SEAFOOD 101
Bycatch 101
Bycatch are the animals caught in fishing gear that were not the intended
catch. Bycatch of fish, marine mammals, seabirds or another ocean animal
is defined by NOAA Fisheries as “the discarded catch of any living marine
resource, plus any unobserved mortality, due to a direct encounter with
fishing gear.” NOAA Fisheries works closely with the fishing industry to
decrease the amount of bycatch in fishing gear.
What can a fisher do?
1.
Don’t fish:
This may not be feasible because we need seafood to
eat and fishers need jobs to support their families.
2.
Avoid areas
where bycatch may be found. This could work for those
animals with a known habitat that may be different than the fish
the fisherman wants to catch.
3.
Modify Fishing Gear:
If bycatch animals and the fish that fishers
want to harvest live in similar habitats, then modifying the gear
may be the best answer. In Alaska, excluder devices, which help
the unintended catch escape the net, are being developed for
salmon (caught in the Alaska pollock fishery) and halibut (caught
in the Alaska cod fishery).
4.
Find a market for bycatch:
There is no market for some species
caught as bycatch, so fishers don’t keep them. How would you
market a little-known fish?
Learn more about how NOAA Fisheries manages bycatch at
/
.
Bycatch in the Bering Sea
The Bering Sea shelf is a relatively shallow, highly productive ecosystem
that supports the largest flatfish fishery in the world. Intermingled with
other species that fishermen intend to catch (such as flatfish and cod) are
species they try to avoid (such as halibut). Flatfish vessels, which utilize
the specialized Bering Sea Flatfish Trawl designed to harvest flatfish while
reducing impact to the seafloor, are required by law to return halibut to
the sea.
Because individual vessels are limited by the amount of halibut they can
catch, vessel captains try to avoid halibut altogether. However, because
halibut live on the same flatfish grounds, the Alaska Seafood Cooperative
has worked with scientists to develop other means to reduce halibut catch.
For example, vessels install “excluders” in their nets which take advantage
of size differences between halibut and other species to mechanically
remove halibut from the rest of the catch. However, some halibut are still
caught.
To help these halibut survive, the Alaska Seafood Cooperative is
experimenting with a method of removing them from catch as soon as
possible from a vessel’s deck. Scientific personnel count halibut removed
from the catch, measure them, and assess their health. Studies in 2009,
2012, and 2015 show marked improvement in halibut survivability.
For more information visit
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Economics
Fishing, Seafood and the Port of Seattle
A foundation and a future for the region’s economy
The fishing and seafood industry is such a fixture in the Puget Sound area
that we can be forgiven if we sometimes take it for granted. Even before
the area’s first white settlers arrived, the area’s native peoples built their
very existence upon the abundance of local seafood. And while it may
be less obvious today, fishing and seafood still help define the region’s
economy and culture.
About 40 percent of the nation’s annual commercial fish harvest
(measured by dollar value) is caught by vessels based in the Puget Sound
area. The Port of Seattle owns and operates two facilities that account for
a significant share of that catch – Fishermen’s Terminal and Terminal 91.
Fishermen’s Terminal was the port’s first operational facility. It opened in
1914 and today about 400 boats, from seiners and gillnetters to longliners,
trollers, trawlers and crabbers call the terminal home. Those boats ply the
pure, clean waters of Alaska and the North Pacific to bring salmon, halibut,
cod, squid, herring, sardines, tuna and shrimp to consumers the world
over.
Terminal 91 is home to approximately 25 large fishing boats that catch
pollock, hake, cod and sole – species that can be found in everything from
McDonalds’ filet of fish sandwiches to surimi, fish sticks and other seafood
products.
Together, fishing and seafood activity at Fishermen’s Terminal and
Terminal 91 generate more than 16,000 jobs, $1.3 billion in annual payroll,
$1 billion in business revenue, $245 million in local purchases and $120
million in state and local tax revenues.
Both facilities are home to a wide range of well-paid, highly skilled
craftspeople who maintain and repair the boats, including experts in
fiberglass repair, aluminum, stainless steel, refrigeration, hydraulics, diesel
engines, marine electronics and more. Those fishing related jobs add
diversity and resilience to the regional economy.
And those jobs are likely to be here for the long-haul because the fisheries
they rely upon are among the world’s best managed, providing healthful,
high-quality seafood for consumers around the world. In fact, Alaskan
and federal laws require sustainable management of the fish stocks.
The quotas and other management tools regulators use have made the
industry safer, more stable and more economically viable than ever before.
Fishing and seafood also support other maritime industry activity in our
region. In fact, with a value of $616 million, frozen seafood was the Port of
Seattle’s second largest containerized export in 2013.
Fishing and seafood help give Seattle a sense of its authentic identity and
define our region’s past, present and future.
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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 |
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