Destructive Fishing Practices Research Articles

Artisanal fisher knowledge on the impacts of destructive and illegal practices on the Southern Coast of Bahia, Brazil

Destructive fishing practices (DFP) and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) activities result in significant marine ecosystem effects, such as habitat destruction, biomass reduction, bycatch, and waste of resources. They also generate socioeconomic impacts on artisanal fisher coastal populations. Both DFP and IUU are linked to fisheries management system failures and the impossibility of marine surveillance. In this context, from an Ethnoecological approach, the aim of this study was to analyze the local ecological knowledge of fishers from Ilhéus (Bahia), Northeastern Brazil, regarding DFP and IUU fisheries. A total of 59 interviewees pointed to decreased resource catches in recent years, citing increasing fishing efforts and certain types of gear as the main reasons. They also claim that local fishers and fishers from other Brazilian regions have been using banned equipment, such as compressors and lobster nets. In turn, although permitted by law, shrimp trawling and gillnet fishing were reported as being excessively applied and identified as destructive fisheries. Surprisingly, longline fishing was one of the most reported as responsible for excessive catches and for causing decreases in Common dolphinfish catches. This study reinforces the importance of including the knowledge of local fishers and their participation to contribute to fisheries management and resource conservation. In this context, some recommendations are highlighted to reduce the impacts of harmful practices and improve regional fisheries management, summarized as: (i) policy improvement; (ii) fishing monitoring; (iii) incentives; and (iv) enforcement.

Prevention of Destructive Fishing Practices: Prospects and Challenges in Law Reform

Destructive fishing practices have been identified as a common problem in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The major causes for destructive fishing in Northern region are increasing the demand for fish consumption, lack of alternative jobs for early dropout schoolchildren, increased gear efficiency, policy failure of existing laws, and poaching by Indian and Southern migratory fishers. The dynamiting, bottom trawling, monofilament net, stake net, brush pile fisheries, purse seines and scuba diving have been identified as the most common destructive fishing practices in the Northern region. Consequences of destructive fishing practices include unintentional killing of target and non-target fish and other marine organisms, hampering local fishing activities such as operations of gill nets and fiber plastic boats and threatening environmentally sensitive marine ecosystems in Sri Lanka. The entire fishing sector in Sri Lanka is regulated by mainly the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act No. 2 of 1996 and the Fisheries Act No. 59 of 1979 enacted by the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR). The Fisheries Act No. 59 of 1979 prohibits fishing by foreign boats in Sri Lankan waters with provisions to impose penalties for any violations. However, major loopholes which are not included in the act comprise of type of fishing gear, methods and harmful material that are prohibited and specific penalty system for usage of banned fishing gear, materials and methods. At the international level, Sri Lanka has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established to outline a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. Furthermore, the major international instruments ratified by Sri Lanka are “The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Conservation of Biological Diversity (CBD), and The Conservation on International Trade in Endangered species (CITES). However, these legal instruments have not been regulated in the Sri Lankan fishing sector. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the existing laws with proper law enforcement while considering geographical regions, type and abundance of marine resources, oceanography, ecology, social aspects and regular monitoring system of fishing practices to maintain the sustainability of marine resources.

Coastal community’s perceptions on the role of seagrass ecosystems for coastal protection and implications for management

Seagrass meadows provide important ecosystem services to coastal communities, which include ecosystem-based adaptations for coastal protection; however, globally seagrasses are among the least conserved marine ecosystems. In order to develop and provide accurate and efficient decision-making processes and conservation actions, an understanding of the importance of ecosystem services for people's livelihoods and wellbeing is key. Using social research methods, such as Nominal Group Technique, Key Informant Interviews and household surveys, this study explored the association between seagrass ecosystem services and the perceptions of coastal communities on socio-ecological values including ecosystem-based adaptations in Maputo and Inhambane Bays, Mozambique. Fishermen identified support to fisheries production as crucial services provided by seagrasses to coastal communities. Respondents (93%) perceived that coastal erosion is occurring in the region and that it has accelerated in the last 20 years due to more frequent floods following cyclones. In addition, coastal development (34.9%) together with destructive fishing practices (31.3%) were stated as the main anthropogenic causes of coastal erosion as seagrasses diminish. The coastal communities (76.3%) proposed marine ecosystem restoration as the first measure to prevent coastal erosion. The coastal respondents also identified seagrass regulatory ecosystem services being central for their social and economic wellbeing and demonstrated (92%) a desire to participate in seagrass restoration in their region. This study found a high level of awareness by local communities concerning the values and socio-ecological function of seagrass meadows. This provides a strong foundation to develop effective conservation and management measures in order to ensure sustainable solutions to build resilience and stronger ecosystem-based adaptations against climate change.

Cultural values of ecosystem services from coastal marine areas: Case of Taytay Bay, Palawan, Philippines

The Philippine coastal marine ecosystem provides many Ecosystem Services (ES) and is a region where coastal communities are closely dependent on the sea. Previous ES studies focus mainly on biophysical and economic assessments with limited studies about Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES), particularly in the Philippines. Here, we present the CES provided by Taytay Bay, Palawan through local knowledge. Using semi-structured interviews together with participatory mapping activities we quantified marine-related values and threats across Taytay Bay. Spatial mapping of CES, including sense of place, heritage, identity, spiritual, inspiration, knowledge, education, aesthetics, recreation, and intergenerational showed benefits occurring in particular spatial patterns, suggesting that services are provided and contribute to human wellbeing at a community level. Respondents highly valued benefits to their livelihoods but also identified many distinct values beyond income generation, including sense of place, spiritual, aesthetics, and recreational values. The connection between some cultural services e.g., source of ecological knowledge, and provisioning services e.g., seafood, was also recognized. Destructive fishing practices, agrochemicals from pearl and seaweed farms, and privatization of islands were perceived to introduce the highest threats. This has management implications since threats to CES also threaten other ES. The co-occurrence of CES values with provisioning values suggests a holistic approach to ecosystem valuation is needed. The loss of one ES is likely to represent a loss in multiple other services and protecting key service-providing habitats leads to multiple benefits. The study results demonstrate the importance of integrating cultural and non-monetary environmental values into ecosystem valuation and practical on-the-ground policies.

The Threshold Effect of Overfishing on Global Fishery Outputs: International Evidence from a Sustainable Fishery Perspective

Using global fishery outputs from 62 countries during the period 2001–2020, this study applies the threshold panel data model of Hansen (2000) to empirically explore the nonlinear relations between the number of fishing vessels, fishers, and fishery production, with distinct overfishing stocks (overfishing) and fish caught by trawling or dredging techniques (trawling) as the threshold variables. Our findings show that the levels of fishery outputs could be increased by different combinations of primary factors, such as the number of fishing vessels and fishers. More specifically, when the number of fishing vessels and fishermen operating in countries with a high ratio of overfishing (overfishing > 4.4456) increased, their fishery outputs significantly increased as compared with countries with a low percentage of overfishing. As overfishing activities increase, they can result in significant shortages and imbalances of fishery resources, directly influencing fish biomass, biodiversity, and sustainability of fisheries, as well as making destructive fishing practices worse for marine ecosystems. Countries with a relatively high proportion of trawler net usage (trawling > 4.5516) would have significantly lower fishery outputs, as more fishing vessels are invested in them, compared with countries with a low proportion of trawling net use. This implies that trawler net usage is a non-sustainable fishing technique and harms fishery resources. The policy implications of this study indicate that taxing overfished species and implementing trawling regulations could significantly improve species richness and site-based abundance, thus helping to sustain fishery outputs.

A cause for hope: largely intact coral-reef communities with high reef-fish biomass in a remote Indonesian island group

Context The health of coral reefs is declining rapidly across the world because of anthropogenic impacts. In the mega-diverse Coral Triangle, the consequences of chronic overfishing and human use are worst near coastal population centres. Aims The remote islands and reefs in the centre of the Banda Sea (Indonesia) remain largely unstudied, but their distance from populated areas could provide protection from fishing. Methods We conducted the first visual census surveys of coral-reef communities at the uninhabited Lucipara group in the Banda Sea. Key results Sites showed medium to high coral cover and fish assemblages with high biomass, including abundant large predatory species. All sites exceeded the fish biomass conservation target of 1150 kg ha−1 proposed by McClanahan et al. (2015), by a factor of ~2–10. Benthic cover explained >50% of variance in fish abundance and diversity, with submassive corals, Dendrophyllia spp., and bare rock as key predictors. Conclusions Our results suggested that Lucipara’s reefs are among the healthiest in Indonesia, likely owing to their remoteness. However, this remoteness might also hamper policing against destructive fishing practices, highlighting a conservation gap. Implications Lucipara’s reef communities should be protected in a time of global coral-reef declines.

Rubble fields shape planktonic protist communities in Indonesia at a local scale.

The Coral Triangle encompasses nearly 30% of the world's coral reefs and is widely considered the epicenter of marine biodiversity. Destructive fishing practices and natural disturbances common to this region damage reefs leaving behind fields of coral rubble. While the impacts of disturbances in these ecosystems are well documented on metazoans, we have a poor understanding of their impact on microbial communities at the base of the food web. We use metabarcoding to characterize protist community composition in sites of varying fisheries management schemes and benthic profiles across the island of Lombok, Indonesia. Our study shows that rubble coverage and net primary productivity are the strongest explainers of variation in protist communities across Lombok. More specifically, rubble fields are characterized by increases in small heterotrophic protists, including ciliates and cercozoans. In addition to shifts in heterotrophic protist communities, we also observed increases in diatom relative abundance in rubble fields, which corresponded to sites with higher net primary productivity. These results are the first to characterize protist communities in tropical marine rubble fields and provide insight on environmental factors potentially driving these shifts on a local scale.

An Overview of Destructive Fishing in the Philippines

The Philippines, being positioned in the center of the coral triangle, is among the major-fish producing countries globally. However, in many parts of the country, illegal fishing is rampant, particularly destructive fishing practices (DFPs). Fisheries involving DFPs cause direct ecological damage to the corals. These fishing activities threaten both natural habitats and aquatic resources. In this review paper, we reviewed available scientific literature reporting the DFPs in the Philippines from 1979 to 2022. Results revealed that most DFPs, such as dynamite fishing, cyanide fishing, and muro-ami fishing, were prevalent and remained a lingering problem in the Philippines from the 1930s up to this date. The weak enforcement of the existing laws and regulations fuels these activities, compromising the productive coral reef areas in the Philippines. Thus, it is urgently necessary to cease these DFPs as well as protect the integrity of vital and fragile ecosystems. It is therefore recommended that strict implementation of the laws and regulations at local and national levels is likely to stop or if not least, reduce the pressing issues of destructive fishing techniques.

Community champions of ecosystem services: The role of local agency in protecting Indonesian coral reefs

The importance of communities is well recognized in the protection and enhancement of ecosystem services (ES), yet the influences of individuals within and on communities are often overlooked. Individual and community agency are pertinent in small-scale fisheries, given that livelihoods of many millions of these fishers worldwide depend on ES derived from coral reefs and seagrass beds. In eastern Indonesia the rapid spread of destructive fishing practices has serious impacts on these marine and coastal ecosystems. Policy is complex, with three levels of government involved, and communities also seeking to apply customary marine management and fishing rules. Effective deterrence and enforcement prove difficult for both communities and government, especially in remote places. Community-based marine protected areas, and government or aid-led educational programs, are attempted, but are insufficient against the pressures of well-organized illegal fishing supply chains. On Selayar Island, in South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, certain local “champions,” fishers and others exerting influence within their communities, and “island champions (IC),” individuals working at island level from local government and non-government roles, are developing their own—often unorthodox—strategies to mobilize social change to protect ES. Through in-depth interviews supported by participant observation we investigated how these individuals become motivated, and how they operate to protect local ecosystems such as coral reefs and seagrass meadows. We document what inspired them, what strategies they follow, their observations on barriers, and their key messages for others. Understanding these very unofficial, individual and small-group processes that occur outside conventional policy-making and ecosystem governance can allow sharing of effective strategies to encourage potential champions elsewhere, and support community agency in protecting marine ES.

Scientists' warning of an imperiled ocean

In 2017, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries signed a second warning letter to humanity to caution against our continued wholesale destruction of global ecosystems (Ripple et al., 2017). Here, we reaffirm their message with a similar warning specifically focused on the ocean: humanity must immediately and significantly alter our harmful trajectory in order to avoid irrevocably damaging our oceans in multiple ways that will further affect ocean health for both us and future generations. The ocean is the world's largest realm, housing an astonishing array of biodiversity that provides critical ecological functions that ultimately support life on Earth. In this paper, we outline some of the significant ongoing and imminent activities that degrade ocean health, including destructive fishing practices, oil and natural gas extraction, seabed mining, coastal development, shipping, pollution, and greenhouse-gas emissions. We end by offering potential avenues to mitigate these impacts, including the cessation of particularly harmful activities, restoration of damaged habitats, strong protection of key and representative ecosystems, reduction in waste and emissions, and global policy shifts that prioritize ecosystem health.

Emerging marine protected areas of eastern Indonesia: Coral reef trends and priorities for management

Indonesian coral reefs are under pressure from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, the use of destructive fishing practices, land-based pollution, coastal development and climate change. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are necessary to allow habitat recovery and fish stock replenishment. Through the United States Agency for International Development Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced Project (2016–2021), Indonesia worked to improve fisheries productivity and sustainable livelihoods within the three provinces of Maluku, North Maluku and West Papua, where 13 new coral reef MPAs were designed for multiple use, with a zoning system to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries. At the time of writing in mid-2021, regulations to prohibit fishing within the no-take areas (NTAs) were not yet implemented. This paper presents baseline and trends in percent coral cover and reef fish density and biomass in the MPAs. In 2020, overall coral cover had increased from 42% to 45% across all MPAs. The average target fish biomass across all NTAs had declined from 1709 ( ± 176 SE) kg per hectare in 2017 to 884 ( ± 76 SE) kg per hectare in 2020, representing a significant decline of about 48%. Large and significant declines in many target fish families across multiple MPAs are reflective of unsustainable levels of exploitation. It is evident that management plans need to be implemented with adequate enforcement and stakeholder engagement to stem the decline of target species and to secure livelihoods for local fishing communities.

The bridging role of non-governmental organizations in the planning, adoption, and management of the marine protected area network in Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Coral reef ecosystems are among the most diverse habitats on earth, providing essential social and ecological services. Raja Ampat, Indonesia - located in the Coral Triangle, the heart of marine biodiversity - has a rich history of traditional management, which included area-based management tools akin to modern marine protected areas (MPAs). Decentralization and restoration of tenure rights in 2001 provided an opportunity for resurgence and stronger recognition of these traditional systems. Conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs), noting the remarkable biodiversity and increasing threats due to destructive fishing practices, worked with local communities to facilitate community-based MPAs as a conservation strategy. Here we employed a case study approach to assess the specific bridging strategies utilized by NGOs during the adoption, implementation and management of the Raja Ampat MPA Network. This descriptive case study included six targeted in-depth interviews and other secondary sources. Our results suggest that NGOs played different roles over time in the MPA process. Interviewees identified specific initiatives that occurred during this process, which involved multiple bridging tools. Three of these key initiatives are: the Tourism Entrance Fee System, the Raja Ampat MPA Patrol System, and the Blue Abadi Fund. The specific bridging tools employed included: linking stakeholders, co-producing knowledge, providing access to resources, facilitating community engagement, and building capacity. Recent research has pointed to social and ecological effectiveness of the Raja Ampat MPA Network, which could in part be attributed to the bottom-up approach facilitated by NGOs, including through bridging practices. However, we also note the limitations of this study in only providing an NGO-centric perspective which may be more nuanced if other stakeholder perspectives could have been obtained.

Fish and invertebrate use of restored vs. natural oyster reefs in a shallow temperate latitude estuary

AbstractCoastal marine habitats continue to be degraded, thereby compelling large‐scale restoration in many parts of the world. Whether restored habitats function similarly to natural habitats and fully recover lost ecosystem services is unclear. In estuaries, oyster reefs have been degraded by multiple anthropogenic activities including destructive fishing practices and reduced water quality, motivating restoration to maintain oyster fisheries and other ecosystem services, often at relatively high cost. We compared fish and invertebrate communities on recently restored (0–1 year post‐restoration), older restored (3–4 years post‐restoration), and natural oyster reefs to determine if and when restored reefs support functionally similar faunal communities. To test the influence of landscape setting on the faunal communities, the restored and natural reefs, as well as a control without reef present, were distributed among three landscapes (on the edge of salt marsh away from seagrass [salt marsh landscape], on mudflats [mudflat landscape], and near to seagrass and salt marsh [seagrass landscape]). Oyster density and biomass were greatest on restored reef habitat, as were those of non‐oyster bivalve species. Total abundance of invertebrates was much greater on oyster reefs than in control plots, regardless of reef or landscape type, yet were frequently highest on older restored reefs. Meanwhile, juvenile fish densities were greatest on natural reefs, at intermediate densities on older restored reefs, and least abundant on controls. When comparing the effects of reef age and landscape setting, juvenile fish densities were greatest on younger reefs within the mudflat landscape. Collectively, these results indicate that oyster reefs harbor higher densities of resident invertebrate prey, which may explain why reef habitat is also important for juvenile fish. Laboratory and field experiments supported the notion that gag grouper (a predatory demersal fish) forage more effectively on oyster reefs than on unstructured mud bottom, whereas our experiments suggest that flounders that utilize oyster reefs likely forage on adjacent mud bottom. Because landscape setting influenced fish and invertebrate communities on restored reefs, the ecological consequences of landscape setting should be incorporated into restoration decision making and site selection to enhance the recovery of ecosystem goods and services.

Stock Performance and Fishers’ Perception of Grouper and Snapper Fisheries in the Saleh Bay, Indonesia

The legal basis of managing grouper and snapper fisheries in Saleh Bay is the Governor Regulation of West Nusa Tenggara No. 32 of 2018. This study aims to assess stock performance and understand fishers' perception of the regulation. In this study, we used length-based assessment, perception analysis, and Rapid Appraisal for Fisheries technique. The overall results showed that the implementation of the governor fisheries management regulation was still not optimal, although the potential spawning ratio (SPR) of most fish stocks has higher than the threshold, being over 20% (SPR limit reference point), except Epinephelus coioides. However, fishers had diverse perceptions of the governor regulations and had not fully complied with the most important ones. These included the minimum size of catch and the allowed type of fishing gear. Therefore, we identify four management strategies to improve a more sustainable fisheries management are: an intensive program to increase public awareness about sustainable fisheries needs to be conducted, the policy to limit the legal size must be enforced and should be adopted as provincial regulation in the future, the surveillance capability and law enforcement of destructive fishing practices (bombs and potassium) should be strengthened, stakeholder participation should be engaged, and social institutions of the fishing community should be empowered by co-management. This study also highlights the urgency of establishing a combination of market-based management (e.g., seafood certification) and a closed fishing season in spawning aggregation areas to complement existing fishery management.

Dimensions of fishing with explosives in the Brazilian central coast from data mining and fishers’ perception: Concentrated and problematic, yet avoidable

Small-scale and subsistence fisheries play an important role in the livelihoods and food security of several local communities worldwide. However, the status and dynamics of many fishing practices are unknown, particularly regarding destructive fishing practices such as blast fishing. The main goals of this research were to provide an analysis of trends of the blast fishing in the Brazilian central coast, specifically in the Todos os Santos Bay (TSB), as well as to offer alternative sources of information that could be used to eradicate this harmful and illegal activity. Several sources of data were explored, including time-series analysis of complaints and surveillance reports from environmental and police agencies, web-based available data, and fisher interviews, which were used together to understand the status of blast fishing. Our data indicated sharp explosions occurring near urban centers and productive fishing villages chiefly targeting valuable pelagic schooling fish, such as mullets and pilchards. A significant number of species have been identified as by-catch resulting from blasts, indicating harmful effects on aquatic biota, which remains underemphasized since the onset of blasting (i.e., since the 1930s). The results of the spatial model (kernel density estimates) demonstrated that the sum of all current destructive blasting fishing occupies an extensive area in the TSB (approximately 32% of territory) and can be sufficient to continue causing loss of diversity and fishery resources coupled with other more recent damages (i.e., habitat loss, coastal development, overfishing, industrial and urban pollution). This study can be used to improve blast fishing maps frequently, and its diagnostic nature is likely to assist policy and surveillance makers in designing better interventions for the eradication this destructive practice.

Resilience Thinking Approach to Protect Marine Biodiversity in Small Islands: A Case of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

This paper examines the resilience thinking approach to protect marine biodiversity in small islands with the case of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, which is part of a marine protected area. The rapid development of the world’s tourism industry, the monetary crisis in 1997, national reforms in 1998, global warming, and the irresponsibility of local governments to enforce formal rules on marine resources, have had a tremendous impact on marine biodiversity on small islands like Gili Trawangan. This study uses a qualitative method, including stakeholder interviews, participant observation, stakeholder mapping, and local document collection. The collaborative effort that was built by local residents with foreign businesspersons, academics, non-governmental organizations, and the village government of Gili Indah, started in 2001 was intended to protect the marine ecosystem on Gili Trawangan from destructive fishing practices, to prevent the further degradation of marine biodiversity on the islands. Results of this study found several collaborative work initiatives in Gili Trawangan to meet the challenges, e.g., the institutionalization of customary law called “Awig-Awig” to regulate coral reef activities, enforcement of regulations on marine biodiversity such as coral reefs, strengthening institutional capacity, and restoring the degraded coral reefs ecosystem.

Impact of marine protected areas on economical important coral reef fish communities: An evaluation of the biological monitoring of coral reef fish in Anambas Islands, Indonesia

Abstract. Putra RD, Siringiringo RM, Suryanti A, Sari NWP, Sinaga M, Hidayati NV, Hukom FD, Abrar M, Makatipu PC, Sianturi R, Ilham Y. 2021. Impact of marine protected areas on economical important coral reef fish communities: An evaluation of the biological monitoring of coral reef fish in Anambas Islands, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 4169-4181. The use of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is the core strategy to reduce the impact of the anthropogenic stressor on marine fisheries, especially in reducing the overexploitation of fisheries resources and destructive fishing in which this plays a significant role in the conservation of marine biodiversity and populations. We conducted a study over 4 years to evaluate and assess the impact of MPAs on economically important reef fish in the Anambas Islands. We compared density, size, biomass, and diversity indices from the seven families of coral reef fish (Acanthuridae, Haemulidae, Lethrinidae, Lutjanidae, Scaridae, Siganidae, and Serranidae) using Underwater Visual Census (UVC) with a total of 12 MPAs stations (70-m transect). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to evaluate and assess reserve protection on the coral reef fish, and several ecological indices were used to compare the potential change of economically coral reef fish diversity. We also measured the rate of change in coral cover to identify the effectiveness of the MPAs. After 4 years of studies, our result showed that there was an increase of economical reefs. Fish diversity, density, and biomass increased by 244%, 257%, and 179% respectively. There was no significant difference in the rate of coral cover change among MPAs stations. Economical coral reef fish in Anambas Islands were restored in marine reserve overtimes after fisheries restriction protection, but this does not change the rate of coral cover through time. In addition, the government managed and increased community awareness that significantly influenced decreasing destructive fishing practices and overexploited reef fish species in Anambas Islands but no change in coral cover. The MPAs environmental condition and natural disturbance, including thermal stress and high sedimentation, play a key role in coral cover recovery besides fisheries restriction in the MPAs area.

The Importance of Involving Community Organizations for Preventing Destructive Fishing Activities in Mannar, Sri Lanka

The irresponsible destructive fishing practices with respect to the ecosystem approach have remained a major concern since the elimination of these practices has not been easy despite efforts. There is an urgent need to identify the different types of destructive fishing methods and their threats to fisheries then, to assess how the different organizations/groups/individuals confront with these threats. This study was carried out in Pesalai, a fisheries village in the Mannar district of Northern Sri Lanka in the years 2016 and 2017. The methodology employed consists of a pre-tested structured questionnaire in the field survey with a random sample of 310 fishers and a focus group discussion was conducted where 20 fishers actively participated. The results revealed that trawling net fishing, dynamite fishing, brush pile fishing, and stake net were being used extensively by the fishers. However, the use of such gears have facilitated to catch more fish and earning a high income. Resultant, the major negative impacts were gearing damages, nets damages and net loss. It is apparently found that, the majority of fisheries (93%) had faith in fisher community organizations (fisheries co-op society, the church/father and women welfare society) in terms of resolving conflicts which were raised by destructive fisheries (wrangling, argument and dissension) while 7% of the respondents have faith in the state to resolve conflicts. The fisheries believed that, the government supports for fishing activities was not well required. Hence, it is strongly concluded that the Regulations should be enforced, as a joint effort between the department of fisheries and community organizations.

A fishery in distress: An analysis of the small pelagic fishery of Ghana

The small pelagic fishery contributes substantially to Ghana’s fish production and plays important roles in food and nutritional security. However, the resource is under serious threat due to destructive fishing practices, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), overcapacity of fishing fleets, population growth and climate change. This paper aims to analyze the small pelagic fishery in terms of; mapping of the chain, landings, imports and export, role in food security and management measures to sustain the fishery. Annual landings and imports of five important small pelagic species were obtained from the database of the Fisheries Scientific Survey Division of the Fisheries Commission of Ghana and analyzed for the period 1998–2018. In terms of production, 55% of small pelagic stocks are landed fresh by the artisanal canoes, while 26% come from the inshore fleet, 4% from the industrial fleet and 15% from imports. These are traded in their fresh (65%), frozen (17%) or processed (18%) forms to several actors along the supply chain on national and international markets. The round sardine and anchovy dominated landings while the Atlantic chub mackerel was characterized by a gradual decrease over the period. Per capita small pelagic fish consumption fluctuated over the period analyzed. Imports of small pelagic fish were relatively higher than exports. The decline of these stocks of commercial importance could lead to a domino effect that could diminish the overall contributions to the economy through reduced commercial exports, while at the same time increasing the need for imports, thus threatening the livelihoods and increasing the poverty level of millions of people engaged in the sector and the food security of the nation. Fisheries management authorities should, therefore, as a matter of urgency strengthen fisheries management measures by making clear and bold decisions to reverse the stock decline and to mitigate impacts on society.

Voluntary fishing restrictions alone do not promote growth of bryozoan-dominated biogenic habitat on the Otago shelf, southeastern New Zealand

AbstractOn the continental shelf, New Zealand bryozoans dominate ecologically-important three-dimensional benthic habitat providing structural complexity which hosts a wide variety of fauna, including economically valuable species (e.g. oysters and blue cod). The association between these species and bryozoan-dominated biogenic habitat commonly results in trawling damage to the benthos; eliminating pressure from destructive fishing practices could support bryozoan regrowth. In 2002, a voluntary fishing restriction was designated over part of one such bryozoan-dominated biogenic habitat, but the efficacy of this ban has not been assessed. Statutory marine protected areas have been proposed in the same area; they aim to achieve bryozoan protection and recovery. A comparison of the bryozoan fauna using benthic images from 2003 and 2019 from the Otago shelf, South Island, New Zealand/Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa shows that a 17-year voluntary fishing ban has been ineffective at increasing the cover and richness of bryozoan-dominated biogenic habitat on the Otago shelf. This study provides a baseline for future monitoring and develops useful metrics for recovery, while calling for further research on the biology and ecology of habitat-forming bryozoans.