Fishery

A salmon fishery with salmon spawning within the Becharof Wilderness in southwestern Alaska.

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery.^[1] 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".^[2] The definition often includes a combination of fish and fishers in a region, the latter fishing for similar species with similar gear types.^[3]

A fishery may involve the capture of wild fish or raising fish through fish farming or aquaculture.^[2][4] Directly or indirectly, the livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture. Overfishing, including the taking of fish beyond sustainable levels, is reducing fish stocks and employment in many world regions.^[5][6] If fisheries are poorly managed, environmental impacts go unchecked. Unsustainable fishing practices put seafood resources and fishing livelihoods at risk – the United Nations FAO estimates that 11 of the world's 15 major fishing areas, and 69 percent of the world's major fish species, are in decline and in need of urgent management.^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

• In fisheries – the term fish is used as a collective term, and includes mollusks, crustaceans and any aquatic animal which is harvested.^[2]

• True fish – 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

Fishermen in Sesimbra, Portugal.

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 mid-nineties (between 80 and 86 million tonnes).^[10] 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 the abundance of nutrients available there from coastal upwelling and land runoff. However, productive wild fisheries also exist in open oceans, particularly by seamounts, and inland in lakes and rivers.

Most fisheries are wild fisheries, but farmed fisheries are increasing. Farming can occur in coastal areas, such as with oyster farms,^[11] but more typically occur inland, in lakes, ponds, tanks and other enclosures.

There are species fisheries worldwide for finfish, mollusks, crustaceans and echinoderms, 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 tonnes 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.

See also

Notes

References

• Cullis-Suzuki S and Pauly D (2010) "Failing the high seas: A global evaluation of regional fisheries management organizations" Marine Policy, 34(5) pp 1036–1042.
• FAO: Types of fisheries
• Hart PJB and Reynolds JD (2002) Handbook of fish biology and fisheries Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-632-05412-1

External links

Look up fishery in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikisource has the text of the 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article Fisheries.

• Fisheries on the Open Directory Project
• FAO Fisheries Department and its SOFIA report
• The Fishery Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS)
• The International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET)
• Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems: Fishing, Food Webs, and Future Options (2006), U.S. National Academy of Sciences
• UNEP/GEF South China Sea Project and its Fisheries Refugia Portal and National Reports on Fish Stocks and Habitats in the South China Sea
• World Fisheries Day: Seafood for Thought and World Fisheries from Sea to Table slideshow on the Smithsonian Ocean Portal
•  J. W. Hawes (1879). "Fisheries". The American Cyclopædia. 

• Fisheries Wiki A detailed online encyclopaedia providing current and quantitative information on marine fisheries worldwide.

v t e Principal commercial fishery species groups Wild Large pelagic fish Mackerel Salmon Saury Shark Swordfish Tuna albacore bigeye Atlantic bluefin Pacific bluefin southern bluefin skipjack yellowfin Forage fish Anchovy Capelin Herring Ilish Menhaden Sardines Shad Sprat european Demersal fish Catfish Cod Atlantic Pacific Flatfish flounder halibut plaice sole turbot Haddock Mullet Orange roughy Pollock Rockfish Smelt-whitings Toothfish Freshwater fish Carp Sturgeon Tilapia Trout Other wild fish Eel Whitebait more... Crustaceans Crab Krill Lobster Shrimp more... Molluscs Abalone Mussels Octopus Oysters Scallops Squid more... Echinoderms Sea cucumbers Sea urchin more... Farmed Carp bighead common crucian grass silver Catfish Freshwater prawns Gilt-head bream Mussels Oysters Salmon Atlantic salmon trout coho chinook Scallops Seaweed Shrimp Tilapia Commercial fishing World fish production Fishing topics Fisheries glossary

Fisheries science and wild fisheries Fisheries science Population dynamics of fisheries Shifting baseline Fish stock Fish mortality Condition index Stock assessment Fish measurement Standard weight in fish Fish counter Data storage tag Catch per unit effort Otolith microchemical analysis Biomass Fisheries acoustics Acoustic tag GIS and aquatic science Pop-up satellite archival tag EcoSCOPE Age class structure Trophic level Trophic cascades Match/mismatch hypothesis Fisheries and climate change Marine biology Aquatic ecosystems Bioeconomics EconMult Ecopath FishBase Census of Marine Life OSTM Fisheries databases Institutes Fisheries scientists Wild fisheries Ocean fisheries Diversity of fish Coastal fish Coral reef fish Demersal fish Forage fish Pelagic fish Cod fisheries Crab fisheries Eel fisheries Krill fisheries Kelp fisheries Lobster fisheries Shrimp fishery Eel ladder Fish ladder Fish screen Migration Salmon run Sardine run Shoaling and schooling Marine habitats Marine snow Water column Upwelling Humboldt current Algal blooms Dead zones Fish kill   Fisheries management, sustainability and conservation Management Fisheries management Fisheries law Monitoring control and surveillance Vessel monitoring system Fishery Resources Monitoring System Catch reporting Fisheries observer Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Magnuson–Stevens Act Fisheries organizations Quotas Catch share Individual fishing quota Minimum landing size Bycatch Discards Incidental catch Cetacean bycatch Turtle excluder device Shrimp-Turtle case EU quotas EU MLS Exclusive economic zone Sustainability Sustainable fisheries Maximum sustainable yield Sustainable seafood Overfishing Environmental effects of fishing Fishing down the food web Destructive fishing practices Future of Marine Animal Populations The Sunken Billions End of the Line Conservation Marine Protected Area Marine reserve Marine conservation Marine conservation activism Salmon conservation Grey nurse shark conservation Shark sanctuary Organisations Marine Stewardship Council Friend of the Sea SeaChoice Seafood Watch Ocean Conservancy Oceana Sea Around Us Project WorldFish Center Defying Ocean's End HERMIONE PROFISH International Seafood Sustainability Foundation Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Greenpeace Related issues CalCOFI Marine pollution Mercury in fish Shark finning Threatened sharks Threatened rays List of fishing topics by subject Index of fishing articles Fisheries glossary

Wild fisheries Fishing industry Commercial fishing Trawling Pair trawling Midwater trawling Bottom trawling Seining Gillnetting Longlining Trolling Dredging Fishing vessels Power block Fish processing Fish factory Factory ship Fish preservation Slurry ice Dried fish Filleted fish Gibbing Salmon cannery Salted fish Smoked fish Kippers more... Fish products Seafood Fish as food Caviar Cod liver oil Fish roe Fish emulsion Fish meal Fish hydrolysate Fish oil Fish protein powder Fish sauce Gravlax Hákarl Lox Lutefisk Rakfisk Shrimp paste Surimi Surströmming Seafood list Sea vegetables Algae Crustaceans Molluscs more... Fish marketing Live fish trade Shrimp marketing Chasse-marée Fishmonger Fishwife Worshipful Company of Fishmongers Fish markets Billingsgate Fulton Maine Avenue English Market Scania Tsukiji more... Area fisheries World fish production Fishing by country Fishing banks Other areas   Aquaculture and farmed fisheries Aquaculture Aquaculture engineering Aquaponics BAP Copper alloys in aquaculture Fisheries and aquaculture research institutes Geothermal energy and aquaculture Inland saline aquaculture Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture Mariculture Antimicrobials in aquaculture Offshore Organic Raceway Fish farming Broodstock Catfish Cobia Fish diseases and parasites Fish farming Fish feed Fish hatchery Fish stocking Spawning bed Salmon Tilapia Tailwater US hatcheries Algaculture Giant kelp Microalgae Microalgal bacterial flocs Photobioreactor Raceway pond Seaweed Other species Brine shrimp Coral Freshwater prawns Hirudiculture Marine shrimp Octopus Oysters Scallops Sea cucumber Sea sponges Turtles By country Alaska Australia Canada Chile China New Zealand South Africa South Korea

v t e Fisheries and fishing topic areas Fisheries Aquaculture Diversity of fish Fish diseases and parasites Fish farming Fisheries management Fisheries science Individual fishing quota Sustainable fishery Wild fisheries Fishing Artisan fishing Fisherman Fishing vessel History of fishing Industry By country Commercial fishing Marketing Markets Processing Products Seafood Recreation Angling Big-game fishing Catch and release Fly fishing Techniques Fish trap Fishfinder Fishing net Gathering seafood by hand Handline fishing Spearfishing Trawling Tackle Artificial flies Bait Bite indicators Hook Line Lures Rod Sinker Locations Fish ponds Fishing banks Fishing villages Marine habitats Glossary Index Outline

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