<
https://theconversation.com/squid-fishing-grew-by-68-in-just-three-years-raising-fears-the-industry-is-out-of-control-200943>
"Global squid fishing increased by 68% between 2017 and 2020, according to our
international analysis, prompting concerns that much of the international
fishing fleet is sidestepping necessary conservation and management.
Our study, carried out with colleagues in Australia, Japan, the United States,
Chile and Canada, and published today in
Science Advances, reveals that
almost all of the increase in squid fishing has occurred in unregulated areas,
with 86% of squid fishing now occurring in places with little or no scrutiny of
catch sizes.
Unregulated fishing poses a significant challenge to fishery sustainability and
raises substantial equity concerns. While attention has tended to focus on
illegal fishing, the growth in legal but unregulated fishing may pose an even
bigger threat, particularly to species such as squid, whose fisheries can cover
entire oceans.
To estimate the scale of global squid fishing, we analysed satellite imagery
and vessel tracking data to see how many vessels are fishing for squid, and
where and how often they operate.
Squid fishing vessels are typically outfitted with powerful lamps to attract
squid to the surface. These lamps are so powerful that they are visible from
space. This means we can use satellite data to spot these lights at night,
along with data from the ships’ Automatic Identification System (AIS), which
allows authorities to monitor the location and course of registered vessels.
Using this data, we estimate that the amount of light-luring vessel effort
increased from an estimated 149,000 vessel days in 2017, to 251,000 vessel days
in 2020. Of these, 61-63% were by vessels not broadcasting their AIS, and thus
only visible by the loom from their lamps. This light-luring vessel effort
represents an estimated total of 801,000 vessel days over the period 2017–20.
Finally, we correlated these data with national and regional management bodies,
and determine how much of this activity is unregulated."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
