Fisheries in the Seas

Fish life cycles:

Egg/sperm
juvenile

pelagic larvae

(first non-feeding critical period then

feeding)

Indeterminant growth
Growth rates vary
Age determination otoliths, cohorts,
--- find very large variations in size
of year classes
young-of-year YOY

Migratory Circuit

larval drift

Reproductive Isolation
Location of spawning
Timing of spawning

What controls population

size?
Possibilities:
No. eggs/spawning success
Mortality in the young stages (egg,
larvae, juvenile)
Mortality among adults (food
limitation, competition)

Mortality in young stages

Critical period what determines if
larvae find food or not?
Survival of feeding larvae
Juvenile survival

Successful recruitment many stocks

seem to be maintained by sporadic
strong year classes

Most marine fish populations

are maintained by irregular,
strong year classes.

What does this

mean for
management?

Fisheries Management
Oceans provide ~20% of the animal
protein consumed by humans
worldwide (FAO 1993)

Over half of the worlds fish stocks

are fully exploited, at least 25 - 35%

are overexploited

Fishing down food webs

Globally, fisheries first target higher-order
predators

As these decline, move to species in the next

trophic level down, where abundances have
increased due to release from predation

Today, only 10% of all large fish populations

present in 1950, including cod, tuna,
swordfish, grouper, marlin, halibut, and
flounder, remain (Myers and Worm 2003)

Why has marine fisheries

management failed?
1. Must be based on a good understanding
of the population biology of the fish
Sampling problem
independent sample
use harvest data (landings)
CPUE Catch per unit effort

Variations in successful year classes

Why has marine fisheries

management failed?
2. Harvest methods have become
much more efficient
Early fisheries hook and line (until
1920s)

trawling took off in 1930s

gill nets, purse seines, long lines

Refrigeration large factory ships

Initial Response?
Exclusive economic zone 200 mi limit

Initial Response?
Exclusive economic zone 200 mi limit
Underlying cause of the problem the
way we manage Fisheries Councils
that balance economics with
catches, but at mismatched time
scales; base catch limits on MSY

Problems with MSY model

1. MSY model assumes spatial and temporal
uniformity of the population

Temporally know not true year class

phenomenon
Spatially suspect that there are favorable
and less favorable sites source and sink
populations

2. Fish populations change rapidly

Are there warning signs?

Change in size distribution smaller average size

Changes in size

Problems with MSY model

1. MSY model assumes spatial and

temporal uniformity of the population

Temporally know not true year class

phenomenon
Spatially suspect that there are favorable
and less favorable sites source and sink
populations

2. Fish populations change rapidly

Are there warning signs?

Change in size distribution smaller average size

3. Ignores interspecies interactions

predator/prey dynamics, competition

Problem of By-catch nontarget organisms also caught

Shrimp trawl fishery in south

Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, 90% of

what is caught is not shrimp
Bottom trawling barn door skate in
coastal New England
Purse seine fishery for yellow fin
tuna high dolphin mortality
Long-lines tangle diving birds,
marine mammals, turtles

Impacts of removing bycatch

Juvenile fishes never grow up (redfish

in Gulf of Mexico)
Removing baitfish, invertebrate prey
for other species
Food subsidy for aggressive bird
predators gulls and other nuisances;
blue crabs and sharks can sometimes
benefit

Habitat Destruction by Bottom

Trawling

Tears up benthic habitats and species

Has been compared to clear-cutting
the forest

Potential Solutions
Ecosystem management looking at
fish as part of larger ecosystem;
ecologically sustainable yield

Food web models

Coupled physical and biological models
Managing species in complexes rather
than individually

Potential Solutions
Marine reserves?
Habitat fragmentation in the sea
How to place them, police them

Precautionary principle, burden of

proof