Marine Capture Fisheries Research Articles

Elucidating the Mitogenomic Blueprint of Pomadasys perotaei from the Eastern Atlantic: Characterization and Matrilineal Phylogenetic Insights into Haemulid Grunts (Teleostei: Lutjaniformes).

The parrot grunt fish, Pomadasys perotaei, has a limited distribution in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and is an important species in marine capture fisheries across several West African countries. Despite its ecological and economic significance, the mitogenomic information for this species is lacking. This study utilized next-generation sequencing to generate the de novo mitogenome of P. perotaei from Eastern Atlantic. The resulting mitogenome is 16,691 base pairs and includes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs, two ribosomal RNAs, and an AT-rich control region (CR). Most of the PCGs exhibit nonsynonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitution rates of less than '1', indicating strong negative selection across haemulid fishes. The control region of Pomadasys species contains four conserved domains, as seen in other teleost's, with polymorphic nucleotides that can be used to study population structures through the amplification of short mitochondrial gene fragments. Additionally, Bayesian phylogenetic analysis based on PCGs revealed a non-monophyletic clustering pattern of Pomadasys within the haemulid matrilineal tree. Overall, the structural characterization and phylogenetic analysis enhance our understanding of the genetic composition and evolutionary history of Pomadasys species from the Indo-West Pacific and Eastern Atlantic Oceans.

Mapping the Global Carbon Emissions of Marine Sectors.

The ocean serves as a vital ecosystem for sustaining life on earth and ensuring human well-being. Presently, there is a significant surge in global demand for various ocean-based economic activities, including fishing, shipping, offshore wind energy production, maritime tourism, and so on. However, this growth has also resulted in an increase in emissions from marine sectors, which have not been thoroughly evaluated or analyzed. It is therefore necessary to conduct comprehensive evaluations of the current emissions, covering marine sectors. To address this need, through this Perspective, we have globally analyzed and discussed carbon emissions linked to maritime transportation, marine capture fisheries, marine aquaculture, offshore wind, ocean renewables, and crude oil production. Additionally, we explored country-specific scales for these emissions and discussed points for future research to address the existing gaps. By gaining a better understanding of emissions over the oceans, policymakers could prioritize policy measures for achieving emission reduction goals and promote sustainable ocean development.

The allocation of carbon resources in marine capture fisheries.

Marine fishery carbon emissions play a significant role in agricultural carbon emissions, making resource allocation a crucial topic for the overall marine ecological protection. This paper evaluates the dynamic iteration method as a research approach with the factors of resource allocation consisting of value assessment, optimization objective, difference between value assessment and objective, and optimization calculation. The paper selects the shadow price from the Super-SBM model as the judgment function for the goal value, aiming for the fairness criterion. From an equity standpoint, the allocation of carbon resources in marine capture fisheries proves to be unreasonable. The fishery model exhibits an excessive supply of carbon resources, resulting in wastage, while the green fishery model faces a relatively limited supply, with a focus on energy conservation and environmental protection. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new method and discusses the corrective results. This result shows that the stabilization point achieved is a short-term equilibrium rather than a long-term one. By rectifying the social contradiction of profit-oriented approaches, this research provides a fresh perspective for economic studies and applications, particularly in industrial layout and resource utilization optimization.

Less optimized blue economy sectors in Joko Widodo era

According to the United Nations (UN), the Blue Economy is defined as an economy with several economic sectors and policies that exploit the ocean resources sustainably. This development concept is the continuation of the green economy that was conceived in 2012 by the UN. In Indonesia, the blue economy development concept became an alternative to the green economy in the governance of Joko Widodo era, considering that the green economy was considered detrimental because of its high cost and its exploitative way. The United Nation has defined many sectors that are key subjects in the blue economy. Indonesia has implemented the blue economy through six sectors and the most dominant sectors are marine capture fisheries, aquaculture and fish processing. The intention of this paper is to discover the unimplemented sectors in the Indonesian blue economy as previously programmed by the UN and to analyse its consideration. This paper uses a descriptive qualitative method to understand and analyse the real, complex social phenomena and presents them through the detailed narratives.

Social-ecological vulnerability and risk of China's marine capture fisheries to climate change.

Climate change is a new disrupter to global fisheries systems and their governance frameworks. It poses a pressing management challenge, particularly in China, which is renowned as the world's largest fishing country and seafood producer. As climate change continues to intensify in the region and climate awareness grows within the country's national policy, the need to understand China's fisheries' resilience to the escalating climate crisis becomes paramount. In this study, we conduct an interdisciplinary analysis to assess the vulnerability and risk of China's marine capture fisheries in response to climate change. This study employs a spatially explicit, indicator-based approach with a coupled social-ecological framework, focusing on 67 species and 11 coastal regions. By integrating diverse sets of climatic, ecological, economic, societal, and governance indicators and information, we elucidate the factors that could hinder climate adaptation, including a limited understanding of fish early life stages, uncertainty in seafood production, unequal allocation and accessibility of resources, and inadequate consideration of inclusive governance and adaptive management. Our results show that species, which have managed to survive the stress of overfishing, demonstrate a remarkable ability to adapt to climate change. However, collapsing stocks such as large yellow croaker face a high risk due to the synergistic effects of inherent biological traits and external management interventions. We emphasize the imperative to build institutional, scientific, and social capacity to support fisheries adaptation. The scientific insights provided by this study can inform fisheries management decisions and promote the operationalization of climate-resilient fisheries in China and other regions.

An Assessment of Coastal and Bank fisheries in Mauritius: Analysis of CPFD Trends

Marine capture fisheries are crucial for food security and economic stability, yet they confront escalating threats from anthropogenic activities and climate change. This study focuses on the coastal and bank fisheries of the Republic of Mauritius, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) which is highly reliant on fisheries. We analyze a decade of catch data sourced from the Ministry of Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries, and Shipping, by studying catch composition and trends in Catch Per Fisherman Day (CPFD). Our analysis reveals intriguing patterns in CPFD across different regions. Coastal fisheries exhibit fluctuations in CPFD for various fishing methods, signaling the necessity for adaptive management strategies. In contrast, bank fisheries demonstrate more stable CPFD trends, possibly due to the unique characteristics of these fishing grounds. These findings offer valuable insights for fisheries management and conservation efforts in Mauritius. They emphasize the significance of sustainable practices and adaptive management to safeguard the future of these vital marine resources amidst environmental challenges.

Fatty acid profile and changes in quality of smoked barracuda fish (Sphyraena jello) with different concentrations of liquid smoke

Barracuda fish (Sphyraena jello) is an Indonesian marine capture fishery with high economic value and is in high demand among consumers because it has a delicious taste and complete nutritional profile. One of the nutrients contained in barracuda fish is fatty acids. Fatty acids are easily oxidized which causes a rancid odour in fish. The method of processing with smoking using liquid smoke can prevent oxidation in fish caused by the phenol content in liquid smoke which acts as an antioxidant. This study aimed to examine the effect of different concentrations of liquid smoke on the fatty acids of smoked barracuda fish. The experimental design used was RAL (completely randomized design), and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data, and then the honestly significant difference test was performed. The treatments included the addition of liquid smoke with a concentration of 0% as control, 4%, 6% and 8% with three repetitions. The parameters tested were fatty acid profile, cholesterol content, moisture content, lipid content, phenol content, and organoleptic test. The results showed that applying liquid smoke can retain fat and fatty acids in smoked barracuda fish. The highest fatty acids in smoked barracuda fish were palmitic acid with a value of 1.084-1.618% (%w/w) for saturated fatty acids, oleic acid with a value of 0.469-0.764% (%w/w) for monounsaturated fatty acids, and EPA with values 0.104-0.143 (%w/w) for polyunsaturated fatty acids. The addition of liquid smoke with a concentration of 8% has the highest fatty acid content, producing a total value of 4.759%. The variation in liquid smoke concentration in smoked barracuda had a significant effect (P<0.05) on cholesterol levels, moisture content, protein, phenol, and organoleptic values of smoked fish.

A GIS-based maritime supply chain network design of distant-water fisheries

In the pursuit of efficient and cost-effective supply chain management within the marine capture fishery sector, this study introduces a novel approach that integrates the supply chain network for distant-water fisheries. This approach not only involves an integrated maritime location inventory routing problem (MLIRP) but also considers the identification of offshore fishing grounds based on geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The proposed model centers on critical decision variables, including selection of fishery production areas, strategic placement and sizing of perishable goods depots, and allocation of refrigerated vessels. Meanwhile, the model proposes two trade-off objective functions: one seeks to maximize the weighted coverage rate of fishery resource within selected production areas, while the other aims to minimize the total cost of the built network. To address the complex model, a method based on the k-means clustering and the multi-objective plant growth simulation algorithm (MO-PGSA) is adopted. Key elements, such as growth operators, dominant strength, crowding distance, and partially ordered sets, are involved to enhance algorithm performance. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model and method are discussed through numerical experiments based on the real-life case in the Spratly Islands.

Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts of the Economic Empowerment Program in Gampong Kuta Barat, Sukakarya District, Sabang City, Aceh Province

Sabang City, Aceh Province has marine capture fisheries production reaching 5,150 tons in 2015 (BPS Aceh, 2015). The fishing profession is one of the professions of the majority of the population. Despite having abundant catches, fishermen in this village still carry out simple fish production. The caught fish is sold and if it does not sell well it is smoked for resale. This fish processing process has not optimally provided economic value to the community and provided excess carbon emissions. Seeing this potential and problem, PT Pertamina (Persero) MOR I Fuel Terminal Sabang conducts an economic empowerment program for fish management in the form of providing capital and business facilities, providing business development assistance, entrepreneurial training, and business assistance. The program is evaluated to determine economic, social, and environmental impacts with a descriptive qualitative research approach. The result of this research is that the fish processing economic empowerment program carried out by PT Pertamina (Persero) MOR I Fuel Terminal Sabang has a significant impact on the economic, social, and environmental sectors. The economic impact can be seen from the economic addition of fishermen of the Pepper Garden Group (Kkemer) of Rp8,000,0000 per month from fish processing in the form of raw and fried crackers, fish chips, nuggets, and other processed fish products. Socially, the impact of this empowerment program is the creation of a system of work/management of fish products which was originally carried out individually into groups, has group independence that can carry out production functions consistently and active involvement of stakeholders. While the positive environmental impact is shown by reducing carbon emissions in the air by 105 Kg CO2 per month resulting from changing fish processing by tapping into drying and frying.

Blue transition for sustainable marine fisheries: Critical drivers and evidence from China

Achieving blue transition-sustainable fishery development has become one of the most important concerns for China's blue economy. Blue transition is defined as the transition from fish biomass reduction to biomass recovery of exploited fishery resources through the development of alternative seafood production from aquaculture. Our study examines the “blue transition” between marine fisheries captures and aquaculture production in China and probes the future development trends of China's fisheries under socioeconomic drivers. The results indicate that the resource displacement of the blue transition is not currently underway in China. It predicts a future decline in China's fish production after around 2030, while marine aquaculture products will remain a major component of fish production in the future. Our study adopts an integrated methodology to assess the critical timing of China's blue transition for the first time, and predicts future trends in marine capture fisheries transitions, which can provide recommendations for sustainable transition pathways to achieve SDG14.

How well does Indian fisheries policy engage with fisheries biology? Exploring the science-policy interface of coastal capture fisheries along the west coast of India.

India ranks among the highest producers of marine capture fisheries globally. Post-independence, India’s marine capture fisheries has transformed from an artisanal to a highly mechanised-motorised enterprise. The last two decades have witnessed a gathering overfishing crisis in Indian marine fisheries. The continued sustainability of existing stocks ideally requires an enabling evidence-based policy that integrates biological knowledge from conventional as well as traditional knowledge systems. We conducted a detailed textual analysis of the last 75 years of Indian fisheries policy, focussing on the west coast, to determine how meaningfully it has been informed by available fish biology. We show that both central and regional policy documents have made occasional attempts to invoke biological and ecological understanding in policy formulation. However, its application has been ad-hoc. For instance, mesh size restrictions vary dramatically between neighbouring states. Also, an annual fishing ban overlaps with the breeding periods of less than 40% of commercially fished species. More worryingly, fisheries policy maintains an unchanging narrative of increasing production despite acknowledging coastal overcapacity. Production potential estimates are regularly upwardly revised to justify further intensification, and the response to overcapacity is to promote spatial fixes while continuing to incentivise coastal fisheries. We conclude that to address overfishing, Indian fisheries policy needs to reimagine fish as elements of interacting biology, with complex life histories, and with functional roles in communities and ecosystems. A scientifically informed fisheries policy is a necessary although not sufficient step towards sustainability, which additionally requires a bridging of knowledge gaps and effective on-ground implementation. Data availability statementNo new empirical data was generated in this study. All policy documents referred to in this study have been listed in supplementary material (Appendix 1).

Introduction to the Marine Policy special issue on abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear: Causes, magnitude, impacts, mitigation methods and priorities for monitoring and evidence-informed management

The rapid expansion of the global footprint of marine capture fisheries over recent decades, combined with the transition to synthetic and more durable materials used for fishing gear components, has resulted in increasingly problematic adverse ecological and socioeconomic effects from abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG). Adverse impacts include: ghost fishing; marine wildlife ingestion; distribution and transfer of toxins and microplastics into marine food webs; altered distributions and behavior of species that raft on or aggregate beneath floating ALDFG, including the transport of invasive non-native species and distribution of microalgae that cause harmful algal blooms. ALDFG also causes habitat degradation; obstruction and damage to maritime sectors such as from fouling marine vessels and damaging submarine cables and in-use fishing gear; and reduction of socioeconomic values of coastal areas. There has been growing recognition of the need for improved understanding and evidence-informed management of these adverse effects. The articles composing the Marine Policy special issue on ALDFG contribute to achieving this goal. The articles improve the understanding of key requirements for robust, effective ALDFG monitoring and management. This includes knowledge of ALDFG direct causes and underlying drivers, rates and magnitudes of production, composition, fate, ecological and socioeconomic impacts, and criteria for selecting fishery-specific management strategies, which we review in this introduction to the special issue.

Unfolding women’s role in small-scale fishing community in The Philippines toward formulating a gender-sensitive local government policy

Women have a crucial role in the fishery value chains, from pre-fishing to post-fishing activities; however, the lack of sex-disaggregated local level data aggravates the women’s invisibility and marginalization in the informal fishing industry and community. Generating local knowledge and representation, this study presents women’s role and challenges working in small-scale fisheries in Perez, Quezon, Philippines. Fifty female fisherfolks from the said sector participated in this case study. The results from the field survey indicate that the participants widely dispersed to inland capture fisheries, marine capture fisheries, non-food use production and food fishery production categories. The results also showed that the respondents are scattered across the value chain: active fishing, processing, subsistence fishing, marketing, and pre-fishing activities, in varying intensity and pattern. In contrast to stereotypes that exclusively associate women to gleaning invertebrates, the majority target fish species and other marine invertebrates. Environmental, socio-economic, personal and gender factors are the common constraints that limit their productivity, output, and more importantly their equitable roles and identities. Although coming from a small fishing community, the findings of this study may provide baseline information for relevant local government agency to further intensify profiling on the grounds and to strategically implement gender-sensitive mainstreaming programs.

Analisys of The Effect of Fisherman, Fishing Boat, and Fishery Ports on Catching Fisheries Production in East Java Province

The importance of the fisheries sector for East Java Province can be seen from the high capture fisheries production compared to other provinces di Indonesia. In 2021, East Java Province is listed as the province with the highest capture fisheries production in Indonesia. This is suspected to be affected by several factors i.e the numberi of fishermen, fishing vessels, and fishing ports, so analysis is needed to determinei the effect of these factors on capture fisheries in East Java. The aim of this studyi was to determine the effect of the amount of fishermen, fishing boats, and fishing ports on capture fisheries production in East Java. The research methodi used in this research iis descriptive using secondary data. The data analysis used is multiplei linear regression, F-test, and T-test. Based on the results, the multiple linear regression analysis were obtained by the equation y = 292.543,118 + 0,381 X1-0,722 X2 + 2.838,450 X3 with an adjusted R2 value of 72,7 %. The F test shows a isignificance <0,05, which meansi that the total number of fishermen, fishing boats, and fishing ports have a significant effecti simultaneously on capture fisheries production in East Java. The T-test shows that the numberi of fishing ports has a partially significant effect on marine capture fisheries production in East Java Province (sig. <0,05). Meanwhile, the number ofi fishermen and fishingi boats showed no partially significant effect oni capture fisheriesi production in East Java Province (sig. > 0,05).

Marine Capture Fisheries from Western Indian Ocean: An Excellent Source of Proteins and Essential Amino Acids.

The Republic of Seychelles is located in Western-Central Indian Ocean, and marine capture fisheries play a key role in the country's economic and social life in terms of food security, employment, and cultural identity. The Seychellois are among the highest per capita fish-consuming people in the world, with a high reliance on fish for protein. However, the diet is in transition, moving towards a Western-style diet lower in fish and higher in animal meat and easily available, highly processed foods. The aim of this study was to examine and evaluate the protein content and quality of a wide range of marine species exploited by the Seychelles industrial and artisanal fisheries, as well as to further to assess the contribution of these species to the daily intake recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). A total of 230 individuals from 33 marine species, including 3 crustaceans, 1 shark, and 29 teleost fish, were collected from the Seychelles waters during 2014-2016. All analyzed species had a high content of high-quality protein, with all indispensable amino acids above the reference value pattern for adults and children. As seafood comprises almost 50% of the consumed animal protein in the Seychelles, it is of particular importance as a source of essential amino acids and associated nutrients, and as such every effort to sustain the consumption of regional seafood should be encouraged.

Integrating economics into fisheries science and advice: progress, needs, and future opportunities

Abstract While the science supporting fisheries management has generally been dominated by the natural sciences, there has been a growing recognition that managing fisheries essentially means managing economic systems. Indeed, over the past seven decades, economic ideas and insights have increasingly come to play a role in fisheries management and policy. As an illustration of this, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has been actively seeking to expand the scope of its scientific expertise beyond natural sciences [another inter-governmental marine science organization which has done this over the same period is the North Pacific Marine Science organization (PICES)]. In particular, the recently created ICES Working Group on Economics set out to review current work and key future needs relating to economic research and management advice on marine capture fisheries. This article presents the results of this review and addresses how economic research can be incorporated into the science of ICES to provide integrated perspectives on fisheries systems that can contribute to the provision of advice in support of policy development and management decision-making for sustainable uses of living marine resources.

Comparative analysis of first and second stage data envelopment approaches: Performance of marine capture fisheries in the European Union

AbstractI explored harvest productivity and economic efficiency of marine fisheries across European Union member states using comparative first and second‐stage data envelopment analyses, linear programming, and econometric models, based on a panel data set of technical, social, and economic data between 2008 and 2020 when the first implications of the global Covid‐19 outbreak began in the European Union. During the period, harvest productivity increased for 52 percent of the 21 member states between 2008 and 2020, with an average economic efficiency of 0.76. The economic efficiency and harvest productivity of European Union member states' fisheries fluctuated, with noticeable declines throughout the study period. Gross domestic product per capita, population size, and aquaculture production were related to performance metrics. The results are aimed to guide European Union fisheries managers to better understand how improvements in harvest productivity and economically efficient performance are achieved without constant reliance on subsidization, over‐allocation, and overexploitation.

Harvesting trend of the pelagic fish resource in North Maluku Province waters (IFMA 715)

Sustainable harvesting of the marine living resources in North Maluku Province would provide employment and economic benefit to broad-scale coastal communities. The pelagic fish resource has been the backbone of marine capture fisheries in this area for years. Mapping the ten years of harvesting would enhance the common baseline to improve the existing instrument for fisheries management. Data limited fisheries approach based on landing records was applied to perform the harvest trend of these typical fisheries. The analysis was performed based on four representative groups of species (skipjack, kawa-kawa, scads, and anchovies) and four main fishing gears regularly recorded (pelagic seiner, beach seine, pole and line, and gillnet) for more than one decade. The result showed that the harvesting system slightly increased since 2002, indicated by 170 % in landing volume and 4 % in the number of gears. The estimated value of landing in 2020 at about 2.6 trillion IDR significantly increased compared to 203 billion IDR in 2002. This multi-scale harvesting trend of pelagic fisheries could increase fishing mortality without regular monitoring and evaluation. It is suggested that improving the existing fisheries management plan for the sustainability of the pelagic fisheries business should be evaluated regularly to provide a long-term beneficiary for coastal community fishery livelihood dependence for the North Moluccas Province.

Is China’s Fishing Capacity Management Sufficient? Quantitative Assessment of China’s Efforts toward Fishing Capacity Management and Proposals for Improvement

As the country with the world’s largest fishing capacity, China suffers from the depletion of living marine resources, mainly caused by overexploitation, the effects of which also distinctly influence global sustainable utilization of marine resources and maritime order. The country has implemented a series of measures to control its national fishing capacity, notably since the late 1980s, and strongly expressed its responsibility and commitment to sustainable resource utilization in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020). This study quantitatively assesses the effect of China’s fishing capacity management efforts by examining changes in the fishing capacity of marine capture fisheries by region from 1979 to 2019 in Chinese waters, based on window data envelopment analysis (DEA), and further proposes directions for policy adjustment. The results suggest that China’s coastal and offshore fisheries are still subject to overcapacity of approximately 20%, despite major corrective efforts invested in past decades. This implies that China needs to further improve its fishing capacity management and set clear objectives, as determined by the availability of resources and regional features. Global fisheries management’s focus is shifting from input to output control, but overcapacity still threatens the sustainable use of fisheries resources in China and poses obstacles to other systems.

Species traits determined different responses to “zero-growth” policy in China’s marine fisheries

China remains the largest nation of marine capture fisheries in the world in the last few decades, at the cost of offshore fisheries degradation by overfishing. Although fisheries regulations have become gradually tightened, the recovering evidences are weak and the catch species compositions are far from satisfactory. To explore better and reasonable countermeasures, besides the “zero growth” policy (i.e. the national total fisheries production limitation), five targets with different ecological traits were selected for stock assessment and rebuilding by Monte Carlo Catch-Maximum Sustainable Yield method. The results showed the control of total rather than species catch could not lead to the recovery of fisheries and maintain community function. Individual species showed different responses to overfishing according to their biological characteristics. High trophic level species can be sensitive to overfishing, and difficult to rebuild stocks after collapse. Pelagic small fish resources increased first but eventually decreased under high fishing pressure. Scientific-based restocking can enhance resource recovery. Besides “zero growth” policy, fisheries management should be further refined, in particular for main economic species based on their biological traits, as well as the support of reliable fisheries statistics and regulation implementation in place. To relieve the conflict between rising fishery products demand and falling catches, aquaculture and seeking resources from the high seas and EEZs are supposed to be successful ways, on the premise of taking full account of ecological health, maritime safety, and food security.