Oceans and Fisheries

1
Oceans and Fisheries
Dr. John T. Everett National Marine
Fisheries Service National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration United States
Department of Commerce
2
About the Ocean

• Half of Americans live and work within 50 miles
  of the coast
• Coastal areas are only 11 percent of our land
• An acre of coastal waters or wetlands can produce
  more food than the best farm land
• Commercial and recreational fisheries support
  more than 1.3 million jobs, and in 1995 added
  more than 20 billion to the economy
• 80 of ocean pollution comes from the land
• Coastal tourism provides 28 million jobs

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Functions of Oceans

• Climate Regulator
• Resources and Products
• fish and shellfish, marine mammals, and seaweeds
• petroleum, sand and gravel, sulfur, hot brines,
  manganese nodules, and polymetallic sulfides at
  spreading centers
• include water and unconventional energy resources
• Waste Reception and Recycling
• Recreation and Tourism
• Transportation

4
Pollution

• The ocean is so big. Is pollution a problem?

5
Recreation

• Is all recreation harmless to the ocean?

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Recreation No-Nos

• What are some ways to harm the ocean?
• Touching coral, running through beach grass,
  leaving trash, catching too many fish, chasing
  whales.......

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Fishing

• The ocean is so big. Arent there plenty of fish?

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Sustainable Fisheries

• Some fisheries have lasted for 100s of years
• Many have disappeared quickly
• How do we bring them all back to full production?

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Fisheries Production
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Being a Fisheries Scientist

• What kinds of fish are there?
• How many fish are there? Where? When?
• How fast do they grow?
• What should the quota be?
• What diseases are there? What causes them?
• What are the ecosystem relationships?
• What habitats are needed?

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Getting the Education

• Are you interested in fish or marine mammals?
• Are you interested in biology, ecology, or math?
• Get BS and MS in marine biology and/or math
• PhD needed for college teaching and senior
  scientist
• Shortage in stock assessment scientists

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Apparent Oceanwide Synchrony in Pacific Basin
Sardines
Historical catches in the sardine fisheries of
Japan, California and Peru-Chile have exhibited
parallel patterns, possibly in response to
global-scale changes in climate (modified from
Kawasaki, 1992).
Peru/Chile
California Sardine Catch (Thousand Metric Tons)
California
Japan and Peru/Chile Sardine Catch (Million
Metric Tons)
Japan
Year
Sources U.S. GLOBEC, FAO 1995, NMFS/Our Living
Oceans 1996
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Normalized Catch Time Series
Comparison of pink salmon catch in the Gulf of
Alaska with coho salmon catch in the Washington,
Oregon, California region (Francis and Sibley,
1991).
Standard Index
Year
14
Getting the Information

• Surveys with research vessels
• Trawls, long lines, pots, gill nets, sonar
• Surveys with aircraft
• LIDAR, observation
• Catch statistics
• Phone interviews with creel census
• Observers on fishing vessels

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Research Tools

• Laboratories and Equipment
• Research Vessels
• Satellite Remote Sensing
• Computers
• People
• Money

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Infrastructure - Labs
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Fisheries Ships
ALBATROSS IV - AGE 34
TOWNSEND CROMWELL - AGE 34
AGE 30
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El Niño

• ENSO makes weather vary in much of the world
• Every 3 to 10 years in recent years more
  frequently
• Will ENSO change with global warming?

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Ocean Currents

• Will ocean currents change?

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What Can You Do?

• Learn all you can. Read, surf the web, and go to
  the ocean.
• Be a smart shopper. Learn more about your
  seafood.
• Conserve water.
• Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your
  driveway.
• Use less household chemicals such as herbicides,
  pesticides and cleaners. Reduce waste.
• Dispose of trash properly. Recycle, re-use, and
  compost.
• Reduce automobile pollution. Fix leaks.
• Protect ocean wildlife. Don't dispose of fishing
  lines, nets or plastic in or near the water. Be
  considerate of sealife habitats.
• Don't feed sea birds or mammals or disturb their
  nest areas.
• Get involved. Take part in a beach cleanup.
• Care! Tell others!

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Where to Put the City

• Near healthy stocks of fish
• On firm bottom
• Near warm water to reduce energy needs
• Outside shipping routes
• Near a supply center
• Near an energy source, at least for backup.