Fishing Gear 101

Though the paper Shifting gears: Assessing collateral impacts of fishing methods in U.S. waters is geriatric (2003) in blogosphere terms, I thought it might be worthwhile to post a couple of the paper's visual highlights. Below are the different types of fishing gears that scour U.S. waters (and beyond).

i-10e3ac57ef415ad99a363b7c1ca3e257-gear.001.jpg

i-5e376c9268bdba93441cdf7834cb2e8e-graph.002.jpg
The article rates each gear according to habitat impacts and bycatch (amount of fish caught incidentallly and often wasted by being thrown overboard). Worst offenders: dredges, midwater gillnets, pelagic longlines, and the ever-indiscriminate bottom trawls. Best bets: hook and line, purse seines, and midwater trawls.

Do you know how your favorite seafood is caught?

Tags

More like this

Fish aren't caught how they used to be, but some say they should be. Of the many gear types to choose from, there is general concensus that family-owned hook and line is one of the best, especially when compared to other gears. In 2000, hook and line fisherman Paul Parker gave a testimony before…
Industrial fishing operations take most of the blame for collateral impacts to sea-turtle populations, but new research shows that small-scale fisheries--operated by hand from little open boats --can kill as many critically endangered loggerhead sea turtles as industrial scale fisheries. A…
The recent post over at Dynamics of Cats, Pensive on Penzim, discusses the hype about a new cod-based cure for avian flu. So, what is the big deal? Well, probably nothing, there are no clinical trials or safety studies yet, but since the stakes are high, it is worth contemplating. I should point…
It warms me to see that we are close to 30 in our numbers this week. If you think you can handle the challenge then sign up below! Some people complained last week that the task wasn't hard enough...others moaned I already do this. So this week we kick it up a notch with #3. The request: Write a…

My name is Mark Bates. I am a butler, so I go by Master Mark Bates, or Master Bates (Don't Laugh!). I like fishing, hunting, and your mom.

By Mark Bates (not verified) on 08 Jul 2009 #permalink

Love science of the oceans. And live and breath saltwater and fishing. Catch and release. I own a fishing equipment web store. Please visit us at (www.sharkhunterfishing.com) for your fishing needs. And please practice CATCH AND RELEASE. Thank You, Ronda

By Ronda Solano (not verified) on 16 Mar 2011 #permalink