Marine Food Resources: Fisheries: Highly useful source of human nutrition (about 4% of human protein source) Fishes (sardine, herring, anchovy, mackerel,

• Marine Food Resources:  

• Fisheries: Highly useful source of human nutrition (about 4% of human protein source)

• Fishes (sardine, herring, anchovy, mackerel, salmon, tuna, cod, flounder etc.) • Mollusks (shelled creatures: oysters, mussels,

clams; and squids/octopus) • Crustaceans (crabs, shrimps, and lobsters)

• Economic Impact: 15 million jobs; $70 billion dollars in 1995. ~ 100 million metric tons caught annually.

•50% of world catch by:

1.China

2.Japan

3.Peru

4.Chile

5.Russia

6.U.S

•High Technology, Global scale fisheries are now well established but:

•cost/unit has increased •annual harvests are declining and per capita catch is rapidly declining catch is decreasing, population continues to increase

•1999 - $224 billion spent to generate $70 billion in fish

Peru Sardine

Pacific herring and mackeral

•Impact of global warming •Maximum Sustainable Yield: fundamental concept for renewable resource exploitation:

•Over fishing => depletion of breeding stock below that required for replenishment of the species -

•North Atlantic Cod fishery •Pacific Northwest Salmon (E&S) and King crab fishery

Peru Anchovy

•Pacific Sardine : Commercial extinction

•Whale industry

•successive fishing of species to commercial extinction 1986 International Whaling Commission stop killing of large whales

•Still fishing whales - Japan, Norway, Iceland, Native Alaskans

•Drift Nets: Marine food resource "strip mining" 

•ghost nets and pirates still doing this

•Bycatch: discarded catch of non-selective fishing gear

•Tragedy of the Commons •Depleted fisheries cause fisherman to increase harvest, which further depletes fisheries which causes fisherman to increase harvest, which further depletes fisheries, etc. etc...... •"The tragedy of the commons"

•Benefits are reaped by the individual •Costs are shared communally

•No incentive to conserve •Only solution -

•informed populace - Communication, •scientifically understood population and •regulations, incentives (to help the resource) •universal acceptance •monitoring and enforcement

•divide up the oceans?

•Finfish: •catfish •Salmon trout

•                          

•Shellfish/Crustaceans •clams •crawfish •mussels •oysters •shrimp

•                             

•Aquaculture: farming plants or animals in controlled conditions

•~ 10% of commercial food resource

•Seaweed - kelp (algin); Drugs