Fishing in the North Sea
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Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southern part of the coastal waters. The main method of fishing is trawling.
Annual catches grew each year until the 1980s, when a high point of more than 3 million metric tons (3.3 million S/T) was reached. Since then, the numbers have fallen back to around 2.3 million tons (2.5 million S/T) annually with considerable differences between years. Besides the fish caught, it is estimated that 150,000 metric tons (165,000 S/T) of unmarketable by-catch are caught and around 85,000 metric tons (94,000 S/T) of dead and injured invertebrates.[1]
Of the caught fish, about half are used for the production of fish oil and fish meal. Important species of fish caught in the North Sea are mackerel, Atlantic cod, whiting, coalfish, European plaice, and sole. In addition, common shrimp, lobster, and crab, along with a variety of shellfish are harvested.[2]
[edit] Overfishing
In recent decades, overfishing has left many fisheries unproductive, disturbing the marine food chain dynamics and costing jobs in the fishing industry.[3] Herring, cod and plaice fisheries may soon face the same plight as mackerel fishing which ceased in the 1970s due to overfishing.[4] Since the 1960s, various regulations have attempted to protect the stocks of fish such as limited fishing times and limited numbers of fishing boats, among other regulations. However, these rules were never systematically enforced and did not bring much relief. Since then, the United Kingdom and Denmark, two important fishing nations, became members of the EU, and have attempted, with the help of the Common Fisheries Policy, to bring the problem under control.[5]
Norway, not a member of the EU, has also reached an agreement with the European Community concerning fishing policy. Regional advisory committees meet with the EU to help enforce policy.[6]
In addition to threats due to food-chain disturbances, non-target species often wind up as victims of intense fishing. Sea turtles, dolphins, harbour porpoises, rays, and dozens of fish species are killed or injured by trawlers nets and beams. Denmark's trawler fishing alone accounts for the deaths of 5,000 porpoises a year. Trawling can also have a destructive effect on seabed habitats as the trawler beams drag along the floor can uproot plants and destroy reefs.[7]
| Fish caught in the North Sea in metric tons | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 1996 | 2002 | |||||
| Denmark | 96,494 | 284,527 | 528,127 | 1,806,191 | 1,328,251 | 1,284,365 | 1,249,656 | |||||
| Norway | 296,337 | 323,381 | 480,819 | 498,777 | 617,741 | 618,669 | 691,062 | |||||
| United Kingdom | 308,895 | 343,002 | 410,775 | 389,417 | 343,205 | 355,385 | 295,367 | |||||
| Germany | 233,481 | 305,776 | 284,685 | 90,217 | 108,990 | 63,647 | 69,836 | |||||
| Netherlands | 64,438 | 92,119 | 121,524 | 213,365 | 256,597 | 140,765 | 146,835 | |||||
| Soviet Union / Russia | 89,269 | 352,857 | 429,182 | 7,181 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| France | 79,751 | 149,769 | 202,948 | 100,861 | 64,860 | 35,262 | 55,379 | |||||
| Sweden | 43,680 | 71,899 | 124,790 | 86,465 | 116,695 | 72,863 | 131,991 | |||||
| Faroe Islands | 38,630 | 17,111 | 63,725 | 71,540 | 23,292 | 27,572 | 0 | |||||
| Iceland | 0 | 50,065 | 21,111 | 523 | 0 | 8 | 4,668 | |||||
| Belgium | 28,036 | 30,094 | 26,547 | 32,065 | 26,889 | 18,880 | 14,657 | |||||
| Total | 1,286,230 | 2,120,137 | 2,807,950 | 3,306,127 | 2,893,422 | 2,643,719 | 2,687,299 | |||||
All numbers from the FAO, cited by the University of British Columbia. For the FAO, the region "North Sea" includes Skagerrak and Kattegat[8]
[edit] Notes
- ^ [1] ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH INQUIRY INTO THE SCOTTISH FISHING INDUSTRY]. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ Greenpeace, North Sea Fish Crisis part 1, <http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/cbio/crisis1.html>. Retrieved on 19 July 2007
- ^ Clover, Charles. 2004. The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London. ISBN 0-09-189780-7
- ^ Summerschool on Coastal and Marine Management, Fisheries: North Sea, <http://www.ikzm-d.de/inhalt.php?page=54,941>. Retrieved on 19 July 2007
- ^ North Sea Fish Stocks: Good and Bad News, International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 18 October, <http://www.ospar.org/eng/doc/pdfs/R2C2.pdf>. Retrieved on 19 July 2007
- ^ The North Sea Commission, <http://www.northsea.org/nsc_fisheries_partnership/documents/RAC_reports.htm>. Retrieved on 19 July 2007
- ^ WWF. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia.
[edit] References
- Ilyina, P Ilyina (2007) The fate of persistent organic pollutants in the North Sea. Springer. ISBN 9783540681625)
- Karlsdóttir, Hrefna M (2005) Fishing on common grounds : the consequences of unregulated fisheries of North Sea herring in the postwar period. ISBN 9185196622)
