fishers

Tracking Small-Scale Fishers | Earth Wise

October 4, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

About half of all global seafood is caught by artisanal fishers. These are individuals who operate on a small scale – often on a subsistence level – and typically fish only a short distance from shore. Over 85% of the estimated 2.5 million motorized fishing vessels in the world are less than 12 meters in length. Compared with large-scale commercial fishing operations, these enterprises are very small. However, they are essential to the food security and livelihoods of their communities. Because of their sheer numbers, artisanal fishers are an important sector to monitor, manage, and advocate for. They may be small-scale, but their importance and impact are huge.

Large ships make use of vessel tracking systems, which were originally conceived to prevent maritime collisions. Over time, VTS technology has become useful for other purposes including monitoring fishing activity in sensitive marine areas and looking out for forced labor on the high seas.

Among small fishing vessels, only an estimated 0.4% are equipped with VTS technology. So, a massive number of vessels accounting for a big part of the global catch cannot be monitored.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara surveyed hundreds of artisanal fishers in Indonesia and Mexico to see if they were willing to pay to participate in a VTS program, or participate for free, or be paid to participate. Having the equipment would provide multiple benefits to the fishers including increased safety and better fisheries management. Two-thirds of the survey participants said they were willing to pay for the technology. The study is the first effort to explore the potential for encouraging wide adoption of VTS technology among artisanal fishers.

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Tracking Small-Scale Fishers

Photo, posted November 30, 2014, courtesy of Bernard Spragg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Carnivores Eating Human Food | Earth Wise

December 1, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A recent study by ecologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that carnivores living near people often get more than half of their diets from human food sources rather than from their traditional prey. This represents a major lifestyle disruption that puts North America’s carnivore-dominated ecosystems at risk.

The researchers studied the diets of seven predator species across the Great Lakes region using bone and fur samples taken from animals from areas as remote as national parks to metropolitan areas including Albany, New York. What they found – unsurprisingly – is that the closer carnivores lived to cities and farms, the more human food they ate. Dietary contributions of human food varied with species, but on average was more than 25% in most human-altered habitats.

The researchers studied the diets of carnivores like bobcats, coyotes, red and gray foxes, fishers, and American martens by chemical analysis of samples from Minnesota, Wisconsin, upstate New York, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The diets of the animals could be analyzed on the basis of the carbon content of bone and fur samples. Human food, heavy in corn and sugar, lends these samples a distinctive carbon isotope signature. In contrast, prey species confer their own carbon signatures. The ratio of these isotope fingerprints provides information on the proportion of an animal’s diet that came from human sources.

Relying upon human food increases how much carnivores overlap one another in their competition for food. Compared to when these predators vie for distinct prey, there can be more conflicts between animals. Changing how a species gets their food can have far-ranging effects on ecosystems.

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Carnivores living near people feast on human food, threatening ecosystems

Photo, posted August 18, 2007, courtesy of Jitze Couperus via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Fishers Helping To Clean The Oceans

August 2, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Marine litter – particularly plastics – is a global, persistent, and increasing threat to the oceans. Much of it comes from discarded materials on shore that makes their way to the sea but waste from the fishing industry is a also a major contributor to the problem.

Commercial fishers are acutely aware of the potential for marine litter to damage and even destroy their livelihoods and are starting to try to be part of the solution instead of just part of the problem.

An initiative called Fishing for Litter, which has been operating around the British coastline since 2006, is an example.

With hubs in Scotland and South West of England, FFL aims to reduce the amount of marine litter in the sea by physically removing it while also highlighting the importance of good waste management in the fishing fleet. Fishers have to assume responsibility for their own waste and dispose of it in a responsible manner. They also have a unique ability to access remote and hard to reach marine litter caused by others.

A survey of 120 commercial fishers revealed that they often found marine litter in their hauls and that keeping the sea and coasts clean was important to them.

The responsibility for reducing marine litter does not belong to any single industry or organization. It requires a collective global change of behavior. The problem directly affects fishers, so they are especially motivated to do something about it. They can make an important contribution to an issue that ultimately affects us all. Groups like Fishing for Litter are providing a model for behavior that we can only hope that others around the world can emulate.

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Fishers keen to help address the problem of marine litter

Photo, posted July 9, 2009, courtesy of Rennett Stowe via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.