Fishing

the last major exploitation of

wild populations by mankind

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

Fish stocks
• Fish farming is increasing
• Fishing still represents a major exploitation of
wild populations.

Factory ship

© P Billiet ACEL
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
A case study: The Peruvian Anchovy
(Engraulis ringens)

ABC Universidad de La Serena

The Peruvian Anchovy
• This is a small (12-20cm), short-lived
species maturing in 1 year
• W. coast surface waters S. America
• Cold currents up-welling from the sea bed
bringing nutrients for phytoplankton
• Plankton is at the base of the food chain.

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

The Peruvian Anchovy
• The harvest doubled every year from 1955 to
1961
• Experts estimated the maximum sustainable
yield (MSY) at 10 to 11 million tonnes per year
• Through the 1960s the harvest was about this
level
• The biggest fishing harvest in the world
• Some used for human food
• A lot for animal feed.

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

The collapse of the anchovy fishery
• 1972 El Niño event
• Warm tropical water into the area
• Up-welling stopped
• Phytoplankton growth decreased
• Anchovy numbers fell and concentrated further
south
• Concentrated shoals of anchovy easy targets for
fishing boats
• Quotas not reduced
• Larger catches were made
• No young fish were entering the population (no
recruitment)
• No reproduction was taking place
• The fish stocks collapsed and did not recover.
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
What is causing the damage to
fisheries worldwide?
• Uncontrolled harvesting – even if quotas
are imposed they need to be policed
• Unrealistic and inflexible quotas
• Insufficient data on fish populations
• Improved technology in the fishing
industry.

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

The result
• Fish populations are reduced below recovery level
• Other non-commercial species are being taken
and killed at the same time
• Other species (e.g. sea birds) are being deprived
of a food resource
• Total ban on some species now imposed:
Peruvian anchovy
Pacific salmon
Newfoundland, Grand Banks cod
North Sea Herring.

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)

K
3
2
Numbers

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS Time

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
• Based upon:
1. the harvest rate
2. the recruitment rate of new (young)
fish into the population
• a population can be harvested at the point in
their population growth rate where it is highest
(the exponential phase)
• Harvesting (output) balances recruitment
(input)
• Fixed fishing quotas will produce a constant
harvesting rate
(i.e. a constant number of individuals fished in a
given period of time).
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS
Problems with MSY
• Age structure: If all the age groups are harvested
recruitment of young fish into the reproductive group will
be reduced
Use a net with a big enough mesh size that lets the young
fish escape
• Limiting factors: If the limiting factors in the environment
change so does the population growth rate
• Limiting factors set the carrying capacity (K) of an
environment
• Increasing limiting factors will cause K to drop
• Fixed quotas cannot cope with this
• Data: For MSY to work accurate data in fish populations is
needed (population size, age structure, recruitment rates)
• Usually these are not well known.

© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS

What is required?
• Nets with bigger mesh size
• Regulated fishing methods
• More data on fish populations (e.g. by fish
tagging investigations – mark and recapture)
• Constant monitoring to observe changes in
environmental factors (e.g.El Niño events)
• Policing of fishing industry – respect of quotas
• International agreements
• Greater exploitation of fish farming
• But this is not without its own problems (space,
diseases and pollution are all associated with
intensive fish culture).
© 2016 Paul Billiet ODWS