Caroline Thompson

Professor Padgett

English 102

April 24, 2017

The Fisheries Industry: Searching for a Balance between the Economy and the Ecosystem

Over the years, overfishing has become an increasingly more researched topic that there

seems to be a lot of controversy over. The fishing industry is a thriving business that provides

much support for several countries economies and main source of income. However, these

fishing industries have a direct relationship with this problem emerging. Overfishing is the

removal of too many fish from the ocean at once without giving the population enough time to

reproduce and grow in numbers. This process is known to be harmful to our oceans for many

reasons. Some of the implications include bycatch, species endangerment and/or extinction, and

animal entanglement. There are also economic problems that arise due to overfishing such as the

fishing effort increasing, which is the amount of effort needed per fish capita. However, although

these implications exist, there are benefits to the commercial fishing industry as well. These

benefits range from economic profit to promoting trade with other countries as well as providing

employment for people. There have been efforts to create a more efficient, and less harmful

fishing industry that both decreases the depletion of fish populations as well as benefits the

economy. These efforts include regulations or new fishing techniques such as TACs (total

allowable catch limits), length limits, new net designs, etc. Are these methods effective? Are

there any methods that do create a healthy, sustainable fishing industry? Is it actual possible to

have an efficient fishing industry that benefits the economy as well as not having consequences
pertaining to the environment and the animals that inhabit it? There must be a solution that

balances the health of the ocean ecosystem as well as the profitable economy.

The ocean provides a very important resource for us, and that is fish. The fishing industry

is one of the largest economic contributors for several countries in the world. To be specific, a

few countries who depend mainly on this industry include Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and

other countries in South East Asia. The United States, Japan, and China also gain huge profits

from the fishing industry. To express just how large of a contributor this is, according to NOAAs

(the Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) research, Thailand in 2016 alone imported

a total of 26,964,475 kilos of fish, equaling out to a value over 142 million dollars. Thailand also

exported over 16,000,000 kilos of fish and profited over a value of 64 million dollars in the year

2016 (NOAA). This just shows the extent of how massive the fishing industry is for one country

alone, let alone the world. Below shows the comparison between several countries with thriving

fishing industries and their exports of fish in 2016.

Exports of Fisheries in 2016

Philippines

Thailand

South Korea

Japan

Indonesia

China

0 500,000,000 1,000,000,000 1,500,000,000

Total Fish(Kilos) Total Value($)

Figure 1.1 Displays the total value in dollars of fish exported and the total amount of fish
exported in kilos for China, Thailand, S. Korea, Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia for the year
2016. Data taken from NOAAs Fisheries Statistics and Economics Division.

The main countries who rule the fisheries world are clearly shown in the data above. China

easily coming in at number one, then Japan with South Korea closely following behind. These

countries benefit largely from this industry, more so than others. This leads to them having the

biggest influence on the industry itself relative to how it is ran and managing what they want

from them. They are the ones who have the power to change the fate of ocean and the effects of

overfishing.

The fishing industry is clearly an extremely profitable industry for countries, however

money is not all it provides. Due to the industry being so large, it also provides a vast amount of

jobs. According to Melissa Kearney and her colleagues, this industry has been estimated that the

economic contribution of the U.S. fishing industry is nearly $90 billion annually, and supports

over one and a half million jobs (Kearney). This is good for the economy because it contributes

to a lower unemployment rate, which has been a rising issue in the U.S. Kearney also discusses

how 17 percent of U.S. fisheries are classified as overfished, and even those with adequate fish

stocks may benefit economically from more-efficient management structures (Kearney). So for

the U.S. only have 17% considered overfished, that doesnt seem too bad. However, she also

states how we could benefit from improving the way we fish and the way we manage our

fisheries. If we become more aware of the consequences of overfishing and come up with

alternative, sustainable methods, we may be able to prevent current fish stock from becoming

classified as overfished. If we can manage that, then all the jobs that the U.S. fisheries industry

provides will continue to provide them as well as contribute to the economy. Same goes for other

countries as well, not just the U.S. If all countries start to manage the fisheries with a sustainable
mindset, then hopefully that will lead to a positive gain for both the economy and the ocean

environment itself.

Although the fishing industry has its pros, there are some downfalls that come with it

relating to the environment. Research has shown time and time again that fish populations are

dwindling due to overfishing for multiple reasons. One reason being the rapid speed that the fish

are being caught, not allowing for the smaller, infertile fish to reach sexual maturity to reproduce

and continue the population growth. This causes a problem not only for the environment, but the

fishing industries as well because the fishing effort is being increased. It is taking more effort and

work to catch less and smaller fish over time. This is taking away from maximum efficiency

from the industry. Some preventatives towards decreasing the fishing effort are scientists trying

to make the industry more aware of the term BOFFFFs. BOFFFF stands for big, old, fat, fertile,

female, fish. Research has shown that these are essential for ensuring that fishery stocks remain

sustainable (ScienceNewsline). These big, female fish are the ones that matter because they are

the ones who can reproduce with more, better quality eggs. They also are important not only

cause they can reproduce but because of when they do. According to Dr. Darren Johnson of

California State University at Long Beach, these fish often spawn at different times and places

than younger females, which increases the odds that some young will find favorable

environments in an unpredictable ocean (ScienceNewsline). So, these BOFFFFs are what can

help maintain a sustainable fisheries as well as protect the environment.

Although the BOFFFFs seems like an effective method of balancing the environment

and the fisheries industry, it doesnt completely solve the problem. Other methods of action to

help include TACs, or total allowable catch, a regulation that was originally created in 1983

but has been reviewed every year since. The TAC was created to try and prevent overexploitation
of the fish by putting a limit on how many the fisherman could collect. Through extensive

research done by Villasante and his colleagues, it was determined that this regulation is not

successful in maintaining and conserving fish stocks (Villasante). The issue in this method, is

that it is not something that is easy to regulate if the fisherman are actually following it or not. In

their minds, theyre thinking more fish, more money. The TACs also became harmful to the

species which fell under it. In Villasantes research he found that Of the 40 populations under

TAC regulation, 11 (28%) of them experienced an increase in fishing mortality during the 1986

2007 period (Villasante). Overall, this method of sustaining the fishing industry deemed to be

an ineffective solution to the problem.

A similar regulation, but not exactly like the TAC, is length limits. Basically, the

fisheries were regulated on the size of the fish they could keep and the ones they had to release.

This connects back with BOFFFFs and keeping them in the ocean as well as keeping smaller fish

giving them time to grow. The length limits allowed for the fisheries to catch fish within a certain

window of size, the fish couldnt be smaller than a certain minimum nor bigger than a certain

maximum. According to Lewis Coggins research however, it was possible to prevent

recruitment overfishing with the imposition of length limits, the cost to the fishery is reduced

efficiency and yield with even small discard mortality rates (Coggins). Through his research he

discovered that the larger length limit the more successful this regulation was. If the length limit

was too small, mortality increased, but if its too big overfishing occurs. So in a sense, length

limits work with the small setback as it not being as efficient as possible for fisheries. Therefore,

still causing an imbalance between conserving the ocean environment and having an efficient

fisheries industry.
 This imbalance seems to occur when using certain fishing gear as well. There have

been many efforts in trying to create nets that catch fish effectively but do not harm other

animals. This however has not been a full success according to research. A research project, by

Barbie Byrd and his colleagues, was done on the bottlenose dolphin off the coast of North

Carolina and how the nets used to catch the spiny dogfish have negatively impacted the dolphins.

They discovered many strandings of dolphins as well as entanglements. From their data they

found that the annual bycatch mortality from gill net entanglement in North Carolina from

November 1995 through October 2000 confirmed to be high levels for the bottlenose dolphin

(Byrd). However, for the fisheries the fishing effort decreased for the spiny dogfish, yet the

dolphin entanglements and deaths increased. This is a common occurrence for not only

bottlenose dolphins, but many other species such as baleen whales. The reasons whales run into

this problem is because fisheries run straight through their migratory routes making them

susceptible to entanglement in their fishing gear. Throughout the years it has been clearly defined

that some whales migratory routes run along the coast of Western Australia which means that

they pass through waters which are used by a number of fisheries (Coughran).
 Whale Entanglements

Unknown

Freed itself

Mostly cut free

Cut free

Evaded disentanglement

Dead

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Percentage of Entanglements (%) Rock Lobster Gear Only

Percentage of Entanglements (%) Gear Other than Rock Lobster

Figure 1.2 Displays percentage of whale entanglements in rock lobster gear (dark)
compared to in other gear (light). Data gathered from Groom, C. J. and D. K. Coughran in
Pacific Conservation Biology.

This data Groom and Coughran collected shows how the most common fishing gear

encountered by baleen whales is professional rock lobster gear. This data shows a direct

correlation between the entanglements and the lobster fisheries, in that their gear is the main

cause of entanglement for these whales. Again, another dilemma between how the fisheries are

negatively affecting the ocean environment.

Regulations towards overfishing is like a weigh-scale. With the conservation of the

ocean on one side and the economy on the other. Each effort that is made towards preventing

overfishing from becoming a bigger issue seems to tip the scale either one way or the other.

Although both keeping an efficient fisheries industry and maintaining a healthy ecosystem are

what we should strive for. The ocean environment seems to be on the worse end of this because

the fisheries industry will continue to deplete the ocean of its resources as long as the money

keeps coming. The length limit regulation seems to be one of the few that can give the closest
balance between the two, by only costing the fishery industry only a reduced efficiency.

However, in business poor efficiency leads to less profit. But is it possible for us to accept losing

a little efficiency and money in order to maintain the oceans resources? Some methods of

sustainability work, however the effect is so minimal compared to the damage of

overexploitation. However, it seems that any effort towards this sustainable way of fishing is

impossible without putting the ocean or the animals that inhabit it in harms way. If we want to

continue receiving the large contributions the fishing industries give to the economy, we need to

start working towards effective, sustainable methods to maintain the ocean and its entirety.

Because once the fish are gonetheyre gone.

Bibliography

"BOFFFFs (big, Old, Fat, Fertile, Female Fish) Sustain Fisheries." Science Newsline. University

of Hawaii at Manoa, 21 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Byrd, Barbie L., et al. "Effects of Commercial Fishing Regulations on Stranding Rates of

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus)." Fishery Bulletin, vol. 106, no. 1, Jan. 2008,

pp. 72-81.

Groom, C. J. and D. K. Coughran. "Entanglements of Baleen Whales off the Coast of

Western Australia between 1982 and 2010: Patterns of Occurrence, Outcomes and

Management Responses." Pacific Conservation Biology, vol. 18, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp.

203-214.
Kearney, Melissa S. "Economic Contributions of the U.S. Fishing Industry: Brookings

Institution." Brookings. N.p., 28 July 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

"NMFS Trade Query - Month Comparison for a Country." NMFS Trade Query - Month

Comparison for a Country. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association), n.d.

Web. 28 Mar. 2017

Villasante, Sebastin, et al. "Overfishing and the Common Fisheries Policy: (Un)successful

Results from TAC Regulation?." Fish & Fisheries, vol. 12, no. 1, Mar. 2011, pp. 34-50.