[David Blackburn]

David Blackburn asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hello Chris,

Why don't sea fisherman have to sustain their crop in the same way as farmers have to on land?

If farmers acted in a similar way they would either go out of business or be prosecuted for any number of offences ranging from theft to criminal damage.

Yours sincerely

David Blackburn
Duston
Northampton

What do you think?

[RD]

There are quota systems which limit how much a boat can catch, which is an attempt to maintain sustainability ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_fishing_quota

[CliffordK]

There have been numerous related topics.

Marine Census
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=34366.0

Alternatives to Overfishing
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=36524.0

We have had decades of overfishing of the oceans driving some fish such as the blue finned tuna to the brink of extinction. 

Managing the oceans is difficult with many interested parties, and international fishing interests.  However, much of the fishing is on the continental shelves, and is thus managed locally. 

Here in the Northwest, most of the salmon are now hatchery salmon.  The salmon are captured as they migrate upstream past the dams.  The eggs are harvested and inseminated.  The adult fish, which would die anyway, are used for meat (I'm not sure if it is animal feed only, or both human and animal food).  After hatching, the small fish are released back into the rivers to return to the ocean to grow and for fishing, and to repeat the cycle.

[Don_1]

There are quota systems which limit how much a boat can catch, which is an attempt to maintain sustainability ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_fishing_quota

The sad fact is that many of these quotas are pointless. It is madness to throw dead fish back into the sea because you have reached your quota or because the fish is deemed to be too small. There is no such thing as an intelligent fishing net, they just catch anything and everything in their path. The only exception to this being the TED which excludes turtles from trawl nets.

[grizelda]

Shades of Ayn Rand. The Newfoundland fishery was overfished to extinction because the fisheries minister represented a riding with lots of single mothers who needed cheap fish for their children. Not only were too many licenses handed out, but the fishermen were subsidized when they couldn't achieve a full catch.

[imatfaal]

the general feeling is that it was virtually unrestricted factory fishing that killed off the newfoundland cod fishing grounds - shades of why ayn rand was barking mad and incorrect. 

[grizelda]

At least you didn't try to blame the seals, like the government did, or was that what you meant by barking mad?

[CliffordK]

At least you didn't try to blame the seals, like the government did, or was that what you meant by barking mad?

Around here, they don't blame the seals, at least not for everything.
They just get upset when the Sea Lions choose to go hunting in the Columbia River during the salmon migration.

Apparently the dams on the river create an artificial bottleneck for the fish, and the sea lions have learned that there is prime hunting near the man-made fish ladders.

[grizelda]

To increase the popularity of the seal hunt, government representatives made a show of eating raw seal meat. Shows their initiative in perfecting ways of making sealing wax.

[imatfaal]

To increase the popularity of the seal hunt, government representatives made a show of eating raw seal meat. Shows their initiative in perfecting ways of making sealing wax.

Great pun - Don and Co. you are gonna have to raise your game to keep up with that one

[Don_1]

To increase the popularity of the seal hunt, government representatives made a show of eating raw seal meat. Shows their initiative in perfecting ways of making sealing wax.

Great pun - Don and Co. you are gonna have to raise your game to keep up with that one

Why, of course, I must give my seal of approval.