Recalling Observer Days to Explain Bycatch and Over-Harvesting in Commercial Fishing

Now, I am not too familiar with fishing in international waters.   I worked on Commercial Fishing Vessels in British Columbia as an At Sea Fisheries Observer.  Other Countries have this program as well as Electronic Monitoring to observe what is being caught on each vessel.  My role as an observer, was to provide the skipper with their quota, and observe what was caught in each tow.  I was on trawlers, which as we know, are not the best at reducing by-catch and are what caused the cod collapse out east. 

  However, Fishermen are very cautious and conscious of what they are catching.  If they have a target species they track it on their fish finders, they know the depth to fish at to reduce bycatch.  There are mid-water nets, hard bottom nets and soft bottom nets, as well as interchangeable cod ends with smaller mesh.  Fishermen have been fishing the waters for a long time they know where the hot spots are, when fish are spawning, time of day that the water is most clear, etc.  They are also very conscious of market size, fish mortality, and prohibited species. Some fish unfortunately die upon the time they are dumped on deck, such as Turbot as mentioned in the notes 79 % of Turbot are undersized.   Because of this, all turbot is considered marketable and must be retained, even though they are not of a marketable size.  Prohibited species such as Pacific Halibut have different mortality rate based on their size and time on deck and are removed as quickly as possible. Some species of concern are often retained because the Fishermen are rewarded for landing them and they are already dead, so it is in their best interest to land it. 

If fishermen do overfish their quota of a certain species by accident, they can trade quotas, buy quotas from other vessels or even carry over to the next year without penalties.  This is because they are still landing what they do catch and getting paid for it. It is not their fault they overfished or caught an excess of bycatch of a marketable species.   Fishing is an expensive business, there are many costs for a vessel and the vessel themselves make only a small portion of what the company they offload for makes.  Fishing in international waters is much more difficult to control there should be an observer program in place or electronic monitoring in order to regulate harvesting and bycatch.

On Regulating Over-Harvesting

As someone who worked in the industry, unfortunately, I really don’t think we can regulate harvesting within the EEZ, let alone beyond the 200 Nautical Mile Limit.

Personally, I was never much of a fish or shellfish fan, mainly for the texture of shellfish, and I never really ate fish that wasn’t battered.  However, living on the west coast and working in the industry, nothing is better than fresh caught wild fish.  That being said, here in Ontario, I never really know what I am ordering or what’s in the grocery store.   In restaurants I usually go with Alaskan Pollock, because I know it is sustainable, and I was on Pollock boats I know what it is and want to support it.  I also know that the other fish that are usually more expensive are species of concern such as Wild Halibut or Salmon. 

I agree that consumers should be aware of what they are eating, Guelph was doing DNA barcoding on store bought fish.   But how much do customers know or care.  I have relatives that were convinced they should eat Wild Pacific Salmon as opposed to Farmed Salmon.  How many of you know that Pacific Salmon die after they return to native rivers, the concern is harvesting salmon before they have spawned?  The main concerns are harvesting before spawning occurs, which means no fry for future stocks, or harvesting salmon that is too young and too small.  The salmon fishery uses seine nets, once salmon are caught commercially they have a low chance of surviving if returned to sea.  

Be aware of what your buying, look for tags, especially if you buy a whole fish.   One of my “land jobs” was to tag Halibut, this is not what you might think.    When the Halibut is landed, it is offloaded either fresh or frozen from long line boats.   I was given tags that were numbered, and a tag gun (like in a retail store) and had to tag each fish by the fin.  Each tag said that the fish was Wild Caught Pacific Halibut, and without that tag they were not legally allowed to be sold.   Why not keep these tags of certification or “seal of approval” for the fish that we buy from markets or restaurants.