Chapter Aquatic food

12 resources
Chapter topics
Marine productivíty

Fishing

Aquaculture

Marine productivity
Oceanscover over 70% of the Earth's surface but only a srnall proportion

is biologically productive as limiting factors restrict the growthof the most

important photosynthetic organisns which are algae.

Variations in light levels

Little light penetrates water to a greaterdepth than 100m,less if the water is turbid,so
photosynthesis is limitedto the surface water layers, called the photíc zone. Most life at

greater depths, in the aphotic zone, relies on food produced near the surface, for exarmple,

planktonic algae that is

carried down by water currents, or the bodies of dead organisms
that sink.

How nutrient movements in the sea affect productivity

Nutrients
Light Strong wind
washed off land

Depth of Primary
Photic Nutrients Consumers Nutrients disturbed
light producers in shallow seas Strong offshore
Zone
Decompoítion Surface current winds can cause
penetration Death during storms
caused by wind 4 nutrient upwelling
No Deep ocearn
UPWELIG
Aphotíc ight UPWELLING Current Dead organic
ZOne deflected matter Nutrients drawn up
upwards from deep water

Seamount
Sediments

How upwellings caused by a seamount and storms over shallow water affect nutrient movements Coastal upwelling caused by an ofshore wind

How nutrient
Nutrient availability
movements in the sea
Algae absorb nutrients directly from the water because there is no soil and they don't
affectproductivity
have roots. Sorne nutrients are readily available, Such as carbon díoxide. Others are often
the liniting factor on biological productivitywhen they are not sufficiently abundant, for
exanple, phosphates.

The low solubility of phosphates causes the oceans to be deficient in phosphates except
where there are prOcesses that cause phosphates to be added.
Phosphate levels in the photiczone are increased by runoff from and in
rivers areas in which
deep,cold water rises towards the ocean surface,a process known as upwelling, but these
 Aquatie ood resouroe

ast ae of
12
ie
utetk conaned
aie carfieN othe
cdie Ihis may ixuce
wen hey
n thesurface pheote laver
valabity
ctivity is iecet

Nuwet vek ae avat kw Wohkthity thohouthe yew

e ofyex

Wae engelue

lnpeate ce (mthen helphee) an arewnd Antath

Nae ve aehh
Meaet
wiera
eveh ee

theph

wh thve

Te fyea ey
peee
Ntieat coxestat phk e

Freshwater
productivity
teebodieson land ae
often vey
odctive as they
receive nuttient
ot fom the land and
eceve high
levels because they are
relatively
lbw Total proxductivity is linited
ythe relatively small total area
Ihers o
and akes

Key
Level of biolgkal whtivy

tgh Nechim Low

 Aquatic food resources

in most
areas 5 of open ocean. Variations in the factors thataffect
12
nutrients
contained in
productivity in different oceans
aenotfoundthe
areas
nopen are carried to the
organisms
Tropical oceans
panktonic they die This may reduce
when
eabed thee surface photic layer
yin
High lighrtlevels and wrarrm ternpetatures throvghost the year, but
avalability
urient is reduced.
I productivíty
bbiological
sofuture

0,autotrophs cannot gow ely

Nutrient levels are alwayslow - low productivíty throvghot the year

F M A M A S 0 N D

Tine of year

Water ternperature Autotroph biomass

Light levels Nutrient concentration in photic zone

Temperate oceans (northern hemisphere)

Ocean around Antarctica

Productivity peaks when light leves arehigh in the sumimer, Storms and upwelling currents produe high nutrient levels all year
but dedineas nutrient levels drop

Nutrientlevels are high in winter as

Autumn storms disturtb
serimets are isturbed by storms,
sediments C3uSing
but ligttleves are low
another growth bloom Growth is

rapid during
the summer
when light
Growth is impossible and nutrient
when there is no light levels are high

A J A 0 N D J F M A M A
J J S N D
Time of year
Time of year

Water temperzture
Autotroph biomass Water temperature
Autotroph biormass
Ligthtlevels Nutrient concentration in photic zone Light levels Nutrient concentration in photikc zone

Freshwater
66N
productivity
Water bodies on land are often
very
Droductive as they receive
nutrient
Tunoff from the land and 23.5"N
receive high
ight levels
because they are
relatively
Snalow. Total productivityis limited
the
Oy
relatively small total area of
Tivers andlakes. 235"S

66°S

Key
Level of biological productivity

| High Medium Low

A Regional variations in
marine productivity

339
 Fishing
different aquaticspecies. Large-scale methods
methods are used to catch are
Many different includes the capture
lakes. The word fishing' a wide of

used mainlyin the sea and

some large
and shelfhsh (crustaceans and molluscs),.
taxa, including hsh a
range of species of different

1
Purposes, advantages and
disadvantages of the main
fishing methods
Demersal fishing live on
species that
Demersal fishing includes fishing for

the seabed.

Demersal trawling is used for species on the seabed such

and scampi.
as cod, hadddock, plaice, shrimps,
to catch
a line of baited hooks
Demersal long lines use
as cod and haddock.
species such

disturb fish
Chains
Demersal trawl
on the seabed so they

are caught [Link] cod, plaice, haddock

swim up and
Weighted balls hold
thebottom of the net
fish
Demersal seabed
down and disturb
longline e.g. for cod Seabed
Floats hold the top

of the net up

Towing cables
Caught
from fishing boat
fish
seabedto catch scallops
O The chains on this trawl disturb the
a lot of damage to the
Direction buried in the sediments. This causes
of movement
demersal ecosystem

Demersaltrawling
Otter boards' act like Demersal longlining
kites to keep the sides

of the net apart

Funnel entrance-lobsters
Rope to marker flag
Float and
can find theirway in,
marker flag but not out

Lobster

Dead
A string of lobster pots on the seabed Cross-section
fish
of lobster pot
bait

OLobster traps How shellfish traps work

Shellfish traps
These are baited traps that catch crustaceans such as crabs,
crayfish, and lobsters.
 Aquatic food resoCOs
12
fishing forspecies that
includes fishing live in open
pelagic
tishing
often neat the water surface
Pelagic the seabed
above
water

trawling
pelagic speciesthat
tfomshoals in mid water
i for
is used
This sucth. as bass, anchovies, hering.
near thesurtace
Pelagic fish often fomm single species
mackerel
and of non-target species is usually
so the catch
shoals
may also be caught
species
predator Net
lowbut
for example, porpoises and dolphins
accidentally,

nets
Drift
nets that are
are long cuttain-like
pit nets
Weights Netcbe
by floats and catch pelagic species
supported A
and herring. Pelagic dritt net
Dear the surface such as tuna

Purse seining Floats holi the top of the net up

uses anet
1 2
Purse seining

that is laid around a shoal

of fish. The top is held up by

floats while the bottom is

held down by weights then

pulled tight underneath the

shoal. used for species
he dottONSO
It is

Such as tuna, sardines, Weights hold the bottom ofthe net dova

he shoalotfish is suroundetby the ne

herring, and anchovies.

Pelagic long lines

These use a line of baited

Float with marker f
hooks which can be many
kilometres in [Link]
longlines catch species
Such as tuna and squid.
Pelagic surface
[Link] tuna and squd
longline
Lines with uesorbitt ot
Environmental impacts of fishing
tishing canhave major impacts on the target species by reducing thetr opuations batit
can also
have
impats on non-target species, Some of theseimpactsare ciext While oths
dle caused indirectly by otherecological effects of fishing.

Population decline caused by overfishing

The
population of any species will decline if mortality eNCeeKds the bith rate but senNe
species are
more likely to bee
than others kselec ted spexies are
overfished evuleatle
Overfishing
because they produce fewer young and start breexding at an oldr age
example,
Orange Roughy, Blue FinTuna, and all shatk species
These
species may Teach a catchable slze beforethey are seNualy matue so cvevishixa
COuld
renmovetheentire
the breeding population. The survival of the population thenreles en
immature efish whicth may be caught before theit hrst chance to bre
 r-selected species breed at a young age and produce more [Link] populations
recover
Fin Tuna
more rapidly after over-fishing, for example, Herring, Atlantic Mackerel, Yellow

a size of 1..9m across

The 'common' skateis the biggest skate species reaching its'wings:

11years old, produces few young

It has feww natural predators,starts breeding around
species but it is cauaht in
andcan live to be over 100. It is nota commercially important
Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and Baltic Sea

It
demersal trawls. Its range includes the NE
Sea and
is nowextinct the Baltic Sea and Critically Endangered in the Mediterranean
in

The commercial value of demersal trawling makes it likely that fishing

the NE Atlantic.
become extinct. has been renamed the Blue
will continue and the Common Skate will It

Skate or Flapper Skate.

lamp and lubricating oil until the

The Greenland Shark was fished commercially for

cold deep-water trawling. It is a

1960s. Its main threat now is bycatch from commercial
or populations sze. can live to be over
water species but little is known about its range
It

few young so
400 years old but does not start breeding until it is 100-150 and produces

it
is very vulnerable to overfishing.

O Six-gilled shark steaks

for sale in a fish market
2 Scallops have been
overfished around
the UK. These came
from Patagonia, South
America

As local fisheries are over-exploited,seafood supplies in countries like the UK are often
maintained by exploiting fisheries at increasing distances from the UK.

Bycatch
Bycatch is the catch that is not wanted. It is usually the catch of non-target species bul
also include the catch of the target species wherethe individuals are too small to be legdly
landed or sold. By-catch may be unwanted for several reasons:
immature the target species that are too
fhsh of
small to sell. This may reduce Tuture
catches the fish that would have
byy killing
grown to reach a saleable size;
individuals of specieswhich
would be saleable but the catch
quota has alreaay
reached, So they must be discarded.
these species are still being killed
If
for other species, during
then havinga catch
quota will fail to protect
species with no them;
commercial value.

342
 Aquatic fo0d
resourcefs

bycatch

wll
organisrns

notSUrvive
will be dead
whenthrown back
or
12
and
ued
the
se h varies greatly between
Ao rofbycatch
More species
rnethods,
fhshing
esent SUch as purse-seine nets or
methods
eciven tendtto have lovwer bycatch
trawling
trawling usually exploitsrnized
Aes Dernersallthe by catch r
rates can be high.
where
bheries
different fishing rnethods,
frorm
gcatch driftnets are non-
/Drift
net bycatch
and I will catch arny anirnals
selective
near thesurface including
swirnming

whales, dolphins, turtles, and sharks

Pelagic
longlinebycatch: Albatross are
large seabirdsthat
in the southern feed overlarge
areas of Adead Finetooth A
the open ocean hernisphere and North
Pacific, Most species Shark
dive deep
into the
t water sothey collect cannot unintentionally
foodsuch as squid,
sor surface. Large numbers are
krill, and fish
near the caughtin a trawl net
caught by long-line fishing
where they drown after
being caught
on thelures put out for squid or
fish.
Albatrosses are long-lived
living up to 50 years, and doornot normally start birds,
breeding untilthey are
d Most species
have a low reproduction years 7-10
rate, laying one
heir populations egg every second year so
are seriously
affected by any increase in
rmortality, Other bycatch
caught on long lines include sharks taxa
and turtles.
Pelagic trawling bycatch: pelagic pair trawis for seabass can
kill [Link]
porpoises are trying to catch the bass butbecorme trapped in the nets wherethey
drown.

Demersal trawling bycatch: seabed fish often live in mixed-species shoals sothe
chance of catching amixture of species is high.
Shrimp bycatch: shrimptrawling uses nets with a very small mesh size so few by
catch animals can escape. These include crabs, sea
urchins, molluscs,and starfish., The
by-catch ofshrimp trawling can make up as much as 99% of the catch.
Ghost fishing
Fishing gear that has been discarded or
lost may continue to trap and kill marine
ganisrns. The dead organisms
caught
in the fishing gear often act as bait and
dttact more individualswhich also
become
tapped and die.

Discarded fishing net

 Habitat damage need to disturb
demersal trawls sothat organisms
Seabed damage:to be effective, they normally live in
are caught in the net, especially the if

they swim upwards and

and scampl (Norway Lobsters) T

forexample, shrimps
sediments on the seabed,
nets often

aerobic surface layer

have chains or
seabed, This
metal

the seabed
mixes the
balls to disturbthe

with deeper anaerobic layers. The nets ,shallow

also
destroy

of
corals.
sea fans and deep water
organisms such as
slow-growing
damage as they can be
bil

polyps are sensitive to physical

7Coral reef impact: coral

coralite cup to
which they are attached, Nets, trapS,
the sharp
they are pressed against
damage.
gear can all cause physical
ropes and discarded on shallow sandyareas of
flovwering plants that grow
Seagrass beds: qrass-like
many speriee
nursery grounds for
tropical seas. They are important
relatively protected
as adults. Disturbance
by trawliog
of fish that may live
on coral reefs or in deep water and
together. Currents
hold the sand grains
kills the plants
so their roots no longer colonise and
for newplants
to
it more difficult
waves move the sand around, making
become established. explosions can stun
waves released by underwater
Dynamite fishing: the pressure illegal in most countries
use of dynamite is

fish and make

thenm easy to [Link] are
areas, especially
where subsistence fishermen
carried out in remote
but it is still
common method
particularly
with other methods. It is a

difficult to catch fish

finding it
the fish that live among the coral
on coral reefs where nets cannot be used to catch
coral and kill many
other organisms.
heads. The explosions destroy the other
species willaffect
the numbers of any
Food web impacts: reducing
the same food vweb, for example:
organisms that are in

•Competitors may become more common;

•their prey may become more common;
• their predators may become rarer.

Methods of reducing the environmental

impacts of fishing
Catch quotas
on the total weight of fish that can be landed. This quota may be
A catch quota sets a limit

boats in the fleet.

divided up amongst allthe fishing

stop the
shoals where fishing
if
will
Quotas work best when fish are found in single-species

mixed fisheries, many species may be

species has already been reached.
In
quota for that

caught in the same net. If the quota for one species has been reached then any surplus must
for other species continues.
are probably dead, while fishing
be thrown back even though they

Fishing equipment design and use

Fishing equipment can be designed so that it continues to be effective while environmental

damage is minimised.

Mesh size: net mesh size can be set so that fish below a certain size can escape.

nets are designed so that the mesh direction is diagonal to the

Mesh design: fishing

direction of [Link] gives the net elasticity as it is pulled through the water

but the mesh closes as it fills with fish and drag increases, so smaller fish cannot escape

through the shrinking gaps. Panels in the net with the mesh at right angles to the
direction of movement do not close up so small fish can still escape.
 Aquatic o0d
12

atatyerrest
The disynal
yreAet
net Gves thie ret
dastuny oinstrhes
Norrmal

Tension
s the spesd
the frhin
This irceMES
bot charyes
Hneer
safety for
the bot
sInall frsh cann eKae
stretchedtneh
by
Pled
through the
fishing
boat

A Normal net with

diagonal mesh
Direction of movernent

rmesh panel
Having a square
allows srall fish to ecape
because the mesh does not
cdose up when it is pulled.
The rest of the net retains Square mesh
its elasticity.
escape panels

loaded escape panelsin

Turtle Exclusiorn Devices (TEDS) are large spring
rEscape panels
to escape.
the nets which allow turtles
high frequencysOunds
V Acoustic deterrent devices (dolphin pingers), these produce
that warn dolphins about
the presence of the net
likely tocatch
THook shape longline hooks
with curved points still catch tuna butare less

albatrosses.

and distract birds sothat they donot getcaughton longline hooks.

Decoys these attract

rSinkers weights attached to pelagic longlines hold the hooks down in the water sothat
they still catch fish but don't catch albatroses.

Night fishing using longlines at rnight when birds are not feeding.

rBiodegradable & radio equipment: to reduce ghost fishing. If traps for crabs
tracked
and lobsters are lost, they may continue to catch more crabs and lobsters asthe dead
trapped individuals act as the bait for moreto be caught. Traps that areheld together by

biodegradable rope willfall apart if they are lost. In the USA traps have radio-transrnitters
that activate if the traps are lost sothey can be recovered.

Restricted fishing effort:

in some areasaround the UK there are limits on the size of fishingboats and the power of their

engines. Fishing boats have limits on the number of days each year that a boat may spend
1Shing Where the number of fishing boats is solarge that overfishing is unavoidable, boat
OWhers may receive compensation for their boats to be de-commissioned.
Restricted fishing methods
Ban drift nets in some areas, drift nets may be banned or their length restricted.

Bans on demersal trawling. in areas where the seabed ecosystem is particularlysensitive

Or important demersal trawling may be [Link] trawling is banned on the NW

Rockall Bank and Hatton Bank which are large deep water coral reefs off the NW coast of
Scotland.
 NO take zones (NTZs):NTZs are areas where fishing and other activities that

exploit wildlife or damage the habitat are not permitted. This protects the breeding
populations of breeding adults, especially larger individuals. They produce a lot of
offspring which can colonise surrounding areas where fishing may have reduced the
populations of breeding adults. The communities of wildlite species that live within the

NTZcan recover once damaging activities stop.

Turtle bycatch: fishing areas with large numbers of turtles, reducing the
In troplcal

time that the net towed can reduce bycatch mortality. The survival rate of turtles
is

caught in shrimptrawls dependson the length of time they were in the net. If it is lece
than 10 minutes the survival rate is over 99%. lf the trawls are towed for an hour then
50- 1009% drown.

Existing and proposed NTZs

Name Location Area /km?

Lamlash Bay Isle of Arran, Scotland 2.6

LundyIsland Bristol Channel, SW UK 3.3

East coast of Australia 110,000

Great Barrier Reef (1/3 of the national park)

Ascension Island Atlantic Ocean 235,000

Palau Pacific Ocean 500,000

Easter Island Pacific Ocean 600,000

Indian Ocean 640,000

ChagosArchipelago
Pitcairn lsland Pacific Ocean 834,000

Exe Estuary bass

nursery area
Closed-seasons: a ban on fishing for part of the year allows

the fish to grow to a larger size. Ideally, the closed-season

Exe Estuary Bass Nursery Area
should include the breeding season to protect future
pdt
generations, however, many fish species congregate in shoals
BIVER EXE 1nd eeh b ay vesset

d s to breed which makes them easier to catch, sofishermen

Allyeat

yar vesl liened may oppOse this restriction.

is
ess
herei
Fh for any pecies isthe etuay
sha set (undessyu heve he Minimum catchable size: banning the capture of small fish

Cortecs y local MMOte may not reduce the mass of the catch by much but it may
Devn Sein FCA 5ts03844 allow large numbers of small fish to grow to a larger size and

live long enough to breed.

XE

Fishing size limits around the UK (may vary between areas andchange over time)

Fish Size limit

Cod 35cm
Plaice
27cm
Mackerel
30cm
Edible crab 130mm (carapace width)
Lobster 90mm (carapace length) minimum catchable size - for lobster in the UK is larger than the nist
time they breed, sooverfishing cannot destroy the breeding population