Illegal fishing

WHAT IS ILLEGAL FISHING?

•  Takes place where vessels operate in violation of the laws of a fishery. This can apply to fisheries that are under the jurisdiction of a coastal state or to high seas fisheries regulated by regional organizations.

• An issue that is crippling developing coastal communities and funneling profits to socially irresponsible international crime operations at the detriment of ocean biodiversity.

Illegal fishing

• Unregulated fishing generally refers to fishing by vessels without nationality, or vessels flying the flag of a country not party to the regional organization governing that fishing area or species.

Kinds of Illegal Fishing

Blast fishing or dynamite fishing

• Practice of using 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 explosion often destroys the underlying habitat (such as coral reefs) that supports the fish. The frequently improvised nature of the explosives used also means danger for the fishermen as well, with accidents and injuries

Blast fishing or dynamite fishing

Electrofishing

• Uses electricity to stun fish before they are caught.

• Common scientific survey method used to sample fish populations to determine abundance, density, and species composition.

• When performed correctly, electro fishing results in no permanent harm to fish, which return to their natural state in as little as two minutes after being stunned.

Electrofishing

Cyanide fishing

• A method of collecting live fish mainly for use in aquariums, which involves spraying a sodium cyanide mixture into the desired fish's habitat in order to stun the fish. The practice hurts not only the target population, but also many other marine organisms, including coral and thus coral reefs.

Cyanide fishing

 Muro-Ami Fishing• Muro-Ami Fishing, otherwise known as reef-

hunting, is one of the cruelest, most cataclysmic forms of illegal fishing that destroys the coral reefs and exploits children. This practice consequently destroys corals which take whole lifetimes to form and causes the deaths of some of these unfortunate children. For casualties ensuing from these practices (either a kid gets caught in the big net that they use, or the bomb explodes before the children assigned to handle the bomb could leave the area), bodies are left in the shoreline because they are too expensive to return to their homes.

Muro-Ami Fishing

EFFECTS…

Economic impacts

The most obvious economic impact of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on developing countries is the direct loss of the value of the catches that could be taken by local fishermen if the IUU fishing was not taking place

• These losses include not only the loss to GNP, but revenue from landing fees, license fees and taxes payable by legal fishing operators. In addition, there are indirect impacts in terms of loss of income and employment in related industries; any loss in income will also have impacts on the consumer demands of families working in the fishing industry.

Environmental Impacts• Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing usually has a significant impact on the sustainability of both the targeted species and the ecosystem.

Environmental Impacts• Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing usually has a significant impact on the sustainability of both the targeted species and the ecosystem.

• Fishing generally has the capacity to damage fragile marine ecosystems and vulnerable species such as coral reefs, turtles and seabirds. In fact, all eight sea turtle species are now endangered, and illegal fishing and hunting are two major reasons for their destruction. Regulating legitimate fisheries is aimed at mitigating such impacts, but IUU fishers rarely comply with regulations. This is likely to reduce productivity and biodiversity and create imbalances in the ecosystem.

• This in turn may lead to reduced food security in communities heavily dependent on fish as a source of animal protein.

Solutions for Illegal Fishing

Drift netting Drift nets is

a fishing technique where nets,, are allowed to drift free in the wind or current at the surface of a sea or lake. Usually a drift net is a gill net with floats attached to a rope along the top of the net, and weights attached to another rope along the foot of the net keeping the net vertical in the water.

• Drift nets were traditionally made of organic materials, such as hemp, which were biodegradable. The mesh size of nets prior to 1950s was larger. When drift net fishing started to increase in scale during 1950s, nets were changed to synthetic materials with smaller mesh size . Synthetic nets last longer, are odorless, and are nearly invisible in the water.

• Drift net fishing became a desirable practice of fishing because it is extremely cost effective. Nets can be placed by low-powered vessels making it very fuel efficient. Drift nets are also highly effective when catching fish, bringing in large amounts of fish in one catch

Drift netting

Effective solutions would exhibit means :

• Detection,

• Data transmission,

• Information collection

a) Detection – detection technologies improve the

effectiveness and efficiency of

maritime enforcement agencies. It is critical that

these fit within the confines of the

resources available.

b) Data transmission – information channels should be established to transmit as

muchinformation as possible from a

variety of sources to its final destination (presently theenforcement agencies).

c) Information collection – the vast amount of information should be collected and

organized in a coherent form and disseminated from a single point for relevant stakeholders to manage responses and take action against the perpetrators.

 

Love our nature…!!!

The end……!God bless.