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OV ERF ISH ING

Many marine ecologists think that the biggest


single threat to marine ecosystems today is
overfishing. Our appetite for fish is
exceeding the oceans' ecological limits with
devastating impacts on marine ecosystems.

Yellow fin and big eye tuna may be


commercially extinct in 3-5 years if fishing is
not controlled.
The reality of modern fishing is that the
industry is dominated by fishing vessels that
far out-match nature's ability to replenish
fish.

Giant ships using state-of-the-art fish-finding


sonar can pinpoint schools of fish quickly
and accurately. These ships are like giant
floating factories.
90 percent of the large fish that many of us
love to eat are disappearing. Depletion of
these top predator species can cause a shift
in entire oceans ecosystems where
commercially valuable fish are replaced by
smaller, plankton-feeding fish.
This century may even see bumper crops
of jellyfish replacing the fish consumed by
humans. These changes endanger the
structure and functioning of marine
ecosystems, and hence threaten the
livelihoods of those dependent on the
oceans, both now and in the future.
Brief History of Overfishing
• 11th century

overuse has led to the destruction of local


and regional ecosystems, resulting in a
considerable reduction of stocks in fish and
marine mammals. Once depleting a specific
ecosystem, the fisheries moved on to
unspoilt areas - from Europe to the
Americas; the North Atlantic; the Pacific-
leaving devastation in their wake.
• 14th century

There have been plenty of early warning


signs about depletion on fish population .

• 18th century

whaling and sealing became the first global


industries
19th century
There were already fierce discussions about
the destruction caused by bottom trawling.

20th century
Economic arguments outweighed any
precautionary and disciplinary approach.
21st century

With almost no technological and


geographical limits left by the beginning of
this century, the fisheries crises has turned
into a global threat to the oceans. Now no
place on Earth is too remote for today’s
industrial fishery fleets. Supported by
satellites and spotter planes, they know no
limits.
Overfishing in the Philippine
Marine Fisheries Sector
The fisheries sector of the Philippines is a
significant contributor to its economy. The
total output of the sector comprises
approximately five percent of the Gross
National Product. Furthermore, fisheries
production meets more than two-thirds of
the national animal protein consumption .
The fisheries industry employs about one
million fishermen and fish farmers,
highlighting its importance as a generator
of mainly rural jobs.

Of these, 36 percent were in municipal


marine fisheries, 29 percent were in
commercial fisheries, 27 percent were in
aquaculture and 8 percent were in inland
fisheries. Thus, within the fisheries sector,
the municipal marine and commercial
fisheries are the most important sub-
sectors in terms of employment.
The fisheries industry has been a steady
dollar earner also. Fishery exports have
been growing at very high rates annually.
However, imports have increased as well,
at even greater rates than exports.
Because of this, the industry has been
recording negative net exports recently, in
quantity terms.
OVERFISHING IN THE MARINE
FISHERIES

Over time, the catch per unit effort for both


small pelagic and demersal species has
steadily fallen. By 1984, it was only
approximately a third of the 1965 figure. In
contrast, fishing effort rose in 1984 to
greater than five times the 1965 level.
Clearly, while more and more effort has
been dedicated to catching fish, the yield per
unit has been fast declining also.
CLASSIFICATION OF
OVERFISHING
In general, overfishing can be classified
into four categories:

growth overfishing - occurs when fish


are caught even before they have a
chance to grow.
recruitment overfishing - happens when
the adult fish population is caught in large
numbers so that reproduction is impaired.
•ecosystem overfishing - takes place
when the decline in a once abundant fish
stock due to fishing is not compensated for
by an increase in the stock of other species.

•economic overfishing - occurs when


increases in the fishing effort lead to profit
levels that are below the desired maximum.
METHODS OF
OVERFISHING
I. IUU (ILLEGAL, UNREPORTED, AND
UNREGULATED ) FISHING

IUU fishing is often an organized criminal


activity, professionally coordinated and truly
global. Also known as pirate fishing, its less
colorful name.
The ventures use various strategies to evade
apprehension and avoid laws and
agreements that protect marine resources.
The pirates or operators disguise the origin
of their illegal catch so well that it is often
sold legitimately into consumer markets -
mainly in Japan, the EU, the US, and other
developed countries.

From the islands of the South Pacific , to the


coastal communities of West Africa, the
pirate fishermen, who then claim their profits
in European and Asian ports, are netting
millions of dollars in much needed income
which rightfully belongs to coastal
communities.
The United Nations estimates that Somalia
loses US$300 million a year to the pirates;
Guinea loses US$100 million and globally
more than US$4 billion is lost each year.
Given that pirates don’t report their catches,
their level of fishing is hard to quantify.

Catches of some species from IUU fishing


are thought to be many times more than the
permitted level due.
Governments around the world do little to
check their activities or what is landed in
their own ports, despite the various
international commitments and plans.
(Pirate police)

The catch is often illegally transferred to


factory ships, mixed with legally caught
stocks and then knowingly sold in
“legitimate” ports.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

The fishing techniques they use are


destroying ocean life. Tuna stocks around
Tanzania, Somalia, Papua New Guinea and
Tuvalu are targeted each year with giant nets
that scoop up entire shoals, including the
young fish vital for breeding and future stock
growth. Those that won’t make money on the
market, but could still provide food and
income for others, are thrown back dead.
II. BYCATCH

Bycatch from long lining is another hazard,


as is shrimp trawling. One film of shrimp
trawling shows fishermen filling a few small
boxes with the target catch and shoveling
tons of unwanted fish and sea life back over
the side. For every kilo of shrimp landed,
over 3 kilos of tropical marine life is caught
and dies. Shrimp fishing is responsible for
over 27 percent of the unnecessary
destruction of marine life.
III. USE OF POISONS
The use of poisons is widespread, in some
regions in both fresh and marine waters -
especially in coral reefs and coastal lagoon
fisheries
local fishers often resort to using poisons
such as cyanide or pesticides. Pesticides
are readily available to farmers, which are
often also part-time fishers.

Techniques used vary across


regions/localities. They are effective at
killing or stunning, the fish, which are then
collected by divers, or through netting and
seining. The poisons kill also other
organisms from the ecosystem, including
the coral reef-building organisms.
IV. BLAST FISHING/ USE OF EXPLOSIVES
It is practice of fishing using dynamite,
homemade bombs, or other explosives to
stun or kill schools of fish for easy collection.
This often illegal practice can be extremely
destructive to the surrounding ecosystem, as
the shockwaves often destroy the underlying
habitat (such as coral reefs close to a
coastline) that supports the fish.

Also this means danger for the fishermen as


well, with accidents and injuries.
Dead fish as the
result of blast fishing
V. MUROAMI

"MURO-AMI is a system of dive-in net fishing


that originated in Okinawa in the early 1900s
and progressed with Japanese expansion
and economic penetration to Southeast Asia
and in the Philippines.
They scour strand coastal foreshores, coral
reefs and atolls, moving constantly in search
of new ground, causing considerable damage
and species depletion. The system intrudes on
the communal, coastal fishing communities,
threatening their livelihood, as well as
destroying biodiversity of coastal fishing
grounds.
The work is extremely hazardous, with
children diving without protective clothing or
gear, except for home made wooden
goggles. Every year children lose their lives
or their hearing.

MURO-AMI was banned in 1986 after a


national outcry when bodies of 100 Muro-ami
victims, mostly children who were unable to
escape from the nets after diving, were found
in a graveyard along the shores of Panlaitan
Island in Busuanga (Palawan).
VI. BOTTOM TRAWLING

Bottom trawling is towing a trawl, which is a


fishing net along the sea floor to catch bottom
dwelling sea creatures.
The scientific community divides bottom
trawling into benthic trawling and demersal
trawling. Benthic trawling is towing a net at
the very bottom of the ocean and demersal
trawling is towing a net just above the
benthic zone.

Many fishers, conservationists and academics


agree that bottom trawling is the most
ecologically damaging fishing gear.
Sea floor before a bottom trawler passed
through
Same section of sea floor after being
trawled
VII. LAY GILLNETS

A fishing method that is extremely


destructive which uses set or lay
monofilament gillnets that decimated the
populations of inshore fishes.

Lay gillnets are deployed as invisible walls


that snare everything that runs into them,
depleting both targeted and non-targeted
species, destroying bottom habitat and
protected species, and severely impacting
the snorkeling and diving industries.
Irresponsible gillnet fishing destroys the
resource for everybody so that a few greedy
individuals can profit. The mesh-sizes are
often so small that most of the fish caught
have not yet reached reproductive size.
SOLUTIONS TO
OVERFISHING
• Conservation through sustainable
development
• Information, Education and
Communications
• Alternative livelihood

• Monitoring IUU fishing vessels


• All countries must be responsible

• Coastal countries must be


responsible
• Using regional fisheries organization

• Will power
REFERENCES:

http://www.oceansatlas.com/world_fisheries_and_aquaculture/html/issu
es.htm
http://www.pacfish.org/wpapers/gillnets.html
http://www.mcbi.org/shining_sea/theme_fishing.htm
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2003/2003-02-18-06.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_fishing
http://www.oneocean.org/overseas/may99/_closer_look_at_blast_fishin
g_in_the_phil.htm
http://www.coconutstudio.com/Fishing%20Methods%202%20-
%20Nets.htm
http://wwf.org.ph/newsfacts.php?pg=det&id=104
http://fishkillevents.msi.upd.edu.ph/content/view/56/1/
http://www.apfic.org/modules/wfdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=37&lid=2
17
disrael@pidsnet.pids.gov.ph
http://swr.ucsd.edu/enf/mcs/mcs.htm
www.interenvironment.org/wd1intro/glossary.htm
Thanks for
listening!

Prepared by: Zayra B. Bulawan


07-78373

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