Deep-sea Fisheries Research Articles

Managing Deep-sea Fisheries: Some Threshold Questions

AbstractIncreasing fishing effort and advances in fishing technology and methods are putting new pressure on deep-sea fisheries. Multilateral efforts to manage the living marine resources over the past fifty years have met with mixed results. This paper examines multilateral approaches and measures adopted in the past decade to manage these resources. It then addresses two threshold questions to be asked in considering multilateral management of deep-sea fisheries: 1) whether new approaches should take the form of binding or non-binding measures, and 2) whether such measures should apply in all marine areas or only on the high seas. It concludes with recommended elements that should be included to maximize the chances of success for managing deep-sea fisheries.

Unfinished Business: Deep-Sea Fisheries and the Conservation of Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Editors' Introduction

Unfinished Business: Deep-Sea Fisheries and the Conservation of Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Editors' Introduction

Global Governance of Deep-Sea Fisheries

AbstractThis article considers the gaps in the existing legal regime on deep-sea fisheries and explores a more effective global governance system. It is proposed that a new global agreement, modeled on the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement, be negotiated covering deep-sea stocks as well as other high seas resources, so that all fisheries on the high seas may be covered. The proposed agreement would complete the gaps in high seas fisheries regime and serve as an effective link between the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and regional fisheries bodies. As a short-term measure, FAO should prepare a set of guidelines covering all types of deep-sea fisheries, including shared and transboundary stocks as well as discrete high seas stocks. In addition, FAO's Committee on Fisheries should be strengthened in its global governance role, including co-ordination of all regional fisheries bodies

Improving International Governance in the Deep Sea

AbstractIn light of new scientific discoveries and technological developments in the deep ocean, there is broad concern over the ability of the present system of international governance to deliver sustainable management. This article seeks to identify key objectives for the current international debate. These include: (i) bringing currently unregulated high seas fisheries under international management as soon as possible; (ii) developing a mechanism for the conservation of high seas biodiversity, including appropriate regulation of activities related to marine bioprospecting, and (iii) promoting ocean exploration for the benefit of mankind as a whole. It further suggests some practical ways in which existing governance mechanisms might be used and adapted in the short-term specifically in order to improve the management of deep-sea fisheries on the high seas and to accommodate new and developing uses of the deepocean environment.

Deep-Sea Fishing in the European Mesolithic: Fact or Fantasy?

Some previous authors have argued for the practice of offshore, deep-water fishing in the European Mesolithic. In this article, various lines of evidence are brought to bear on this question: the kinds of fishing gear employed, the evidence relating to the use of boats and navigation, site location, ethnographic data, and fish biology and behaviour. It is concluded that the existence of deep-sea fisheries cannot be demonstrated on the basis of the available data. However, around much of Europe Mesolithic shorelines now lie below sea level and the study highlights the need for underwater archaeological investigation of submerged landscapes.

The deep-sea floor ecosystem: current status and prospects of anthropogenic change by the year 2025

The goal of this paper is to review current impacts of human activities on the deep-sea floor ecosystem, and to predict anthropogenic changes to this ecosystem by the year 2025. The deep-sea floor ecosystem is one of the largest on the planet, covering roughly 60% of the Earth's solid surface. Despite this vast size, our knowledge of the deep sea is poor relative to other marine ecosystems, and future human threats are difficult to predict. Low productivity, low physical energy, low biological rates, and the vastness of the soft-sediment deep sea create an unusual suite of conservation challenges relative to shallow water. The numerous, but widely spaced, island habitats of the deep ocean (for example seamounts, hydrothermal vents and submarine canyons) differ from typical deep-sea soft sediments in substrate type (hard) and levels of productivity (often high); these habitats will respond differently to anthropogenic impacts and climate change. The principal human threats to the deep sea are the disposal of wastes (structures, radioactive wastes, munitions and carbon dioxide), deep-sea fishing, oil and gas extraction, marine mineral extraction, and climate change. Current international regulations prohibit deep-sea dumping of structures, radioactive waste and munitions. Future disposal activities that could be significant by 2025 include deep-sea carbon-dioxide sequestration, sewage-sludge emplacement and dredge-spoil disposal. As fish stocks dwindle in the upper ocean, deep-sea fisheries are increasingly targeted. Most (perhaps all) of these deep-sea fisheries are not sustainable in the long term given current management practices; deep-sea fish are long-lived, slow growing and very slow to recruit in the face of sustained fishing pressure. Oil and gas exploitation has begun, and will continue, in deep water, creating significant localized impacts resulting mainly from accumulation of contaminated drill cuttings. Marine mineral extraction, in particular manganese nodule mining, represents one of the most significant conservation challenges in the deep sea. The vast spatial scales planned for nodule mining dwarf other potential direct human impacts. Nodule-mining disturbance will likely affect tens to hundreds of thousands of square kilometres with ecosystem recovery requiring many decades to millions of years (for nodule regrowth). Limited knowledge of the taxonomy, species structure, biogeography and basic natural history of deep-sea animals prevents accurate assessment of the risk of species extinctions from large-scale mining. While there are close linkages between benthic, pelagic and climatic processes, it is difficult to predict the impact of climate change on deep-sea benthic ecosystems; it is certain, however, that changes in primary production in surface waters will alter the standing stocks in the food-limited, deep-sea benthic. Long time-series studies from the abyssal North Pacific and North Atlantic suggest that even seemingly stable deep-sea ecosystems may exhibit change in key ecological parameters on decadal time scales. The causes of these decadal changes remain enigmatic. Compared to the rest of the planet, the bulk of the deep sea will probably remain relatively unimpacted by human activities and climate change in the year 2025. However, increased pressure on terrestrial resources will certainly lead to an expansion of direct human activities in the deep sea, and to direct and indirect environmental impacts. Because so little is known about this remote environment, the deep-sea ecosystem may well be substantially modified before its natural state is fully understood.

Continental slope and deep-sea fisheries: implications for a fragile ecosystem

Koslow, J. A., Boehlert, G. W., Gordon, J. D. M., Haedrich, R. L., Lorance, P., andParin, N. 2000. Continental slope and deep-sea fisheries: implications for a fragileecosystem. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 57: 548–557.Exploited deepwater (>500 m) species generally exhibit clear ‘‘K-selected’’ life-history characteristics markedly different from most shelf species: extreme longevity,late age of maturity, slow growth, and low fecundity. Many also aggregate onrestricted topographic features such as seamounts, and as a consequence are notablyunproductive, highly vulnerable to overfishing, and have potentially little resilienceto overexploitation. Since 1964, deepwater fisheries have contributed 800 000–1 000 000 t annually to global marine fish landings. Underlying this apparent overallstability is the ‘‘boom and bust’’ cycle that has characterized many individualfisheries. The accumulated biomass of previously unfished stocks is typically fisheddown, often within 5–10 years, to the point of commercial extinction or very lowlevels. Most deepwater stocks are today overfished or even depleted. Depletion ofspecies from deep-sea environments that dominate mid to upper trophic levels mayhave long-term ecological implications, but the risks of reduced stock size and agestructure to population viability, the potential for species replacement, and theimpacts on prey and predator populations are not generally known. However, trawlfisheries have been shown to have potentially severe impacts on the benthic fauna ofseamounts, where these fish aggregate. This fauna, dominated by suspension feeders,such as corals, is typically restricted to the seamount environment and is character-ized by high levels of endemism, which suggests limited reproductive dispersal. Theability of the benthic community to recover, following its removal by trawling, is notknown.

Deep Sea Fisheries: Managing the Unmanageable?

Deep Sea Fisheries: Managing the Unmanageable?

BOOK REVIEWS

Journal of Fish BiologyVolume 52, Issue 6 p. 1309-1312 BOOK REVIEWS First published: 01 April 2005 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1998.tb00977.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: THE DIVERSITY OF FISHES. By Gene S. Helfman, Bruce B. Colleteand Douglas E. Facey. DEEP-SEA FISHES. Edited by David J. Randall and Anthony P. Farrell. DEEP-SEA DEMERSAL FISH AND FISHERIES. By Nigel R. Merrett and Richard L. Haedrich. Volume52, Issue6June 1998Pages 1309-1312 RelatedInformation

Voices from off Shore: Narratives of Risk and Danger in the Nova Scotian, Deep-Sea Fishery

Fishermen are often regarded as the epitome of Western Individualism. Popular culture is replete with references to the romantic and rugged imagery of the fisher poised, bearded and weather-worn, battling the winds and storms of the open seas. Were it only so. As Binkley effectively points out in her pair of monographs, Voices from Off Shore and Risks, Dangers, and Rewards, the world of the commercial fisher is neither romantic nor necessarily desirable. It is, in fact, one of the most dangerous, uncomfortable and difficult vocations one can take up.These books are the product of a research program, initiated in 1989, which examined the working conditions of deepsea fishers in Nova Scotia. books cover the same material but in importantly different ways. Voices is a carefully selected sample of stories about told by fisherfolk themselves. storytellers include the Old Salt, the deckhand, the wife, the landsman, the casualty and the Skipper. In an analytic sense, Risks is by far the more detailed text. Here, Binkley methodically takes us through her theoretical concerns, the details of the process, the bureaucratic counting of injury, fishers' job satisfaction and the possibility of improving working conditions. Read as a set, the two works complement each other in the respective prioritizing of emic and etic viewpoints.The personal stories in Voices helps us in understanding the ways in which fishers perceive danger. For example, early on in her research, Binkley found when asked if they had ever had a serious accident at sea, the fishers invariably answered, no. For the outside observer, their visible physical dismemberment and injuries rendered their response incomprehensible. But, when we listen to their own stories of and making a living we realize why: It's only serious if it makes you stop fishing (Binkley, 1994: 107, 221).Numbers and categories of accidents take on a living tone in the voices of men like Ned Adams, an icer on a deep-sea dragger. Mr. lives the experience which we see objectively laid out in tables and graphs: When you're down in the hold, you gotta shovel all the fish up into the pen. If the boat rolls, all comes down on you. You shovel up the ice and the fish slides down on you. Eighteen hours in the hold shovelling ice is bad enough without that (ibid.: 108). meticulous listing and discussion of causalities and types of injuries (see esp. Binkley, 1995: 106-127) is shocking in and of itself. Listening to Ned Adams and the other fishers tell their own stories should make even the most unconcerned reader squirm.In a field in which women have traditionally received short shrift (for an important exception see Davis and Nadel-Klien, 1988, To Work and to Weep, St. John's, NF: ISER). Binkley's discussion of women's experiences (1994: 70-95, 215- 218; 1995: 49-65) is refreshing. In The Wife's Tale, themes of loneliness and worry underwrite Joan Elliot's concerns for her husband's health and her family. …

Nantucket Whalemen in the Deep-Sea Fishery: The Changing Anatomy of an Early American Labor Force

Samuel Atkins, a young whaleman the Polley's starboard watch, penned these lines off the coast Africa in the summer 1774.1 Atkins came from Chatham, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He had known his father only by reputation: a laborer who had dwelt one hundred miles away in Providence, Rhode Island, until his unexpected death of a quick consumption in 1757, when Atkins was only four. His mother, a Chatham woman good background, found a second spouse in relatively short order, but that household also collapsed with her death during childbirth in 1760. The unfortunate child with his three orphaned siblings thus ended up the wards their maternal grandfather, James Covell. Covell was a farmer some means, and Atkins was probably fortunate to grow up in his care; still, with little prospect a sizable inheritance, our young New Englander, coming age at the end the colonial era, was anxious to begin saving toward the day when he would form a household his own. There were always odd jobs to be found around Chatham, but nothing that offered the quick and substantial returns that might make up for the absence any real patrimony. Whaling on the deep, however, was reported to be work exactly that nature; and so in the spring his twentieth year, Atkins obtained his grandfather's permission to go to sea.2 Atkins left home on March 17, 1774, bought a passage over to Nantucket, and within a week had signed on with John Barnard, the twenty-nine-year-old

Public policy and the management of Guyana's deep Sea Fisheries

The mud-stained beaches and coastal waters of Guyana have for centuries been a source of great derision to Guyana's Caribbean neighbours whose beaches are the focus of a very extensive tourist industry. Guyana's coasts are, however, part of an extensive resource accommodating some rather unusual ‘tourists’ including shrimps. This paper traces the rise and decline of deep sea resource exploitation from the 1920s to 1980. It examines the development of and constraints to policy and management of the resources.

Deep sea fisheries - implications in conservation

I stand before you as what I would reluctantly like to call a crisis conservationist. In marine fisheries conservation we are exposed to the full blast of human greed. Dr Hey has referred to the unfortunate human attitudes to nature conservation. I fully share his concern. Fisheries conservation finds itself in the unenviable position of having largely to apply conservation principles to species which are more often than not in advanced stages of commercial exploitation. In this situation ethics, aesthetics and science cuts little or no ice with decision-makers. The only language which they understand is economics. Unfortunately fisheries conservation has also been hampered by the well-meant but thoroughly unscientific efforts of certain lay so-called "conservation societies". Through their admirable but purely humanistic approach to conservation, they have antagonized economically-orientated decision-makers and thereby unfortunately harmed the cause of conservation.

Formation and Result of Co-Operative Self-Operation of Pelagic Skipjack Pole and Tuna Long Line Fishery in Southern Kyushu

About 1953 and 1954, fifteen co-operative associations of self-operating pelagic skipjack pole and tuna long line were born at the southern parts of Kyushu (Kagoshima-Pref. & Miyazaki-Pref.) which are well-known for the fishery in Japan. The formation of the associations is one of the ways to protect themselves against the structural pressure in the after-war Japanese fishery. And they are under the political protection to promote the deep-sea fishing and joint operation. But there is only six of them existing now. We can say, this is the same tendency about the associations all over Japan (Tab. 1).This study is intended to classify the factors concerning its success and its failure.Of the factors for its failure, the first is the change of the policy; it was from the promotion of the deep-sea fishery which began to fail about 1955, to the development and structural improvement of coastal fishing. The second is the keen competition for making tuna long line fishing vessels larger among the monopolic giant capitals of fishery. Another reason is the heavy fall of the price for fish because of the experiments of H-bomb at Bikini.There are some factors for the failure inside of the associations. (1) the irrational management, (2) the accidents, e.g. the sinking of the fishing boats, etc. (3) the becoming worse of the economic condition of the associations because of the poor catch of the self-operating set-net fishing which was the economic foundation of the association. The fatal factor among them is the dullness of the self-operating deep-sea fishing brought by the irrational management of above mentioned precapitalistic loose one because of the lack of the experience.All of the five active associations of self-operating deep-sea fishing (Kushikino, Hashima, Bodomari, Makurazaki-shi, Yamakawa-cho) is located at the areas developed by the fishing of bonito and tuna as their chief industry for a long time. But the failures of the nine associations came from the lack of the experiences for that fishing. They were at villages of coastal fishing like set-nets. Furue Fishing Association is the only exception, which had the change from coastal fishing to tuna fishing. But its boat is small one, only 39t. Its economic condition is worse. Its labor power is not enough. Today it is on the turning point for its existence.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MISAKI FISHING-PORT, KANAGAWA PREFECTURE

At the end of Meiji era, Japanese fishing b a s had engines; with the development of off-shore and deep-sea fishery those boats were made large-sized. The results are as follows: (1) The Catches were at rapid and profitable disposal by sale; (2) The supplies for the fishing-boats were easily provided; (3) The ships and engines rwere easily repaired; (4) The large-sized ships could be anchored. The fishery bases are required to the large-sized ships. Among many fishing-villages in Japan, a few fishing-villages fitted to those conditions absorbed lots of fishing boats and labor power for fishing industry from various parts of our country and developed into prosperous fishing ports. 1. Misaki, Kanagawa Prefrcture, is an example of such a fishing-port at first Misaki was only a small fishing village of coastal fishery. But. (1) it is a natural good port; (2) it has powerful fish-dealers and it is located near the consuming cities, so that a great quantity of fish catch can be sold rapidly and profitably; (3) besides, it is near a fishing ground. That is why bonito boats and tunny ones flock at Misaki from Shizuoka and Wakayama Prefectures as well as Kanagawa Prefecture; consequently Misaki has developed into the base of deep-sea fishery. First, with the completion of construction of the port in 1928, deep-sea fishery boats of bonito and tunny meet at Misaki from Tokushima, Kochi and Miyagi Prefectures; Misaki takes on the character of a fishery base of many fishing-boats which belong to other prefectures. Secondly, a few boat-owners of other prefectures settle down at Misaki and at the same time there came into being a few deep-sea fishing boats belonging to Misaki itself. After the end of World War II, Misaki has had a rapid increase of deep-sea fishing boats which belong to it, because it is a superior fishing ground as a base of deep-sea fishing boats. These boats has rapidly become large-sized after the enforcement of the Special Act in 1958, and yet many deep-sea fishing boats from other prefectures still gather at Misaki, which forms the foremost center of deep-sea fishery in our country. 2. With the growth of deep-sea fishing boats belonging to Misakl, there came a demand for laborers engaged in deep-sea fishery, as the result of which about four or five hundred laborers flock at Misaki before World War II. After the end of it, owing to the increasecd number of large-sized boats belonging to Misaki, the number of laborers there for deep-sea fishery was about 3, 500 in 1955. These laborers flocked here largely as emigrant laborers from such prefectures as Miyagi, Chiba, Mie, Tokushima, Kochi, Ooita and Kagoshima.

Contributions to the Biology of the Mackerel Scomber Scombrus L. II. A Study of the Fishery in the South-West of England, with Special Reference to Spawning, Feeding, and ‘Fishermen's Signs’

In a previous paper (Steven, 1948), brief accounts are given of three distinct mackerel fisheries that at one time existed in the south-west of England—an inshore fishery in the English Channel carried on from Plymouth, a deep-sea fishery from Newlyn, Cornwall, and an inshore fishery from Newlyn and some other Cornish ports. One of these fisheries, the Plymouth one, no longer exists. After a few years of considerable activity following the termination of the 1914–18 war, this fishery collapsed in 1924 (Table I) and came entirely to an end a few years later. The small quantities of mackerel landed at Plymouth in subsequent years have been incidental catches by vessels fishing for herrings or pilchards.

Fisheries of Wales

A TEMPOBABY exhibition illustrating the activities of the Welsh fishing industry has been on view during the past five months at the National Museum of Wales. A small hand-book supplements the information given on the labels of the exhibits ("The Fisheries of Wales". By Colin Matheson. National Museum of Wales and the Press Board of the University of Wales. 2d.). The fishes landed in the largest quantities in Wales are demonstrated by models and spirit specimens, and the handbook sets forth the habitats and means of capture of the different species, with some comments on their biology. The hake, on which the deep-sea fisheries of South Wales are based, is given due prominence. A separate section is given to the deep-water trawler and its methods of work, with exhibits of echo-sounding devices and wireless direction-finders. The beam trawl and various appliances of the inshore fisherman are explained ; and there are notes upon the primitive Welsh coracle and the salmon nets and spears used in fresh water. The general ignorance about the modern fishing industry is so great that a welcome must be extended to such an exhibition as this, for it will show that each species of fish must be sought by methods adapted to its habitat and habits ; and that every fishing boat more than 20 feet long is not necessarily a trawler. Mr. Matheson is to be congratulated upon the arrangement of such a demonstration.

The Re-challenge to the Ocean

WE are glad to notice the general approval with which Prof. Herdman's suggestion of a renewed Challenger deep-sea expedition has been received, and we hope that men of science will not fail to take immediate advantage of the present very favourable opportunity for urging upon the Government the renewal of the great enterprise of 1872. Never, unhappily, had the population of these islands to think so much and so anxiously of maritime affairs as during the four years that began in August, 1914. We believe that this concern did not die away when peace was arranged, and we may be sure that very many people are now interested, not only in the further development of our mercantile marine and deep-sea fisheries, but also in the exploration of the ocean as a matter of pure scientific research.

A Hospital Ship for Deep Sea Fisheries

A Hospital Ship for Deep Sea Fisheries