Fish, Markets, and Fishermen: The Economics of Overfishing
By Robert C. Wieland, Suzanne Iudicello, Michael L. Weber
Fishing is a billion dollar market, we can't just take away people's way to make a living.
"The problem in marine fishing is that no one owns the fish, and their value in consumer markets is available for capture by whoever wants to do it."
Unrestricted access to fish drives fishers to fish stocks past point of sustainable yield.
Endless cycle- some improvements, then pressure builds to decrease limitations then we get back in the same place we were before.
Limiting catch would bias catch toward a certain size class of fish- whether this is good or not depends on reproductive biology of fish species.
Restrictions on net sizes difficult to control because some boats use different nets to fish for different species.
Quotas for overall catch in entire fishery, total catch among gear groups, geographic areas of fishery, or parts of season./ individual fishermen
Most U.S. fisheries have some TAC (total allowable catch) -biologically based overall quota.
How to allocate catch quotas? - economic efficiency/ fairness
Set quota at beginning of season, close fishery once quota met.
Divide total quota among fishermen (evenly divided vs. look at past years)
method of catching by commercial fishermen might cause too much physiological stress/damage that no matter the size of the fish there will be a significant mortality rate.
"Nets can cause a variety of injuries and tend to greatly increase the time required to release a caught fish."
material of net can increase injuries sustained by fish.
http://www.cdli.ca/cod/history4.htmhttp://www.cdli.ca/cod/home1.htm
"Atlantic cod grow at different rates in different areas."
Grand Bank spawning April to June
Nova Scotia banks, spawn in March and April
(If we close areas seasonally we should base it on that)
-female is sexually mature ~ 6 years, 45-60 cm long
-male slightly younger and shorter.
Female 80 cm long- 2 million eggs
130 cm long >11 million eggs
eggs float in coastal surface water
at 4cm young cod settle to bottom to feed
juveniles/ tom cods are already being caught when 30-45 cm long at 3 years old... never get to reproduce. (Nets that can't catch cod larger than 45-50 cm long?)
"The cod, like most species of fish, have their own favourite temperature range for spawning. If this changes, they may not spawn at all. Also, the eggs and young fish are very sensitive to heat and cold, and temperature changes can kill them."
AHH. Global warming...
Problems with limiting catch size/ size of fish caught
How to regulate/control?
Will fish survive being thrown back?
What size is actually optimal? (After reproduced... which size to decide is average for post sexual maturity)-we have caused average size of beginning of fertility to decline.
1 Comment
Tracey A Hayse
Fish, Markets, and Fishermen: The Economics of Overfishing
By Robert C. Wieland, Suzanne Iudicello, Michael L. Weber
Fishing is a billion dollar market, we can't just take away people's way to make a living.
"The problem in marine fishing is that no one owns the fish, and their value in consumer markets is available for capture by whoever wants to do it."
Unrestricted access to fish drives fishers to fish stocks past point of sustainable yield.
Endless cycle- some improvements, then pressure builds to decrease limitations then we get back in the same place we were before.
Limiting catch would bias catch toward a certain size class of fish- whether this is good or not depends on reproductive biology of fish species.
Restrictions on net sizes difficult to control because some boats use different nets to fish for different species.
Quotas for overall catch in entire fishery, total catch among gear groups, geographic areas of fishery, or parts of season./ individual fishermen
Most U.S. fisheries have some TAC (total allowable catch) -biologically based overall quota.
How to allocate catch quotas? - economic efficiency/ fairness
Set quota at beginning of season, close fishery once quota met.
Divide total quota among fishermen (evenly divided vs. look at past years)
http://www.mafmc.org/mid-atlantic/fmp/smb-a8.htm
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/37942.html
Boundary Water Fishing Regulations
Regulatory Impact Statement
"Size limits are necessary to maintain quality fisheries and to insure that adequate numbers survive to spawning size."
http://www.acuteangling.com/Reference/C&RMortality.html
physiological stress could increase mortality rate in catch and release fishing.
http://www.cdli.ca/cod/history4.htm http://www.cdli.ca/cod/home1.htm
"Atlantic cod grow at different rates in different areas."
Grand Bank spawning April to June
Nova Scotia banks, spawn in March and April
(If we close areas seasonally we should base it on that)
-female is sexually mature ~ 6 years, 45-60 cm long
-male slightly younger and shorter.
Female 80 cm long- 2 million eggs
130 cm long >11 million eggs
eggs float in coastal surface water
at 4cm young cod settle to bottom to feed
juveniles/ tom cods are already being caught when 30-45 cm long at 3 years old... never get to reproduce. (Nets that can't catch cod larger than 45-50 cm long?)
"The cod, like most species of fish, have their own favourite temperature range for spawning. If this changes, they may not spawn at all. Also, the eggs and young fish are very sensitive to heat and cold, and temperature changes can kill them."
AHH. Global warming...
Problems with limiting catch size/ size of fish caught
http://mpa.gov/helpful_resources/case_studies.html
http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/