Fishing Gear Associated With Global Marine Catches
FCRR 2004, Vol. 12(6)
Watson, Reg, Eriko Hoshino, Jordan Beblow, Carmen Revenga, Yumiko Kura and Adrian Kitchingman. 2004. Fishing Gear Associated With Global Marine Catches
Abstract
Fishing gears, instrumental to the fishing process, exert direct but often poorly documented impacts on marine communities and habitats. A database is described here that associates all global catch with fishing gear types allowing for the analysis of global fishing patterns. The fine spatial detail of the Sea Around Us project's catch database allows for the construction of maps showing subtle changes in the use of fishing gears annually since 1950. These maps are particularly useful to help assess the impact of fishing gears such as bottom trawls and dredges, which have been shown to have significant impacts on marine communities. Maps included in this report chronicle the expansion of these and other gears in ways that will inform debate over their impacts, and proved critical information to inform policy development and management choices.
Table of Contents
| Director's Foreword | 1 |
| Abstract | 2 |
| Introduction | 3 |
| Brief History of Fishing Gear | 5 |
| Impacts of Fishing Gear | 5 |
| Methods | 5 |
| Data Sources and Documentation | 6 |
| Assignment Procedures | 6 |
| Mapping Results | 6 |
| Results and Discussion | 7 |
| Specificity of Gear Associations | 7 |
| Global Catches by | 7 |
| Gear Use by Country - an example | 9 |
| Gear Use by Major Fishing Countries | 10 |
| Global Catch by Trawl and Dredge | 12 |
| North America |
14 |
| Europe |
15 |
| South America |
16 |
| Africa |
18 |
| Asia |
19 |
| Proportion of Catch Using Trawl or Dredge Gear | 20 |
| Conclusions | 20 |
| Acknowledgements | 22 |
| References | 22 |
| Appendices | 24 |
| Annual average catch by fishing gear categories | 24 |
| Fishing gear associated with capture of marine fish families | 25 |
| Catch associated with trawl or dredge gear (URL link only) | 32 |
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