How do humans impact the ocean? - Lesson Five
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Lesson duration is: 45 minIntroduction
Lesson Five – What are the impacts of illegal fishing / overfishing?
This lesson discusses the impact of illegal fishing, by-catch and overfishing of species.
Learning activities:
Create a poster showing the impacts of overfishing/by-catch on species.
Research how we can reduce the impacts of overfishing and demand for fish.
Instructions
Time: 45 minutes
Contact: education@seashepherdglobal.org
© Sea Shepherd 2022
Instructions
Items in this lesson
Slide 1 - Slide
This lesson is provided by Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd was founded in 1977 and is a marine conservation organisation working to protect the oceans and marine wildlife. Sea Shepherd works globally on a range of issues impacting the oceans, running numerous direct action campaigns each year.
Slide 2 - Slide
During the lesson we will use these icons to identify the learning actions.
Slide 3 - Slide
The next topic we will look at is fishing and the impacts of the commercial fishing industry.
It is estimated that over 100 million tons of fish is taken from the ocean each year. Fish is the largest traded commodity in the world, resulting in overfishing of species.
Overfishing simply means the depletion of fish numbers by excessive fishing.
It is estimated that over 100 million tons of fish is taken from the ocean each year. Fish is the largest traded commodity in the world, resulting in overfishing of species.
Overfishing simply means the depletion of fish numbers by excessive fishing.
Why is the demand
for fish high?
for fish high?
Slide 4 - Mind map
“ Why do you think the demand for fish is so high? “
Fish became popular as a healthy choice.
The global population has risen from 1 billion in 1804 to 3.04 billion in 1960 to 7.3 billion people in 2015. While the global population is rapidly increasing our resources, including from the ocean, are decreasing. It is estimated that over 3 billion people use fish as their main protein source.
Not all fish is used for human consumption. It Is used for instance as cat food. Where else is it used? (Animal agriculture feed, fish oil tablets and other herbal remedies.)
Fish became popular as a healthy choice.
The global population has risen from 1 billion in 1804 to 3.04 billion in 1960 to 7.3 billion people in 2015. While the global population is rapidly increasing our resources, including from the ocean, are decreasing. It is estimated that over 3 billion people use fish as their main protein source.
Not all fish is used for human consumption. It Is used for instance as cat food. Where else is it used? (Animal agriculture feed, fish oil tablets and other herbal remedies.)
Slide 5 - Slide
The increasing demand for fish and a desire to make it more cost effective, cheaper for consumers, saw the development of large scale industrial fishing vessels during the mid 1900’s. The vessels and nets were developed to dramatically increase the size of the fishing catch. The number of fishing fleets has also dramatically increased since the 1950’s.
Slide 6 - Slide
The growing demand for fish supports the illegal fishing trade. IUU fishing activity has a big impact on the ocean ecosystem.
The United Nations estimates that 30% of the global fishing catch comes from Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. This amount varies by region from 15% to 40%.
Some nations that are unable to patrol their territorial waters, which enables illegal fishing vessels to enter their waters unchallenged to fish. Sea Shepherd is helping in this area, providing ships and crew to take law enforcement agencies out to patrol.
Let’s look at what IUU fishing means.
Illegal fishing means that the fishermen enter the territorial waters of a country or regulated marine zone without permission or without a license for the fish they intend to catch. In basic terms they are stealing from these waters.
Unreported means that a fishing vessel may have a license with an allocated quota for fishing a particular species, such as tuna, but then catches more than their quota states and they fail to report it.
When vessels are inspected the information recorded in the fishing log books are compared against what is in the fish holds of the vessel to determine if they catch has been reported correctly.
Unregulated refers to areas in the ocean where there may not be a quota or any regulations in place, either in that location or for the type of species.
There are areas of the ocean that are not subject to any regulation, generally because they are not controlled by a particular country or form part of any regulated zone. Fishing vessels can head to these areas knowing no one is likely to be patrolling or monitoring fishing activity.
Regulating the fishing industry is a huge task, given the size of the oceans and the scale of commercial fishing operations. There are thousands of illegal fishing vessels out at sea at any given moment in time.
The United Nations estimates that 30% of the global fishing catch comes from Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. This amount varies by region from 15% to 40%.
Some nations that are unable to patrol their territorial waters, which enables illegal fishing vessels to enter their waters unchallenged to fish. Sea Shepherd is helping in this area, providing ships and crew to take law enforcement agencies out to patrol.
Let’s look at what IUU fishing means.
Illegal fishing means that the fishermen enter the territorial waters of a country or regulated marine zone without permission or without a license for the fish they intend to catch. In basic terms they are stealing from these waters.
Unreported means that a fishing vessel may have a license with an allocated quota for fishing a particular species, such as tuna, but then catches more than their quota states and they fail to report it.
When vessels are inspected the information recorded in the fishing log books are compared against what is in the fish holds of the vessel to determine if they catch has been reported correctly.
Unregulated refers to areas in the ocean where there may not be a quota or any regulations in place, either in that location or for the type of species.
There are areas of the ocean that are not subject to any regulation, generally because they are not controlled by a particular country or form part of any regulated zone. Fishing vessels can head to these areas knowing no one is likely to be patrolling or monitoring fishing activity.
Regulating the fishing industry is a huge task, given the size of the oceans and the scale of commercial fishing operations. There are thousands of illegal fishing vessels out at sea at any given moment in time.
Slide 7 - Slide
It is estimated that around 26% of the global fishing catch is by-catch. By-catch is basically anything that is caught in fishing nets or on fishing lines that the fishermen don’t want or are not allowed to legally sell.
Generally, they remove the by-catch from the nets and return it to the ocean. However, many of these animals will have already died before they are freed. By-catch includes other species of fish, sea turtles, dolphins, sharks or even whales.
Generally, they remove the by-catch from the nets and return it to the ocean. However, many of these animals will have already died before they are freed. By-catch includes other species of fish, sea turtles, dolphins, sharks or even whales.
Slide 8 - Slide
The nets used for commercial fishing are so large that they capture everything in their wake and are down for long periods of time. So, while the fishermen may be targeting large schools of a particular fish species, they will catch everything else in the area at that time. It is simply a by-product of bigger catches, which means more money in less time.
Commercial fishing operations for example are responsible for killing some 300,000 dolphins and whales as by-catch each year and 250,000+ loggerhead and leatherback turtles.
Commercial fishing operations for example are responsible for killing some 300,000 dolphins and whales as by-catch each year and 250,000+ loggerhead and leatherback turtles.
Slide 9 - Video
This video from Sea Shepherd’s Operation Albacore in Gabon explains the issue of illegal fishing and by-catch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnm-T0GiuSY&list=PLx1pnhQVtbbBnH1BBXzQtknEROG73UNO9&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnm-T0GiuSY&list=PLx1pnhQVtbbBnH1BBXzQtknEROG73UNO9&index=4
Slide 10 - Slide
This item has no instructions
Slide 11 - Slide
Refer Teachers Guide for Learning Activities.
