Marine Fisheries Overview

^{General Lecture Outline}

I.  Characterize the resource

• Define marine fisheries
• Importance as a food source
• What areas are fished?
• Fish as components of food webs

II.  Status of the resource

• Historical perspective
• Current status
• Examples of fishery declines

III.  Causes for fishery declines

• Overfishing
• Highly efficient technology
• Bycatch
• Overcapacity

IV.  Community and ecosystem-level impacts of fishery declines

• Fishing down the food web
• Habitat degradation
• Trophic cascades
• Changes in life history traits

V.  Why are fishery declines allowed to occur?

• Government subsidies
• Increasing demand
• Shifting baselines
• Lack of adequate fisheries data

VI.  Traditional fisheries management

• Quotas/Total Allowable Catches
• Gear restrictions
• Maximum sustainable yield
• Closures

VII.  Market-based solutions

• Certification
• Consumer-based solutions
• Reduction in fishing effort by purchase of fishing rights
• Aquaculture
• Increased use and marketing of underutilized species
• Reduce government subsidies

VIII.  Ecosystem-based fishery management

• Reduce bycatch
• Marine reserves
• Catch share programs
• Ecologically sustainable yield

IX.  The future of marine fisheries

Module Description

Module Objectives

Sample PowerPoint Slide with notes

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