Fishery Legislation Research Articles

Knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions of gillnet fishermen towards the South American sea lion in two marine protected areas in southern Brazil

Conflicts between humans and wildlife are increasing in many parts of the world. In southern Brazil, South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) interact with commercial fisheries, which can result in retaliation by fishermen. In order to understand the factors that may influence the behaviour of fishermen towards sea lions, interviews were carried out with 91 gillnet fishermen from the southern region of Brazil. Of these, 48 were fishermen from the surroundings of the Molhe Leste Wildlife Refuge, in Rio Grande/São José do Norte, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and 43 were fishermen from the surroundings of Ilha dos Lobos, in Laguna, in the state of Santa Catarina (SC). The questions were formulated to investigate concepts such as Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions related to sea lions, their places of occurrence, the legislation and interactions with fisheries. Background factors such as knowledge about national marine mammal legal protection and perceptions towards sea lions, socioeconomic factors of fishers and vessel size were also investigated. Chi-squared, Student's t and Contingency Table tests were performed to verify differences between communities. For each community, generalized linear models (GLM) were performed to verify relation between background factors and Attitudes and Mann-Whitney tests were used to verify relation between Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between gillnet fishermen from RG/SJN and Laguna in terms of Attitudes and Behaviour Intentions. Experience and Perceptions on the American sea lion population increase and on the appreciation of sea lions by fishermen were the only background factors that influenced Attitudes in RG/SJN, as well as Perception on the increase of the American sea lion population in Laguna. A significant direct relation between Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions was found in Laguna. Fishermen's knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions were more positive because the majority of the interviewees worked in the industrial gillnet fleet, which operates in areas further from the coast and, therefore, are less subjected to interact with sea lions during fishing activities. Besides, this fleet has a greater fishing power than small and medium-scale vessels, making economic losses less impactful for fishermen. Greater efforts should be made to raise the awareness of surface gillnet fisheries in regard to conflict mitigation, to monitor the compliance with the fishery legislation and its effectiveness, and to make an integrated management of the Protected Areas, among other actions.

Lessons from the invasion front: Integration of research and management of the lionfish invasion in Brazil

After successful invasions in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, lionfish (Pterois spp.) have recently invaded another important biogeographical region —the Brazilian Province. In this article, we discuss this new invasion, focusing on a roadmap for urgent mitigation of the problem, as well as focused research and management strategies. The invasion in Brazil is already in the consolidation stage, with 352 individuals recorded so far (2020–2023) along 2766 km of coastline. This includes both juveniles and adults, including egg-bearing females, ranging in length from 9.1 to 38.5 cm. Until now, most of the records in the Brazilian coast occurred in the equatorial southwestern Atlantic (99%), mainly on the Amazon mesophotic reefs (15% of the records), northeastern coast of Brazil (45%), and the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (41%; an UNESCO World Heritage Site with high endemism rate). These records cover a broad depth range (1–110 m depth), twelve protected areas, eight Brazilian states (Amapá, Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, and Pernambuco) and multiple habitats (i.e., mangrove estuaries, shallow-water and mesophotic reefs, seagrass beds, artificial reefs, and sandbanks), indicating a rapid and successful invasion process in Brazilian waters. In addition, the lack of local knowledge of rare and/or cryptic native species that are potentially vulnerable to lionfish predation raises concerns regarding the potential overlooked ecological impacts. Thus, we call for an urgent integrated approach with multiple stakeholders and solution-based ecological research, real-time inventories, update of environmental and fishery legislation, participatory monitoring supported by citizen science, and a national and unified plan aimed at decreasing the impact of lionfish invasion. The experience acquired by understanding the invasion process in the Caribbean and Mediterranean will help to establish and prioritize goals for Brazil.

Fishery legislative reform towards Japan’s Fukushima nuclear wastewater discharge into the sea—A Chinese perspective

Japan’s discharge of Fukushima nuclear wastewater into the sea will have a profound and far-reaching impact on the marine environment and the fishing industry. Although Japan did not discharge nuclear wastewater directly into China’s waters, the wastewater flowed into the sea and infringed upon China’s rights and interests in pelagic fishing, as the nuclear-contaminated water is fundamentally different from discharges from normal nuclear plants. After the People’s Republic of China was founded, the Central Government and people’s governments of all levels started to manage fishery. However, the fishery management measures at this stage were primarily targeted the fishing industry itself, particularly the marine fishing industry. Several problems of China’s existing fishery legislation do not cope effectively with Japan’s nuclear sewage discharge. China’s fishery legislation keeps pace with the development pace of international laws, but it has not enacted specific regulations on certain types of marine pollution, such as nuclear sewage pollution. The Fisheries Law of the People’s Republic of China needs to produce an extraterritorial effect indirectly through other laws and regulations. China’s existing domestic laws only stipulate the rights of coastal countries. In this context, China’s fishery legislature should find a way forward, including changes in management standards; facilitating the formation of a complete extraterritorial effect by China’s fishery legislation a complete extraterritorial effect; improving supporting administrative legislation system; and facilitating the digitalization of fishing management to monitor Japan’s nuclear sewage discharge and its resultant harm, etc.

High genetic connectivity among pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus paulensis (Pérez-Farfante, 1967) groups along the south-southeastern coast of Brazil

The pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus paulensis is one of the most important fishing resources along the south-southeast coast of Brazil. Its fishing zone includes two main reproductive stocks, located at the coasts of Santa Catarina and São Paulo states. The species life cycle includes an offshore reproductive stage and juvenile recruitment to estuarine areas; therefore, adults are caught in oceanic areas by industrial fisheries and juveniles in estuarine areas by artisanal fisheries. The unrestricted growth of the industrial fleet, along with the increase of artisanal fishing in estuarine areas and the low effectiveness of fishery legislation, led to a collapse of the pink shrimp fishery in the late 1990s. The present work aimed to assess the population genetics of the pink shrimp F. paulensis throughout its main distribution in the Southwestern Atlantic (SWA), to verify whether different fishing stocks also represent different genetic stocks. Based on the evaluation of the mtDNA control region (D-loop), we detected high connectivity and absence of genetic structure among F. paulensis groups in the SWA. Fixation indexes, Analysis of Molecular Variance and a haplotype network also showed no significant genetic differences, with individuals sharing haplotypes among more than one region. Mismatch analysis showed unimodal distributions for all the sampled populations with high haplotype diversity and low nucleotide diversity, showing a pattern of recent demographic expansion, which was corroborated by the Tajima's D and Fu's Fs neutrality tests. Estimates of migration rates indicated high gene flow, with a large number of migrants exchanged between regions. All obtained results are consistent with a panmitic population of F. paulensis. This scenario is a result of a complex interaction of several factors, from the influence of currents on larval dispersal to the effect of overfishing. The knowledge on the diversity and genetic structure of F. paulensis is a fundamental part of the scientific basis necessary for decision makers to elaborate adequate management strategies for pink shrimp stocks.

Two Sustainability Epistemologies in the Marketization of a Natural Resource

AbstractThe normative implications of sustainable development mean that different understandings of how sustainability should be achieved will either facilitate or put at risk different values associated with economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability. By a qualitative analysis of Swedish fishery legislation documents, we analyse and outline the consequences of two different and competing sustainability epistemologies: a top‐down system understanding and a bottom‐up experiential understanding. To define these two epistemologies, the case study adopts discourse analysis on one fishery law and one fishery regulation proposal, and the remittance answers to these documents. We demonstrate how a top‐down system approach shapes social reality according to its own logic of efficiency, and that pre‐defined principles of economic optimization prevail over social experience and continuity. We conclude that qualitative analysis holds promise to expand the understanding of the premises and consequences of alternative environmental governance trajectories due to its ability to uncover social constructions of meaning. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Правовое регулирование рыболовства в России и зарубежных государствах: общее и особенное

The aim of the article is a comparative analyze of legal regulation of fishery in Russia and foreign states. According to this goal, the task of comparison of fishery legislation of Russia and other CIS countries, Russia and EU State as well as North American countries arises. The author tries to solve one more issue — to consider how current legal regulation correlates with the concept of fishery in Russia.
 Legislation in the sphere of fishery is developing dynamically. Despite the different time of appearance and the differences of legal systems, mentioned legislation can be compared in the basic directions of legal regulation.
 The article applied the method of comparative legal regulation, the historical method of extrapolating. Also the scientific methods of deduction and induction are applied. The author used the instruments of international soft law and the works of specialists in the mentioned area of the legal regulation.
 The article consists of following sections: statement of the question; sources of law; key rules-definitions; principles and key provisions of the legislation; the quota system of catches, licensing and contractual methods of regulation; the payment principle and the nature of the distribution of funds received.
 In conclusion the author emphasized the approximation of the legislation of Russia and other CIS countries in the field of fisheries (concerning the concepts, basic provisions, types of fishery and quotas). Also, there are some similarities in a combination of licensing and contractual methods of regulation in Russian and Canadian legislation.

Performing “A New Song”: Suggested Considerations for Drafting Effective Coastal Fisheries Legislation Under Climate Change

A New Song for Coastal Fisheries, a strategy and roadmap produced through a participatory workshop facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, calls upon Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) to ensure strong and up-to-date management policy, legislation, and planning for coastal fisheries. While climate change is not a core focus of the roadmap, the call of A New Song presents a unique opportunity to draft new or revised fishery legislation with climate principles in mind. In light of observed and predicted physical, chemical, and biological changes in the region's waters as a result of climate change, climate-ready legislation should promote effective, sustainable management of marine resources to maintain resilience to human and environmental drivers. Recent policy documents—such as A New Song and the FAO's Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries—provide guidance that can direct legislators in this work. This paper distills the guidance from A New Song and the FAO Guidelines into twelve benchmarks and conducts a coarse analysis of how well existing legislation in Pacific Island nations meets these benchmarks. While both A New Song and the FAO Guidelines mention the importance of mitigating and adapting to climate change, they are light on specifics. Considerations specific to climate change and its associated effects should also be incorporated where new or revised legislation is necessary. This paper suggests that to effectively implement the benchmarks of A New Song and the FAO Guidelines under a changing climate, legislation must allow management flexibility in the face of environmental change, ensure that scientific understanding of climate effects supports management decisions, and minimize adverse effects of climate change on the lives, livelihoods, and rights of communities. While acknowledging that most adaptation planning will occur at the scale of sub-national policies, strategies, and plans, this paper focuses on the capacity of new or revised legislation—as called for by A New Song—to affect adaptive capacity in Pacific island coastal fisheries.

Protecting the breeders: research informs legislative change in a marine turtle fishery

Marine turtles are sensitive to harvesting because of life-cycle traits such as longevity, late maturity and natal philopatry. The take of nesting females is of conservation concern because they are key to population maintenance and has led to global efforts to protect this life stage. In the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI; a UK Overseas Territory in the Caribbean), previous turtle fishery legislation protected nesting turtles on the beach but not in the water, where turtles over a minimum size were subject to legal take. In a 2-year study, we undertook nesting beach and in-water surveys, molecular analyses, satellite tracking and collation of fisheries landing data to investigate the populations of green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles in the TCI and its turtle fishery. Adults were frequently taken in one of the region’s largest legal and artisanal turtle fisheries. We suggest that nesting populations in the TCI, which contain genetically unique haplotypes, have diminished since the 1980s, likely as a result of the harvest of adults. Using these multiple lines of evidence, we highlight the inadequacies of the former fishery regulations and propose specific legislative amendments, which, as a result of this study, were implemented on 1 July 2014 by the TCI government. With good enforcement, these measures will protect adults breeding in the TCI and those from nesting rookeries in the region that use the waters of the TCI, improve the management of this fishery, and safeguard fisher livelihoods.

Status of Lake Tana Commercial Fishery, Ethiopia

The status of Lake Tana Fishery was evaluated from analysis of commercial catch data of number I fishers cooperative. The data collection has been carried out from September 2003 to September 2009. Results indicated that Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and species flock of endemic, large Labeobarbus spp. were the three main species groups targeted by commercial gillnet fishery of Lake Tana and form 65 %, 20 % and 15 % of the annual catch compositions of fish species during the study period respectively. There was significant variability among sampling years encompassing temporal aspects. Especially, commercial catch of O. niloticus were significantly booming up to 2007 and declining after wards. The most likely explanations for the declining catch of O. niloticus and others are the illegal use of undersized monofilament gillnet imported from Sudan town (Gelabat) and the harmful increase of the commercial gillnet fishery targeting the spawning aggregations of L. barbus spp. and C. gariepinus in the river mouths and littoral areas. The observed decline in the commercial catch of O. niloticus and others stress the need for the urgent development of a management plan focusing on controlling import of undersized monofilament gillnet ,fishing effort and gear restrictions in the river mouths and major tributaries during the breeding seasons and implementing the regional fishery legislation.

Status of Lake Tana Commercial Fishery, Ethiopia

The status of Lake Tana Fishery was evaluated from analysis of commercial catch data of number I fishers cooperative. The data collection has been carried out from September 2003 to September 2009. Results indicated that Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and species flock of endemic, large Labeobarbus spp. were the three main species groups targeted by commercial gillnet fishery of Lake Tana and form 65 %, 20 % and 15 % of the annual catch compositions of fish species during the study period respectively. There was significant variability among sampling years encompassing temporal aspects. Especially, commercial catch of O. niloticus were significantly booming up to 2007 and declining after wards. The most likely explanations for the declining catch of O. niloticus and others are the illegal use of undersized monofilament gillnet imported from Sudan town (Gelabat) and the harmful increase of the commercial gillnet fishery targeting the spawning aggregations of L. barbus spp. and C. gariepinus in the river mouths and littoral areas. The observed decline in the commercial catch of O. niloticus and others stress the need for the urgent development of a management plan focusing on controlling import of undersized monofilament gillnet ,fishing effort and gear restrictions in the river mouths and major tributaries during the breeding seasons and implementing the regional fishery legislation.

<b>O Processo de Industrialização do Setor Pesqueiro e a Desestruturação da Pesca Artesanal no Brasil a partir do Código de Pesca de 1967

This paper aims to analyze the contradiction between the legal concept of artisanal fishery in Brazil and the social practice of this economic activity. Starting from this contradiction, it verifies its effects on artisanal fishery. The point is that the ideology of industrialism stills persists in Brazilian public policies, without any attention to the forms of commerce and social development affected by the forced industrialization. This goes back to the industry-based designs characteristic of the Brazilian military period after 1964. Therefore, the contradiction present in the fishery legislation conducts to the identity of designs and economic policies of developmentalism, between the dictatorial state and the democratic state, according to current Brazilian institutional arrangement.

A global review of species‐specific shark‐fin‐to‐body‐mass ratios and relevant legislation

In this review, shark-fin-to-body-mass ratios, which have been legislated by several countries as a means of regulating and monitoring shark fisheries, have been compiled and reviewed. Observed and legislated wet-fin-mass-to-round-mass (M(fw) :M(r) ) ratios have been collected for 50 species and eight countries. Wet to dry-fin mass conversion factors have also been reviewed. Existing shark fishery legislation was compiled by political entity and regional fishery management organizations (RFMO). The mean observed M(fw) :M(r) ratio for all species was 3·0%, but actual fin to body-mass ratios varied considerably by species and location. Species-specific mean ratios ranged from 1·1 to 10·9%, and estimated mean ratios ranged from 1·5 to 6·1% by country, depending on fin-cutting practices and the mix of exploited species. The mean conversion factor for wet to dry-fin mass was 0·43. Shark-related legislation was found to exist in 37 countries and the 22 maritime members of the European Union, and shark-related regulations have been designated by nine RFMOs. Results suggest that currently regulated ratios may not be appropriate for all species and fin-cutting practices, and regulations based on generalized ratios for all sharks may be inadequate. Alternative policies may be necessary for the effective management of global shark fisheries.

The composition of fish communities of nine Ethiopian lakes along a north-south gradient: threats and possible solutions

Fish populations of nine Ethiopian freshwater lakes were quantitatively sampled with a standardized protocol, using multi-mesh gill nets. In total, 27 species were identified, but only 14 species were common. Based on the common species, the fish communities showed large differences in their species composition, except for Lake Abaya and Lake Chamo which were similar. Most fish species were observed in only one or two lakes. Compared with the information reported in literature the present study generally underestimated the species richness. The empirical model of Amarasinghe and Welcomme (2002) for African lakes was used to estimate fish species richness, which was compared with species presence reported in literature. Biodiversity in the two northern highland lakes is low, but not lower than the model estimate. Lake Tana has a high biodiversity which is close to what is estimated by the model, but three Rift Valley lakes have low biodiversity, lower than estimated by the model. There are also strong indications for the Rift Valley lakes that species richness was higher in the past because the species richness reported in the older literature was generally much higher than those observed by us in the present study and those reported in the more recent literature. Threats like overfishing, high sediment load and degradation of habitats were identified. It is recommended that Ethiopia should develop guidelines for fishery legislation and implement it through an enforcement agency. Moreover, catchments management should be practiced to save the water bodies and their fish communities.

Are bycatch rates sufficient as the principal fishery performance measure and method of assessment for seabirds?

ABSTRACT Seabird bycatch in oceanic and coastal fisheries is believed to be the principal cause of the population declines that have been observed for many seabird populations. Pelagic and demersal longline and trawl operations have been implicated in these declines. Many government and national fishery bodies have environmental and fishery legislation that requires fisheries to be managed in a manner that is not harmful to non‐target species, including seabirds. A common tool for measuring the impact of a fishery on incidentally caught seabirds is an estimate of the bycatch rate. Unfortunately, the estimation and interpretation of bycatch rates is not trivial and is complicated by poor observer coverage, under‐reporting of bycatch and data lacking species specificity. In this paper, a stochastic simulation model of two seabird populations affected by a single fishing fleet is presented. The model is used to explore the consequences of applying a bycatch rate management control rule to assess and manage the fishery's incidental mortality of seabirds. Comparisons are also made with values derived from Potential Biological Removal (PBR) theory. Results conclude that using bycatch rates as a measure to assess performance of the fishery and to reduce bycatch is, under many circumstances, not sufficient to achieve conservation goals. Bycatch rates can be within the limit recommended by management, giving the impression that the fishery has reduced bycatch to sustainable levels, when in fact the low rates are due to the populations having collapsed. The interpretation of bycatch rates, and any subsequent bycatch rate management rules, needs to be considered with respect to changes in fishing effort, to population‐specific impacts, to levels of compliance, and to the robustness of the bycatch rate estimate. Simply applying a bycatch rate control rule without caution can lead to catastrophic results for incidentally caught populations of seabirds. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Policies, Regulations, and Eco-ethical Wisdom Relating to Ancient Chinese Fisheries

Marine ecosystems are in serious troubles globally, largely due to the failures of fishery resources management. To restore and conserve fishery ecosystems, we need new and effective governance systems urgently. This research focuses on fisheries management in ancient China. We found that from 5,000 years ago till early modern era, Chinese ancestors had been constantly enthusiastic about sustainable utilization of fisheries resources and natural balance of fishery development. They developed numerous rigorous policies and regulations to guide people to act on natural laws. Being detailed and scientific, the legal systems had gained gratifying enforcement, due to official efforts and folks’ voluntary participation in resource management. In-depth analyses show that people’s consciousness of ecological conservation was derived from the edification of kinds of ancient eco-ethical wisdom, such as totemism, nature worship, Zhou Yi, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohism, etc. All this Chinese classical wisdom have the same cores: “Nature and Man in One” spirit, frugality and “All things are equal” concept. The findings show that eco-ethical thinking is never inconsistent with social ethic systems, and it’s of great importance to give legal effect to usual ecological moral claims and eco-ethical requirements of the public in protecting the environment. The eco-ethical wisdom is efficient in assisting and urging people to fulfill humans’ obligation for nature. Finally, it’s believed that present world fisheries management will benefit a lot from all these ancient Chinese thoughts and practices. People are expected to make the most of the eco-ethical wisdom, strengthen fishery legislation and fully stimulate their voluntary participation in both marine fishery resources conservation and fishery cyclic economy.

Saving Saba Bank: Policy Implications of Biodiversity Studies

Saba Bank has always been an area of special importance to the neighboring island of Saba in the Netherlands Antilles. Sabans traditionally fished on the Bank as far back as 1907, but increasing foreign fishing pressures on the Bank in the 1970s and 1980s forced many Saban fishermen out. Concerns were compounded by the suspicion that shipping was also damaging the benthic habitat of the bank. Fishery legislation, enacted in 1996, brought an end to unlicensed fishing and established Coast Guard enforcement on the Bank, but also led to protests from neighboring countries that previously fished on the Bank.Research was necessary to support the need for protection. Review of available research of Saba Bank and rapid biological assessments and fisheries surveys since 1996 emphasized the richness of Saba Bank's biodiversity and the need for protection of fisheries stocks. The national nature policy plan recognized this and encouraged further research to base conservation measures on.Recent biological surveys of corals, fishes, and algae presented in this collection of articles emphasized habitat heterogeneity and the relative richness of the marine flora and fauna. These assessments formed the basis for a management plan to protect Saba Bank's biodiversity and a draft proposal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) seeking Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) status for the Bank. The intention of the PSSA proposal is to protect the benthic habitat on Saba Bank from anchor damage. This paper serves to provide the context for the results of the recent biodiversity surveys of Saba Bank. It is hoped that this collection will serve as a knowledge baseline and engender further research in the area.

Threatened Fishes of the World: Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus 1765) (Cetorhinidae)

Common names: Basking shark (E), pelerin (Fr), peregrino (Sp), squalo elefante (It). Conservation status: IUCN Red List VU A1ad + 2d. In April 2000, proposed listing on CITES Appendix II failed to receive 2/3 vote required to pass. Protected in western North Atlantic under NMFS 50 CFR, Pt. 678; off Florida under State Administrative Code; in U.K. waters to the 12-mile territorial limit under Wildlife and Countryside Act, off Isle of Guernsey by fisheries legislation, and off Isle of Man under Wildlife Act, Section 5; in Mediterranean under Barcelona Convention, Annex II (protocol signed but not ratified), Bern Convention, Appendix II (reservation lodged by EU); off Malta, under Legal Notice 161; and off New Zealand by federal fishery legislation. Identification: A very large (9+m TL), elongate, spindle-shaped shark with enormous gill slits that virtually encircle head, bristle-like gill rakers, narrow caudal peduncle supported by strong lateral keels, and lunate caudal fin. Snout flattened (sinusoidal in neonates), mouth subterminal, teeth minute, hook-like, and numerous. Distribution: Amphitemperate in coastal regions, occasionally venturing into subtropical waters. Abundance: Seasonally abundant in cool temperate coastal waters at moderate to high latitudes during summer plankton blooms. Habitat and ecology: Coastal to pelagic in boreal to warm temperate waters of continental and insular shelves, from surface to 570 m. Temperature range 6–14◦C, but prefers 8–12◦C. Highly migratory, moving to surface waters at higher latitudes in summer and autumn and disappearing in winter. May exhibit subtropical submergence, remaining in deep water at low latitudes. Usually encountered near surface, but may be primarily mesopelagic, appearing in surface waters when conditions are favourable. Preys on zooplankton, especially Calanus copepods, teleost eggs, chaetognaths, and larval crustaceans. Gill rakers filter planktonic organisms as the animal swims slowly near the surface with mouth agape and gill slits expanded. Often feeds along current and/or thermal fronts which concentrate prey, changing course to remain in patches of richest feeding. Sometimes 3+ individuals swim in tandem, nose-to-tail, in straight lines or circles. In eastern North Atlantic, gill rakers are shed Oct.–Nov. and replaced in Feb. Reproduction: Males mature at 4.6–6.1 m and 12–16 years; females at 8.1–9.8 m and 20 years. Ovoviviparous, probably with intrauterine oophagy. Gestation possibly 14 months. Pups probably 150–170 cm at birth. Six pups reported born (spontaneously aborted?) from a harpooned individual in Norwegian waters. Off British Isles, courtship and mating may occur late spring to summer. In late June 1988, possible mating behaviour was filmed off Nova Scotia, Canada. Strong sex biases (18–40 females/male) in commercial catches off British Isles suggest segregation by sex. Threats: Heavily fished off China and Japan by harpoon; also taken in nets and trawls. Off California and Canada’s east coast, finning occurs opportunistically in net-entrapped bycatch. In the western North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific, sometimes a nuisance to commercial fishermen due to fouling in gear, occasionally resulting in governmental intervention. Protective legislation and local enforcement are inadequate, allowing harvest of sharks and encouraging an underground sales network for highly lucrative fins. Harassment by sport divers and ecotourists may disrupt social or mating activities vital to survival, but remains common and unrestricted in many areas. Lack of knowledge on many crucial aspects of basking shark biology hinders development of sound management and conservation strategies. Conservation action: Local protective laws are strict, with bans on trade and molestation, but loopholes – such as lack of enforcement of trade in basking shark fins and other products – may neutralise existing protective measures. Conservation recommendations: (1) CITES listing to support world-wide ban of trade in basking shark parts to supplement and strengthen local protection and discourage targeted catches. (2) Development of protocols (similar to whale watch industry) for interaction with basking sharks by boaters and divers. (3) Development of educational efforts to promote adoption of said protocols by government and industry. (4) A major international effort to fund and co-ordinate basking shark research, particularly population dynamics, reproduction, and behavioural ecology, towards development of sound management and conservation strategies. Remarks: Extremely protracted life-cycle and low fecundity may render this species particularly susceptible to even modest population reductions.

Modelling the advection of herring larvae in the North Sea

THE number of fish at the age of first capture in a fishery (recruitment) is dependent on the production of eggs by the parent stock and the survival of early life stages (eggs, larvae and juveniles). In many pelagic fish species the survival of larvae depends on transport from spawning to nursery areas1. To investigate larval transport processes for North Sea herring (Clupea harengus L.) we have modelled in three dimensions the advection of autumn-spawned larvae during the winter of 1987-1988 and compared the results with sequential field data on the actual distribution of larvae. Circulation in the North Sea is pre-dominantly wind-driven during the winter, and in 1987-1988 anomalous atmospheric conditions caused a reduction in cyclonic circulation and unusual transport of larvae from northern North Sea and west of Scotland spawning areas. Predicting variations in recruitment in advance of fishery legislation has always been difficult and the collapse of North Sea herring populations during the mid-1970s is believed to have been due to a period of several years of low recruitment coupled with high fishing activity2. Our results suggest that a better understanding can be achieved with the aid of environmental modelling.

Science and the Fisheries

IN his admirable discourse at the Royal Institution1 Michael Graham declares with good reason that "the Great Law of Fishing is that unlimited fisheries become unprofitable", and he deduces that "the only adequate measure to conserve the fishery is to set some limit to the amount of fishing". Fishery legislation, with its restrictions upon fishing areas, upon the mesh of nets, upon the size of fish landed and so on, has not succeeded in staying the downward drift, and more restriction is necessary. The Great Law of fishery legislation, based upon sound scientific advice as things stand, is restriction.

Fishery Legislation before the Fifty-Ninth Congress, First Session

Transactions of the American Fisheries SocietyVolume 35, Issue 1 p. 91-96 Original Articles Fishery Legislation before the Fifty-Ninth Congress, First Session Hugh M. Smith, Hugh M. Smith United States Commissioner of Fisheries, USASearch for more papers by this author Hugh M. Smith, Hugh M. Smith United States Commissioner of Fisheries, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: January 1906 https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1906)36[91:FLBTFC]2.0.CO;2AboutPDF 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 onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume35, Issue1January 1906Pages 91-96 RelatedInformation