Facts about Factory Fishing

Factory Fishing Facts

Our oceans are in crisis. Massive factory fishing ships are using state-of-the-art technology to target one species of fish at a time, until that population collapses, and then they turn to another species for profit. Chesapeake Bay

In the Atlantic Ocean, one of the worst examples of factory fishing is taking place in the Chesapeake Bay. A small fish called the menhaden, described by some scientists as "the most important fish in the sea," is being systematically targeted by the Omega Protein corporation.

Nearly every ocean predator feeds on menhaden at some point, and many species - including some whales and popular sport fish like striped bass - eat a LOT of them. Fishermen up and down the East Coast have begun expressing concern that there may not be enough menhaden left to supply the rest of the food chain anymore.

Menhaden also play a critical role as filter-feeders in the Chesapeake Bay, where water pollution from farm and sewage runoff creates dead zones - places where plankton blooms choke off all oxygen in the water and kill surrounding wildlife. Healthy menhaden populations would significantly improve water quality.

New England

Along the diverse and beautiful ocean waters of New England, Atlantic Herring populations are being decimated by a form of fishing called "pair trawling." Very large nets are pulled by two relatively small fishing vessels resulting in bycatch and habitat destruction. Pair trawls have been known to catch whales in their pursuit for fish!

Atlantic herring are an important part of the New England ecosystem. They are a staple food source for groundfish stocks like cod, along with many other species including whales, tuna, striped bass and seabirds. But, factory fishing techniques are depleting the populations and putting the health of the ocean ecosystem and many of New England's businesses and coastal communities at risk.

North Pacific

The chilly waters of the North Pacific are home to one of the most productive fishing industries in the world. But, the Council in charge of balancing the needs of the local economy and the health of the ocean environment has been unable to prevent the decline of species such as Pollock, Pacific cod, halibut, or Atka mackerel.

Three of the region's main Pollock fisheries have been closed or severely limited due to overfishing: two in the Bering Sea - the Aleutian Island and Bogoslov fisheries; and one in the Gulf of Alaska, the Shelikof Strait roe fishery.

These fish population declines also have a tremendous impact on the species of marine mammals and seabirds that depend on them for food. Their populations are steadily declining as well, and unless something can be done to stop overfishing and habitat destruction-their populations may decline to a point where they can no longer recover.

Some sea fish live in the upper parts of the water. They are called ‘pelagic’ fish, and are caught by drift netting. This is where a net suspended from floats is stretched between two boats so that fish swim into it. Fish are unable to swim backwards, so once they are caught in the net, there is no escape unless they are small enough to fit through the net’s mesh.

Fish which live lower down – mid-water and bottom-feeders – are caught by trawling, which involves dragging a large net through the water, catching whatever happens to be in the way. The size of the net holes is again very important, and it is vital for the conservation of fish stocks that nets with a very small mesh are banned, as these catch young fish before they have even had a chance to breed.

It has been estimated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation that over 70% of the world’s fish stocks are either fully exploited or depleted. Most of the problems associated with overfishing have been caused in the last 50 years by the growing human population demanding food and rapid advances in fishing technology . There used to be hundreds of trawlers and fishing boats based at ports like Peterhead, Grimsby and Great Yarmouth, but these have now been replaced by huge factory ships which are able to stay out at sea for weeks at a time. These factory boats have all the equipment necessary either to freeze or tin fish caught by their hunting ships, so that they need to return to base only when their holds are full.

With the introduction of the new factory boats, there was a 7% growth in catches every year during the 1950’s and 60’s, but since then there has been little increase in catch size and many of the world’s most important fisheries have closed down, with many more suffering so badly from overfishing that they are unlikely to recover.

As catches have gradually become smaller, so the mesh sizes used in fishing nets have decreased, allowing smaller and smaller fish to be caught. Many of these are too small to be used as food, so they are crushed to be made into either animal food or fertilizer.

Fishing using nets is indiscriminate. Any fish which get in the way of the net will be caught in it if they are too big to get through the mesh. For every one tons of prawns caught, three tons of other fish are killed and thrown away. 20,000 porpoises die each year in the nets of salmon fishermen in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and hundreds of thousands of marine creatures are killed each year by tuna fishermen.

Tuna are very large fish that can grow up to half a ton or more and swim at fast speeds of 50mph. They are big sturdy creatures with plenty of meat on them which is sadly the reason for their decline.

World catches of tuna have doubled in the last decade. Skipjack tuna is the most commonly used tuna in tins which is currently not at risk, although yellowfin and albacore tuna are also used. At particular risk is the bluefin tuna, a slow breeder, where stocks have declined by 85% since industrialized fishing methods began in about 1970. There are two types, the Atlantic/northern and the southern bluefin which is ranked on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered. It is considered a delicacy in Japan and China where it is considered the best fish for sushi and is exported to many other parts of the world. The catch quota set by ICCAT (International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) is set at the already high level of 12,900 tons overall, but this generous figure is still exceeded with the actual amount being caught at an estimated 60,000 tons each year. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had called for a quote of 6,000 tons.

The fishing season for Atlantic bluefin tuna is May and June when they swim to the Mediterranean sea to spawn. Quotas are often ignored and the true catch not reported. In 2010 the European Commision (EC) closed the fishing season one week early in order to preserve remaining stocks. Blue Eye tuna the next best alternative to bluefin tuna are also noted as a vulnerable species.In 2012 it was reported that due to warming sea temperatures bluefin tuna were now also found off the coasts of the UK! See the section, Changing Seas for more information and to find out what other creatures this change in climate is bringing.

On March 18th 2010 at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES), governments (namely Japan, Canada and many poorer nations) rejected trade bans for bluefin tuna. Nations with active tuna fleets such as Italy, France and Spain were also not in favour of an outright, immediate ban. Perhaps the main incentive for continuing this trade is financial. Japan consumes 1/4 of the world’s tuna and one bluefin tuna was sold there in 2012 for a whopping $766,779.28

In January 2012 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in America ruled that bluefin tuna would not be protected under the Endangered Species Act, but that they do consider the species 'a concern'. Fishermen were relieved as there are some 5,000 commercial and 15,000 recreational bluefin fishermen from Maine to Texas. Although good news for the livelihoods of many fishermen this is bad news for the fish and isn't a sustainable practice. But others are hopeful that this new ruling will kick others, such as ICCAT, into action and spur new and tighter regulations on bluefin tuna fishing.

Tuna fishing received much publicity in the 1990s when a boycott led to changes in fishing practices to avoid catching dolphins which often swim alongside yellowfin tuna. They did this by fitting special hatches in the nets from which dolphins could escape.

To combat the sale of tuna likely to involve dolphin catching you can look out for the 'dolphin safe' logo on tins of tuna at the supermarket. But be wary - this doesn't guarantee sustainable fishing practices are in use.

Skipjack tuna are more likely to be dolphin safe because they do not associate with dolphins. However the dolphin safe label does not guarantee the safety of other marine creatures such as sharks, rays and turtles. Between 60 - 70% of tuna are caught using the purse seine method. Usually they are lured by fish aggregation devices (FADS), floating devices which the tuna congregate under and the net is pulled up around them like large drawstring bag. In fact 10% of the catch using this method are unwanted bycatch, amounting to 100,000 tonnes annually. Some of the bycatch is made up of sharks, many of which are threatened species. Their fins are cut off to sell to make a Chinese delicacy - shark fin soup. Without the FADS, this method can be specifically targetted to a school of one adult species and avoids much as the bycatch.

Longline fishing is a method used to catch more expensive kinds of tuna. This method involves putting out fishing lines up to 100km long from which there are as many as one thousand shorter lines attached with baited hooks. This still indiscriminately kills untargetted marine life such as turtles (of which 6 out of 7 species are considered threatened) which are tempted by the jelly fish appearance of the bait. Abatrosses and other seabirds can also get caught on the hooks. An estimated 500,000 - 1.4 million sharks are killed every year this way.

The pole and line method and “trolling” (where baited lines are dragged through the water behind a boat) are considered as the most sensible methods of fishing as it targets the adult fish, bycatch is much reduced and unwanted catches can be returned to the sea, alive. This is often the chosen method of smaller fisheries.