serve as sources of food and nutrients for the mollusks and seaweed. This decreases the impact that this type of aquaculture has on the environment. Scientists need to do further study to figure out how to maximize the environmental and economic benefits of these systems.

Not all aquaculture is done in the ocean. There are many ways to establish farms on land as well.

Farms are seen as an opportunity to reduce pressure on wild stocks, like

5 Top: Salmon farm. Above: Alaskan purse seigner lifting a catch of Herring. (NOAA)

abalone. Land based farms like this are good for species that do not require as much space to survive such as salmon.

An idea similar to IMTA is aquaponics.

This combines aquaculture and hydroponics (growing plants in water).

It works by setting up traditional aquaculture fish ponds and then using nitrogen fixing bacteria to make the waste water usable for growing plants.

The plants purify the water allowing it to be reused in the aquaculture ponds.

Many plants work well for hydroponics including lettuce, tomatoes and basil.

Freshwater fish like tilapia or catfish are often used in aquaponics systems.

Fish farming is the fastest growing sector of animal production. In 1970, production was less than 1 kilogram per-capita, in 2008 it grew to almost 8 kgs. Around half of the seafood we eat in the United States is estimated to come from farmed sources. By far, China is the largest source of 5

Illustration of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) or polyculture. Illustration: Joyce Hui, Author: Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Reproduced with the permission of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2014.

mariculture products. Total aquaculture is estimated at a worth of 106 billion dollars per year. These statistics show that aquaculture has important economic impacts on the world.

There are many benefits to aquaculture.

One benefit is that it takes the pressure off of wild stocks which are struggling with overfishing. Aquaculture creates jobs and opportunities for a wide range of people, from all different cultures.

Populations all over the world are growing and since 1 in 7 people rely on seafood for daily protein, aquaculture could play a large role in keeping up with the demand. Aquaculture’s utilization of near shore environments is good motivation for the reduction of pollution to prevent contamination of farms.

6

There are also conservation concerns that go along with the rising prevalence of aquaculture. While aquaculture can take pressure off wild target species, it can increase pressure on species used to feed farmed fish. Sometimes there can be higher levels of disease and parasites in farms, and escaped individuals can introduce these to wild populations. Waste products like excessive nutrients and chemicals can run off into the aquatic environments.

Recycled water facilities can help with this. Some individuals are concerned that aquaculture could hurt the livelihood of fishermen. It could also be problematic if small communities base their entire economy on aquaculture because disastrous events such as storms or disease could jeopardize their success.

Just like making sustainable seafood choices for wild caught species, it is important to choose aquaculture species carefully. For example, Atlantic farmed salmon is considered a species to avoid, but Coho salmon farmed in tanks in the U.S. is an acceptable alternative. Shrimp are another example where farmed species in open systems are best avoided, but freshwater-farmed prawns from the U.S. have minimal negative impacts on the environment. Farmed tilapia ranges from good alternative to best choices, depending on where it’s from, but is generally sustainable. The best way to support sound aquaculture is to make informed buying choices.

To learn more about selecting the best seafood in your region check out seafoodwatch.org.

Policy & Management of commercial fisheries Ivonne Pellworm

efforts are considered secondary stakeholders. These are just a handful of the stakeholders involved and do not include international or state governing agencies like the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

With the increasing population and need for protein, proper management of fisheries is crucial and there are several threats to be aware of when it comes to commercial fisheries management. One threat is overfishing, which is defined as a fishery that is depleted beyond a level that can be supported by reproduction. If overfishing of a given fishery continues, those species targeted, or even worse, caught as bycatch, can cease to exist.

Some fisheries, both in the U.S. and worldwide, have experienced collapse due to overfishing. When this occurs a moratorium on fishing has to be set to let the fishery recover. This can disrupt the communities who rely on the fishery.

Above: Commercial crab boat. Right: Mussel harvesting.

Fisheries management is complex but is based on research and management disciplines. Scientists acquire data and information on a fishery, such as the abundance, age structure, and life history. This data provides scientists ways to develop options for managing the fishery. Resource managers and policy makers then take this information, review the options, and select the one that best fulfills the biological, economic, and social constraints of that fishery. This makes overseeing fisheries an important but difficult task.

The goal of fisheries management includes resource conservation as well as economic and social goals.

Biological or conservation objectives include maintaining sufficient stocks of the target species to insure a viable population for future exploitation without endangering the stock. The socio-economic goals are to maximize the economic benefit to an area in the creation of jobs and money being added to the local economy and social benefits of maintaining traditional ways of life.

Management is extremely difficult because there are so many

stakeholders, direct and indirect, involved. Direct stakeholders are the ones whose livelihoods are involved in the fishery, such as fishermen, fish processors and exporters. Indirect stakeholders have major stakes Proper resource management is in fisheries, but do not financially the best way to combat fisheries benefit from the fishery. Government collapsing. There are many strategies agencies like the Fish and Wildlife to accomplish this, each has different Service and Environmental Protection advantages and disadvantages. One Agency as well as non-governmental option is setting fishing quotas. Another organizations (NGOs) and non-profits option is setting size minimums and that aid and support conservation PELAGIC LONGLINE Courtesy of : Australian Fisheries Management Authority

RADIO BEACON

BUOY LINES MAIN LINE SNOODS BAITED HOOKS

7

New England Lobster Fishery

Numerous lobster traps alongside a lobster boat.

maximums on individuals. (see New England Lobster Fishery at right) Proper management comes from integrating biological, economic, and social aspects of the fishery. Then recommendations can be made on which policy would be best used to achieve the goals of a management plan. These recommendations include descriptions of how and by whom the management plan will be implemented, what organizations will monitor the fishery, and who will enforce regulations associated with the proposed plan. In the US, a management plan for a fishery must be acceptable to a majority of the individuals impacted by any regulation(s); therefore, public hearings are an integral part of the development of any proposed management plan. Once the proposed management plan is drafted and reviewed, a bill is introduced to the responsible legislative body, and a law is enacted to put the plan in place.

Commercial fisheries management is a necessity. Proper management helps to ensure fisheries are at levels healthy enough for the billions of people who depend on them. Biological and socio-economic scientists utilize the best available science to help policy makers make the most informed decision to protect fisheries.

Just remember that you, as the public, play a hand in helping to get laws passed.

Be active in ocean issues that affect you and join conservation groups, like The Billfish Foundation, who can help voice your opinion!

8

An example of setting size minimums and maximums is the lobster fishery in New England. Some of the rules set on the lobster fishing are that the carapace (body) has to be a certain length to prevent juveniles from being caught, but a maximum length was also set, allowing large lobsters which are the ones most successful at surviving, to pass on their genes. Additionally, females who are caught with eggs are marked with a notch in their tails and released. This prevents them from being harvested once they have started producing eggs. Overall management of the lobster fishery has been successful proving that these management strategies, when enforced, can work.

Commercial Fishing Review Questions: 1. Name as many types of commercial fishing as you can.

2. What is bycatch and overfishing and why is it important to management?

3. List 2 or more jobs that are dependent on fisheries.

4. Name one type of aquaculture.

5. What is a benefit of aquaculture?

6. What is a disadvantage of aquaculture?

CUTLER BAY ACADEMY STUDENTS ENJOY VISIT FROM TBF & Carey Chen

How do students learn to protect marine life and still take a fish home? Coast Academy, one of three specialized study programs for students at Cutler Bay Academy (CBA), offers specialized academic training to advance marine and environmental conservation. Its mission is to prepare students to be responsible stewards and further sustainability of natural marine resources. When Carey Chen, famous marine life artist, and Peter Chaibongsai, Chief Science & Education Officer, from The Billfish Foundation (TBF) visited the school, students were eager to learn how art and marine conservation mixed. Chaibongsai brought mini fish mounts donated

by King Sailfish Release Mounts so students could express their artistic talents after learning more about fish conservation, exciting fishing trips and how to develop drawing techniques.

Chen told students how he developed his ability to draw small sketches and then masterful paintings, conveying the message that even a little talent can be expressive and can produce some very satisfying pieces of art after training and practice. He told of

fishing adventures around the world, some in search of marine life to paint and others just for the thrill of fishing.

Being an avid angler influenced his preference for drawing and painting marine ife, his primary art subjects.

Students inquired about various art techniques and some were more interested in the fishing stories.

Chaibongsai lead a discussion and took questions about marine conservation issues that included local fish stocks and international or highly migratory fish issues. He explained what it means to “tag� a fish and why it is important, even sharing information about satellite tags, which report fish movements in the water column.

Following the presentation students began to design the color schemes for their fish mounts. Each fish was primed, painted, varnished and then displayed at the school before being taken home at the end of the school year.

Future collaborations between CBA and TBF are planned to promote marine education and conservation.

For more information, please visit bayacademy.org or billfish.org.

9

TBF Tracking Maps

After being tagged and released almost five years ago this bluefin tuna made an amazing transatlantic trip of more than 4,600 miles across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Mediterranean Sea. This bluefin was first tagged by Capt. Nat Moody and Ronald Butler of First Light Anglers in early August of 2009 on Stellwagen Bank in Cape Cod Bay. When they released the bluefin, Butler and Moody estimated it weighed 175 pounds and 68 inches in length. After 1,801 days, 265 pounds and 4,600 miles later this same bluefin had crossed the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean where it was recaptured off the west coast of Sicily, Italy by a longline boat. When it was recaptured the bluefin was estimated at 450 pounds and 86 inches in length.

Often the most exciting recaptures come from swordfish that are recaptured thousands of miles from where they were originally tagged.

This swordfish was tagged by Capt.

John Holley in the DeSoto Canyon, Gulf of Mexico, in July of 2006.

When it was released, Capt. Holley estimated it was just 55 pounds.

Almost eight years later (2,885 days at large) this swordfish was recaptured more than a thousand miles away off of North Carolina in June of 2014. When it was recaptured by the fishing vessel Persistence, Capt. Kyle Goodwin and mate Moulay Dos Santos estimated it had grown to more than 300 pounds!

Be sure to report your catch, tags and releases at TagBillfish.org.

You can find more maps like these on Billfish.org and on TBF’s fan page on Facebook! Facebook.com/BillfishFoundation

10

10

The Billfish Foundation Talks Billfish Advocacy in the Classroom

In October, the students in South Broward High School’s Marine Policy class participated in their annual mock debates about billfish policy as they worked together to create a management plan for billfish in the United States. Groups of students represented different stakeholders in the fishery such as recreational fishermen, commercial fishermen, environmental groups, scientists, and government officials as they debated on how to implement increased conservation measures for billfish. TBF’s Andrew Cox attended the final day of debates where the students finalized their positions and came to a conclusion for a new management plan. Students were given insight and feedback on their proposed management plan and how many of the items suggested were things that TBF is currently working on such as increased gear restricted areas and catch caps on billfish. TBF is looking forward to next year’s billfish debate!

We want to hear from you!

The Billfish Foundation wants to hear from you and your class. Check out TBF’s youtube channel and social media networks for inspiration. You and your classmates can be featured in an upcoming Sailfish Issue.

Send in pictures, project ideas & conservation efforts to education@billfish.org.

11

Young Angler profile

Sales de La Barre Sales de La Barre, 15 years old, from Jackson, MS, first learned to fish when he was just about 4 years old. Growing up in Pass Christian, MS, fishing was a normal pastime with family and friends.

It wasn’t long after Katrina hit the Gulf coast, that the family moved to Jackson, where Sales love of fishing continued. Since those pond fishing days, Sales’ fishing experiences and skills have grown significantly. In 2012, he entered the Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo and took 3rd place Freshwater Catfish and 3rd place Freshwater Bass. During the past few years he has enjoyed summer fishing trips that most high school students can only dream about.

Sales’ dream summers come from his good fortune of having Elaine “Lainey” Jones as his godmother; she is also a TBF board member.

Jones, originally from New Orleans where she learned how to fish while a member of the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club, now resides in Kiln, Mississippi and owns a new 66 foot Viking sportfishing boat named the Mama Who, her third sportfishing boat.

The Mama Who’s fishing team is a competitive force in the tournament circuits of both the Bahamas and Bermuda. Sales’ introduction and continued improvement in offshore fishing skills came as a direct result Lainey Jones and Godson, Sales de La Barre. Top Junior Angler in the 2014 Bermuda of the tutelage from Jones and her team. It Release Cup wasn’t long before he was catching large tunas and billfish, first in the Bahamas and then Bermuda. In 2014 he won Top Junior Angler in the Bermuda Release Cup with a good sized blue marlin. When asked what he enjoys the most about Bermuda fishing, Sales said, “what’s not to love?”

When back home in Mississippi, Sales enjoys playing football on the Bruins team at St. Joseph Catholic High School.

He also continues to enjoy fresh water fishing, deer hunting & kayak fishing.

Hey students, Get Involved!

Track your school’s climate impact.

High school students can investigate the link

school’s climate impact. Students gain detailed

between everyday actions at their high school,

understandings of climate-change drivers, impacts,

greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change.

and science; produce an emission inventory and action

Log on to http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/

plan; and can even submit the results of their emission

wycd/school.html.

inventory to their school district. Students can also go

Using EPA’s Climate Change Emission Calculator

to http://www.energystar.gov and download the Portfolio

Kit (Climate CHECK) (a link can be found on this

Manager to compare the energy use of your school with

site to download this kit), students can learn about

other schools nationwide, and earn the ENERGY STAR for

climate change, estimate their school’s greenhouse

your school if it qualifies as a top performer.

gas emissions, and identify ways to mitigate their

Send your findings to TBF at education@billfish.org and we will print them in an upcoming issue.