Sea, Sand and Sky

Spectacle Island view of the city

 This week we were at constitution beach where we learned about fisheries and did a video on it. Fisheries are places that collect larger amounts of fish to sell to the common people. The fish you find at fish markets are usually collected by fisheries. Depending on the fishery they use different methods of fishing as we explained in the video that we made. It also varies on the wealth of the country and what they have access to for fishing. Some fisheries use nets, rods, longlines, traps, and spears. There are many other methods as well. Some fish commonly caught by fisheries in Boston are striped bass, blue fish, Black Sea Bass, cod, and flounder. There are a few more but those are the main ones. The main fisheries in Massachusetts are in Gloucester and New Bedford. Overfishing is a major issue with fisheries. They are taking fish out of the ocean in large quantities.

Spectacle Island

There was a time that fisheries weren’t communicating about how much they were taking, so everyone was taking too much. Depending on what method is used there can also be a lot of bycatch. Even if they do release the fish or by catch that isn’t wanted those animals have suffered and can now even struggle to continue surviving. The pros about fisheries is that they have rules and regulations they are required to follow so it allows us to control how much damage they are causing. Some of the regulations in place at the moment are what season they can be caught, size, amount, even gender. This allows the fish to reproduce at a rate that can sustain the fishing rate. They as well have limitations for what areas the fish can be caught in. I don’t eat fish so that means that I’m not adding to the demand of fish. This lowers the supply that is needed. The more demand the more supply. Fisheries go based on how much is needed to avoid overfishing. Something I found interesting was that when fisheries were first put into motion there weren’t that many regulations. Now having communication between countries is required. It’s so important to not only adjust based on demand but also based on how well the ocean can provide and sustain our needs. You can’t take from where there isn’t enough to take from.

Catch you on the flip side,

                    Vanessa