The Seafood Industry’s Affect on the World’s Oceans

1. The Seafood Industry’s Affect on the World’s Oceans

2. The Seafood Industry • Over one billion people rely on fish as an important source of protein. – WWF • Seafood is a billion dollar industry, providing markets all over the globe • 2 main approaches: • Wild Caught Seafood • Aquaculture (farm-raised) • *Although many modern practices are environmentally detrimental, there are some fisheries that are sustainable. In order to save the world’s oceans, we need to improve the practices of the remaining fisheries and solve the most pressing issues*

3. Human Impact on World’s Oceans

4. Wild Caught Seafood- Overfishing • Ocean fish are the last creatures we hunt on a large scale • Although the oceans cover 71% of Earth’s surface, many signs that we have reached their limits • Advanced technology developed for industrial-scale fishing since the 1800s has made fishing an unfair fight Science, FAO

5. The State of the Oceans - Overfishing • “75 percent of the world's fisheries are either fully exploited, overexploited or have collapsed. The global fishing fleet is operating at 2.5 times the sustainable level—there are simply too many boats chasing a dwindling number of fish”. ~ Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

7. “As many as 90% of all the ocean's large fish have been fished out.” – WWF Overfishing – Large Fish • Long life spans, slow reproduction rates; vulnerable • Large predatory fish have been reduced to just 10% of their original population size • Unfortunately, these include some of our favorite seafoods. • “17% of all shark species are endangered or threatened.” ~ Monterey Bay Aquarium • Rockfish, a west coast species that can live to be over 100 years old, were severely depleted by years of overfishing.

8. Tuna

9. Overfishing “down the food web” • Over the past 30 years, fishermen have transitioned from high-level predators to lower-web species

10. Wild Caught Seafood- Illegal and Unregulated Fishing • International fisheries management agencies report that at least a quarter of the world's catch is illegal, unreported or unregulated. • Illegal fishing is worth up to $9 billion a year. - Illegal Fishing.info • Management plans are often ignored. Fishermen take undersize fish, fish in closed areas, fish during seasonal closures, use illegal gear, and take more than is allocated • Developing economies also suffer from this, as they are denied revenue from this resource. • Japan has caught $6 billion worth of illegal Southern Bluefin tuna over the past 20 years. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation • A Greenpeace report states that 40% of the worlds oceans should be placed in nature reserves. – MSNBC

11. Not just what we fish, but HOW we fish Fishing methods: • Pole/Troll Pole and bait, environmentally responsible • Purse Seining Large walls of netting to encircle schools; often catches unintended fish • Gillnetting Suspended (anchored or floating) curtains of netting; invisible and often catches unintended fish • Longlining Up to 50mi. long line strung with smaller lines with hooks, left to “soak” in water and can hook anything • Trawls and Dredges Nets towed behind boats at various depths, high bycatch AND damages ocean floor • Traps and Pots Submerged cages with bait, generally environmentally responsible • Harpooning Traditional; species specific. Although species are not sustainable, practice is • Trolling Hook and line method, boat tows lines. Environmentally sustainable.

12. Wild Caught Seafood- Habitat Damage and Bycatch • Many fishing practices destroy ecosystems • By selecting the right gear for the job, the fishing industry can drastically reduce the affect on the world’s oceans Pole/troll Purse Seining VS. Gillnetting Trolling Traps and Pots Longlining

13. Effects of Bottom Trawling

14. Types of Fishing Gear Used in U.S. Fisheries Most seafood in the U.S. is caught using nets dragged behind boats, such as purse seines, trawls and dredges (NMFS, 2009).

15. Wild Caught Seafood- Bycatch • 1 out of every 4 fish caught is discarded as bycatch • “For every pound of seafood that goes to market, more than 10 pounds, sometimes even 100, may be thrown away as bycatch.” ~ Sylvia Earle

17. What can we do? Management Issues and Solutions: • Overfishing: Choose seafood widely – pocket guides, require and enforce catch limits • Illegal and Unregulated Fishing: Create more and expand existing Marine Protected Areas • Habitat Damage: Push policy to reduce bottom dredging • Bycatch: Push to promote more selective fishing gear, implement streamer lines on longline vessels and other innovative devices to release unwanted catch

18. “The End of The Line” • Extract from ABC's Nightline programme, with Cynthia McFadden. Nov 17, 2009 on Rupert Murray’s documentary based on the book by Charles Clover “The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat”

19. Aquaculture – “Farmed” Fish • Can be a good solution for lessening pressure on oceans • ½ our seafood comes from farms, and this number is growing fast • However, many farming practices are environmentally detrimental. This depends on the species farmed, where the farm is located, and how they are raised. • We can create sustainable aquaculture that limits habitat damage, prevents the spread of disease and non-native species, and minimizes the use of wild fish as feed.

21. How We Farm – Farming Methods: • Open Net Pens or Cages Enclose fish in pre-existing waterways. High impact. • Ponds Enclose fish inland. Wastewater can be contained and treated, but some have negative impacts (untreated and shrimp farms) • Raceways Water diverted from natural waterways to fish, treated, then returned. If not treated properly, can contaminate environment • Recirculating Systems Fish raised in tanks, water treated and recycled. Environmentally friendly, but economically costly • Shellfish Culture shellfish grown on beaches or suspended. Requires very little resources and can filter waterways, but can contribute to invasive species

22. Aquaculture – Wild Fish Feed • Carnivorous fish require fish to eat themselves • Takes over 3 lbs of wild fish to farm 1 lb of salmon • Millions of tons of wild fish such as sardines and anchovies are caught and processed into fish meal to feed these farmed species

23. Aquaculture – Pollution and Disease • In open pen nets, byproducts released directly into environment. • Includes fish waste, uneaten food, parasites, pesticides, and antibiotics

24. Aquaculture – Escapes

25. Aquaculture – Habitat Damage • Rich coastal waters have been polluted by open net farms and thousands of acres of mangrove forests have been lost by conversion to shrimp ponds. • Large farms = large impact • Closed systems prevent effluent damaging waterways

27. Aquaculture – Innovation for the Future

28. “Eat a Ray, Save the Bay” • “What state officials and scientists want to avoid is the fate of the Chilean sea bass and, even worse, the Chesapeake ray's sister species, the Brazilian cownose ray. After achieving popularity, it was quickly overfished into endangered species status” • ~Robert Fisher, Virginia Institute of Marine Science fisheries specialist • “The Virginia Marine Products Board is the marketing arm for Virginia's seafood industry. We are promoting the Chesapeake Ray through a Grant offered by the Marine Fishing Improvement Fund.The seafood industry, especially the Oyster industry, has asked that the Virginia Marine Products Board look into developing the Chesapeake Ray into a fishery to help control the Ray's population. The Ray population has greatly increased because of the decline in coastal sharks, and it has never been a fishery. The Rays are feeding on young oysters which are now being caged to protect their survival. Studies have shown that they also feed on young crabs, clams and fish. The method that the ray uses to get oysters is by flapping its wings to uncover it's meal, when doing this large areas of under water grass beds are destroyed. Our objective is to develop the Ray into a sustainable fishery by which it's numbers can be reduced.  Hopefully this will allow more oysters and grass beds to survive which the bay needs in our efforts to help in it's recovery.” ~Joe CardwellSeafood Marketing Specialist Virginia Marine Products Board