No longer satisfied to be washed out by epic seas and vast oceans, the world's lakes, rivers, streams, canals, reservoirs and other land-locked waters continue a push to be recognized - and properly managed - as a global food security powerhouse.
In an article today by Environmental Reviews, authors, which include six either currently affiliated with Michigan State University (MSU) and/or are alumni, offers the first global review of the value of inland fish and fisheries.
"Inland capture fisheries and aquaculture are fundamental to food security globally," said Abigail Lynch, a fisheries research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and an adjunct professor at MSU. "In many areas of the world, these fisheries are a last resort when primary income sources fail due to, for instance, economic shifts, war, natural disasters and water development projects."
The article shows that although aquaculture and inland capture fisheries contribute more than 40 percent of the world's reported fish production, excluding shellfish, their harvest is greatly under-reported and value is often ignored.
Inland waters comprise about 0.01 percent of the earth's water.
The social, economic, and environmental importance of inland fish and fisheries (open, DOI: 10.1139/er-2015-0064)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Friday February 12 2016, @03:35AM
I saw one of these in action. I thought they had a rather ingenious harvesting mechanism.
A large net was in the lowest position where they fed the fish. Every day the fish would come from all over to one spot to get fed.
When it was time to harvest, the net comes up ( edges first ) right when all the fish are all gathered together in the center for the feeding frenzy.
Got 'em all.
The fishery was now primed for the next batch of fry without the bigger fish around which would have considered the fry a meal.
The whole shebang damn near 100% automated.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday February 12 2016, @03:55AM
That's illegal in many places, unless you're talking about a fish farm. I went to one of those as a kid and it was like shooting fish in a barrel.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday February 12 2016, @04:20AM
It *was* a fish farm.
Only one breed of fish in the whole lake.
All the same age and size.
I would hardly call the way they did it "fishing". "Harvesting" is the word. They got 'em all, then planted the next "crop" right behind them.
What struck me so odd is just how automated the thing was.
It is not as simple as it seems. There are a lot of biological problems lurking around - like in any monoculture.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 12 2016, @05:25PM
Anyway we can't feed >7 billion people sustainably with hunting and fishing (look at the bycatch percentages too, it's terrible and depressing- one boat fishes for prawns, keeps only the prawns the rest are thrown away dead - and that can be 80% of the catch! It's like someone chopping down an entire wild forest, only taking the oak trees and dumping the rest (say 50%), then another person chops down another wild forest, takes only the willow trees and dumping the remainder 80%. Ugh.
All the stuff being eaten to extinction are because we are hunting and fishing for them. We're not farming them. If sharks and cod were farmed properly they wouldn't be in danger of extinction (people might still say shark-finning is cruel but hey so is what we do to pigs, cows, chickens etc).
Yes I know many or most of the fish farms are being fed by fishing (but less fussy fishing)... So that's another problem too.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Friday February 12 2016, @08:39AM
The US has 80,000 already and most of them were paid by the government, built for the folks who mostly reject big government spendings. Among other things, unimaginable fish resource was destroyed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Desert [wikipedia.org]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday February 12 2016, @08:37PM
Being *inland* fisheries, this means that they've all got to be freshwater fisheries, growing freshwater fish. I hate freshwater fish. In fact, some of it seems to make me violently ill (I believe Tilapia is the culprit), so I avoid it altogether. I don't hate all fish: I love salmon, swordfish, tuna, plus various kinds of sushi fish. But none of those are going to grow in a freshwater fishery.