Ecological Study of Use Patterns in Inshore Fishing Grounds

Abstract

There are two fields of study in the geography of fisheries. One is the study of fishing villages (fishing communities), and the other is the study of fishing grounds. Japanese geographers, however, have focused largely on the study of fishing villages and have seldom researched fishing grounds, as it is difficult to grasp the whole of the marine environment. But the fishing ground is the foundation on which the fishing village is built and maintained. And the character of the fishing village is decided by the character of its fishing ground. Therefore both fishing village and fishing ground have to be considered as a whole. In field research, the author used an ecological method of collecting data by direct observation of fishing activities on the sea. It is thought this method enables not only the study of fishing ground use, but also ecological analysis of the fishing village which uses those fishing grounds.In this study, the author attempts first to review ecological studies of the use of fishing grounds in order to carry out the ecological study on the geography of fisheries in the future. The results are as follows:1. In terms of the time-use pattern of the fishing ground, data on daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual cycles must be collected according to the fishing activity.2. In terms of the space-use pattern of the fishing ground, a three-dimensional space……the surface, the water, and the sea bottom……must be considered as an integrated space.3. The ecological method can be applied both to inshore and inland water environments and to various fishing methods……long-line fishing, hard-line fishing, small scale net fishing, diving, and so on.