Unsustainable fishing methods

Fishing methods with expected lowering of fish population

Unsustainable fishing methods refers to the utilization of the various fishing methods in order to capture or harvest fish at a rate which sees the declining of fish populations over time. These methods are observed to facilitate the destructive fishing practices that destroy ecosystems within the ocean, and more readily results in overfishing, the depletion of fish populations at a rate that cannot be sustained. These unsustainable fishing methods vary in capabilities, ranging from commercial grade equipment, such as bottom trawling, to consumer grade equipment, such as fishing rods and nets. It is the combination of these methods and increasing fishing pressures through sociological practices such as over exploitation and over fishing, which makes these fishing methods unsustainable.

Dynamite fishing or blast fishing is a technique that detonates explosives underwater in order to easily kill schools of fish and maximize yield. The dead or stunned fish then floats to the surface of the water where they can be easily harvested.

Ghost gear is fishing gear that has been left or lost in the ocean. The gear can potentially continue to catch or entangle any species of marine life as it drifts through the water or snags on rocky reef, eventually killing the entangled organism through laceration, suffocation or starvation.

By catching is an inevitable aspect of fishing where unwanted fish or other marine organisms including turtles, dolphins and juveniles are caught. This is a by product of the unselective nature of modern fishing gear, such as bottom trawling which captures everything in the path of the net. Consumer grade gear such as fishing rods and nets are used by pirate fishers to undertake illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing which adds to the number of marine species taken from their ecosystems. Bottom trawling in Canadian waters have shown the destructive effects of the fishing method. With the establishment of Baffin Bay fishery in 1996, feeding grounds for narwhals in the Canadian Arctic are shown to be impacted by vast benthic damage as a result of bottom trawling. Hence why leading marine environmentalists describes bottom trawling as a 'great harm' to fisheries. In the 1960s, the commercial use of poisons such as sodium cyanide (cyanide fishing), were used throughout Southeast Asia to serve the market demand for high value coral fish. The use of dynamite fishing or blast fishing is evident in coastal regions of Tanzania. The vast use of this method in the region has seen marine scientists, international environmental NGOs, and environment activists label the practice as destructive and unsustainable. During the period between 2000 and 2001, a field study was conducted in Oman to simulate the catch rate of fishing gear that has been lost in the ocean (ghost fishing), by setting nets at various depths in fishing grounds across cities in Oman. The study found that the mortality rate as a result of these simulated tests, estimated to 1.3kg per a trap, per a day. This is a result of over fishing with the main gears being used in those regions consisting of spears and fishing rods. According to the United Nations convention agreements in exclusive economic zones (1994):

Article 61 focuses on the "conservation of the living resources" which obligates the coastal state to properly conserve and manage its living resources to ensure that these resources are not over exploited. The state is also obligated to maintain maximum sustainable yield of harvested populations whilst also taking into consideration other species that are associated or depend on that harvested population. Article 62 concerns the "utilization of the living resources" in relations to the governing of harvesting those living resources within the coastal state's exclusive economic zone. This includes the enforcement of conservation measures, such as the licensing of fishing vessels and equipment, regulating the type, size and amount of gear used and permitting the landing of all or any part of the catch in ports. Article 65 relates to "marine mammals" and the rights of the coastal state to prohibit, limit, or regulate the exploitation of marine animals. These convention agreements are recognized by global fisheries that resultantly employ harvest strategies and guidelines, such as gear restrictions and deployment limits, to maintain the use of these unsustainable fishing methods. Examples of such strategies and guidelines employed by global fisheries are listed below:

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) recognizes the impact that bottom trawlers may have on sensitive habitat areas, like reef structures (AFMA, 2020). As a result, management arrangements that include the compulsory use of physical devices, such as bycatch reduction devices (BRD) within trawls, ensures that the use of trawl poses the least environmental impact. Fisheries and Oceans Canada identifies ghost fishing as a major threat to the marine ecosystem. Resultantly, Canadian fisheries have implemented a cooperative strategy with harvesters, to undertake ghost gear removal. The NOAA fisheries has implemented a National Bycatch Reduction Strategy that incorporates three major laws. In accordance to these laws, US fisheries have put in place regulations that require trawling vessels to use turtle excluder devices (TEDs) that will mitigate the capture of turtles in the trawl nets. The Act was amended in the Philippine's pursuit to comply with international conventions, in order to converse and manage fish species and resources. An observed trend between fisheries in under developed regions, is that those regions lack fisheries management and enforcement, and when compared to well developed and well managed regions in the world, under developed regions, on average, account for three fold greater harvest rates. This shows an obstacle for the mitigation of unsustainable fishing methods, which is observed to be influenced by a social ecological trade off. In developing regions in world where communities are classified as low income, fisheries are a means of both food security and income, and with the enforcement of regulations and management, the livelihoods of people within those communities are at stake. The immediate loss of income to the fisheries worker's low income households, eroded the favourability of the policy amongst the community; which also poses an implementation issue for future policies and regulations. It has been identified that social factors through social conception of human well being, have the potential to improve the implementation of fisheries regulation and governance. This remains a difficult concept in developing fishery regions, such as the Caribbean coral reef fishery, where the implementation of management and regulation upon parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) has seen an initial decrease in income for fishery workers who rely heavily on the species. In particular, when there exists a high demand and price in global markets for specific fish species, low income communities who have access to those specific species have been observed to be the main cause of over fishing. This coincides with illegal fishing practices (pirate fishing) that is fuelled by the global demand for exotic seafood. Pirate fishing fostered by the flags of convenience that allow vessels to operate under a state's flag where there exists limited fisheries regulations or laws, enables fishing vessels the ability to practise illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This U. S. $1.2 billion dollar industry poses a drastic impact on global fish populations and blatantly undermines the international rules of conversation and management of the high seas resources, according to Ian Macdonald, Australian Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation (2003 2010).