Marine Resources

1
Marine Resources
And Fishing in The South China Sea
Fish are wildlife, and they are the only
wildlife we continue to hunt on a large scale
Carl Safina

• Fisheries
• concentrations of particular aquatic species
  suitable for commercial harvesting in a given
  ocean area or inland body of water (lakes,
  rivers, reservoirs, ponds)
• the third major food producing system after
  cropland and grazing land

2

• Marine resources
• provide 20 of all the animal protein we eat
• 1/3 of world fish harvest used as animal feed,
  fish meal, oils
• 60 of fish consumption by the developing world
• In Asia, 1 billion people rely on fish as their
  primary source of protein.
• Fishing employs 200 million people worldwide

3
Fishery Terminologies

• Aquaculture farmed or cultured fish

• Capture fisheries wild-caught fish
• fish from the sea (marine)
• from inland bodies of water, such as lakes and
  ponds (inland)
• Stock the population of a species that is
  exploitable

4
Fishery Terminologies

• Fish is a broad term that encompasses
• Finfish the true fish, which are further divided
  into

• demersal fish live on or near the seabed (e.g.
  cod, flatfishes)
• pelagic fish live in the water column (e.g.
  tuna, salmon, anchovy)

Finfish make up the majority of world fish
catches.

• Shellfish includes crustaceans (shrimps, crabs)
• and molluscs (squid, octopus, clams, mussels)

• Also, smaller scale fisheries based on
• Echinoderms (sea urchins, sea cucumbers)
• Jellyfish

5
Worlds Commercial Fishing Industry

• Dominated by industrial fishing fleets using
• Satellite positioning equipment
• Sonar
• Huge nets
• Spotter planes
• Factory ships (that can process and freeze
  catches)

6
Sources of Annual Commercial Catch

• 55 ocean
• 99 of this catch from plankton-rich coastal
  waters (but, coastal pollution!)
• 33 aquaculture
• raising marine and freshwater fish in ponds and
  underwater cages
• 12 inland freshwater fishing (lakes, rivers,
  reservoirs, ponds)

7
Total Fish Production

• Global capture fisheries and aquaculture
  production (2000 U.N. Food and Agriculture
  Organization (FAO))
• 1997 122 million tonnes
• 1998 117 million tonnes (because of El Niño
  effects on some major marine capture fisheries)
• 1999 production recovered to an estimated 125
  million tonnes.
• Capture fisheries have peaked and remained stable
• ? extra 20 million tonnes over the last decade
  was mainly from aquaculture

8
World Total Fish Production
Million Tonnes
Aquaculture
Capture Fisheries
9
Capture Fisheries Production

• There was a time when the oceans and fisheries
  resources were considered to be so vast that they
  could not be damaged or depleted by Man.
• 1950-1970s capture fisheries increased by 6 per
  year
• 1970-1980s average increase was only 2 per year
• In 1990s rate of increase in fisheries
  production was almost zero

10
Fish Utilization
Source FAO (2000)
11
Fishing Trends

• This levelling off of total world catch follows
  the general trend of the worlds fishing areas
  apparently have reached maximum fishing
  potential,
• i.e. fish stocks are fully exploited.
• Recent global patterns of fish production owes
  much to the activities of China
• ? Chinas fish production now (in weight)
• 32 of the world total

12
Capture Fisheries Production
Top producer countries of marine and inland
capture fisheries in 1998 (Data FAO 2000)
13
Status of Fisheries Resources

• There is a large amount of evidence that many
  marine resources have been overfished.
• Overfishing the taking of so many fish that too
  little breeding stock are left to maintain
  numbers
• Prolonged overfishing leading to commercial
  extinction of a fish stock (e.g. Newfoundland
  Cod) (when the population of a species declines
  to the point at which it is no longer profitable
  to hunt for them)
• As one species becomes overfished, we simply move
  on to another species and overfish that as well

14

• Fisheries are also depleted by high levels of
  bycatch (the non-target fish that are caught in
  nets and then thrown back into the sea, usually
  dead or dying)
• Depleting marine biodiversity
• Does not provide food for people
• 60 of the worlds important fish stocks in
  urgent need of management

15
Increasing Fishing Efforts

• Despite warnings of a slow down in production
  rate of marine capture fisheries in the
  1970-1980s, the fishing industry increased
  fishing efforts.
• Boats became bigger, more powerful, and fishing
  technology has improved.
• Many fishing vessels are packed with high-tech
  fish-finding equipment
• Echo-sounders
• Sonars
• Global positioning systems (GPS)
• Even spotter planes!

16
The Tragedy Of The Commons

• Overuse of common-property or free-access
  resources ? environmental degradation
• Such resources
• Owned by no one
• Or, owned jointly by everyone in the area
• Available to all users at little or no charge

17

• Degradation of renewable free-access resources
• Tragedy of the Commons
• User reasons
• If I do not use this resource, someone else
  will. The little bit I use or pollute is not
  enough to matter, and such resources are
  renewable.
• Does this logic work?

18

• Fish should be a renewable resource as long as
  enough fish are left annually to reproduce
• Ideally, an annual sustainable yield should
  therefore be established for each species
• Difficult to estimate mobile aquatic populations
• Sustainable yields shift from year to year
  (climate change, pollution, etc)
• Traditionally, the seas were regarded as common
  property and fishermen were free to go where they
  liked and to catch as much as they could
• ? If they did not catch the fish, some one else
  will Tragedy of the Commons

19
Overcapacity of Fishing Industry

• Too many boats fishing for a decreasing number of
  fish.
• Today, the fishing industry is twice as large as
  necessary. This overcapacity is global
• Norway 60 overcapacity
• Western Europe 40 overcapacity

20
Fishery Management

• Fishery regulations
• Economic approaches
• Impose fees for harvesting fish and shellfish
  from publicly owned and managed offshore waters
  (money used for government fishery management)
• Reduce or eliminate fishing subsidies
• Reduce bycatch levels
• Using wider-mesh nets
• Enacting laws to prohibit throwing edible and
  marketable fish back to sea
• Having observers on fishing vessels

21
Hong Kong Fisheries

• Aberdeen, HK.
• 5,000 fishing vessels
• 11, 900 fishermen working abroad in the fishing
  industry

AFCD

• Fishing in Hong Kong has little or no
  restrictions
• ? HK waters are now heavily overfished
• In 2000 an estimated 157,000 tonnes of fish were
  produced, with 90 of the catch coming from
  waters outside Hong Kong

22
Chinas Fisheries

• Chinas fisheries
• Have entered a period of rapid growth since 1985
• Average annual growth rate 14, much higher than
  world average
• However, problems now facing China are
• Inshore fishery resources with the South China
  Sea area heavily exploited
• Water environments deteriorating
• Aquaculture serious fish diseases
• Fishing in offshore and long distant waters has
  been constrained due to new international marine
  law

23
Sustaining Fisheries in S. China Sea

• The South China Sea
• One of the most productive regions in the world
• Produces on average 10 of global fisheries
  catch annually

• China has adopted various measures to conserve
  such resources and implement a sustainable marine
  development strategy
• Various closed fishing seasons
• Closed fishing areas
• Marine sanctuaries set up
• Moratorium systems (fishing ban)
• Restricting size of net meshes
• In 1979 fishing permit system introduced
• Since 1995 a midsummer moratorium system

24
Fishing Moratorium

• In 2003, fishing moratorium of the South China
  Sea (fishing ban in the South China Sea area
  north of 27N)
• June 1 to August 1
• All fishing operations in the South China Sea
  suspended (except gill-netting, long-lining,
  hand-lining, cage trapping)
• Some 1,400 HK fishing vessels affected
• The ban was imposed to conserve fishery resources
  and promoting sustainable development of the
  fishing industry.