About Fisheries Industry

Fishing industry

Thefishing industryincludes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by theFood and Agriculture Organizationas includingrecreational,subsistenceandcommercial fishing, and the harvesting,processing, and marketingsectors.The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery offishand otherseafoodproducts for human consumption or as input factors in other industrial processes. Directly or indirectly, the livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture.

There are three principal industry sectors

· The commercial sector: comprises enterprises and individuals associated with wild-catch or aquaculture resources and the various transformations of those resources into products for sale. It is also referred to as the "seafood industry", although non-food items such as pearls are included among its products.

· The traditional sector: comprises enterprises and individuals associated with fisheries resources from which aboriginal people derive products in accordance with their traditions.

· The recreational sector: comprises enterprises and individuals associated for the purpose of recreation, sport or sustenance with fisheries resources from which products are derived that are not for sale.

Commercial sector

The commercial sector of the fishing industry comprises the following chain:

1. Commercial fishingandfish farmingwhich produce the fish

2. Fish processingwhich produce thefish products

3. Marketingof the fish products

World production

Fish are harvested bycommercial fishingandaquaculture.

According to theFood and Agriculture Organization(FAO), theworld harvestin 2005 consisted of 93.3 milliontons captured bycommercial fishinginwild fisheries, plus 48.1 million tons produced byfish farms. In addition, 1.3 million tons ofaquatic plants(seaweedetc.) were captured in wild fisheries and 14.8 million tons were produced byaquaculture.The number of individual fish caught in the wild has been estimated at 0.97-2.7 trillion per year (not counting fish farms or marine invertebrates).

Following is a table of the 2011 world fishing industry harvest in tons by capture and byaquaculture.

Commercial fishing

The top producing countries were, in order, thePeople's Republic of China(excludingHong KongandTaiwan),Peru,Japan, theUnitedstates,Chile,Indonesia,Russia,India,Thailand,NorwayandIceland. Those countries accounted for more than half of the world's production; China alone accounted for a third of the world's production.

Fish farming

Aquaculture is the cultivation ofaquaticorganisms. Unlikefishing, aquaculture, also known as aqua farming, is the cultivation of aquatic populations under controlled conditions.Mari culturerefers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments. Particular kinds of aquaculture includealga culture(the production ofkelp/seaweedand otheralgae);fish farming;shrimp farming, shellfish farming, and the growing ofcultured pearls.

Fish farming involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosed pools, usually for food. Fish species raised by fish farms includecarp,salmon,tilapia,catfishandcod. Increasing demands onwild fisheriesby commercial fishing operations have caused widespreadoverfishing. Fish farming offers an alternative solution to the increasingmarketdemandforfishand fish protein.

Fish processing

Fish processing is the processing of fish delivered by commercial fisheries and fish farms. The larger fish processing companies have their own fishing fleets and independent fisheries. The products of the industry are usually soldwholesaleto grocery chainsor to intermediaries.

Fish processing can be subdivided into two categories: fish handling (the initial processing of raw fish) and fish products manufacturing. Aspects of fish processing occur onfishing vessels,fish processing vessels, and atfish processing plants.

Another natural subdivision is into primary processing involved in the filleting and freezing of fresh fish for onward distribution to fresh fish retail and catering outlets, and the secondary processing that produces chilled, frozen and canned products for the retail and catering trades.

Fish products

Fisheries are estimated to currently provide 16% of the world population'sprotein. The flesh of many fish is primarily valued as a source of food; there are many edible species of fish. Other marine life taken as food includesshellfish,crustaceans, sea cucumber,jellyfishandroe.

Fish and other marine life are also be used for many other uses:pearlsandmother-of-pearl,sharkskinandray skin.Sea horses,star fish,sea urchinsandsea cucumberare used intraditional Chinese medicine.Tyrian purpleis a pigment made from marine snails,sepiais a pigment made from the inky secretions ofcuttlefish.Fish gluehas long been valued for its use in all manner of products.Isinglassis used for theclarificationofwineandbeer.Fish emulsionis afertilizeremulsionthat is produced from the fluid remains of fish processed forfish oilandfish meal.

In the industry the termseafoodproductsis often used instead offish products.

Fish marketing

Fish marketsaremarketplaceused for thetradein and sale of fish and otherseafood. They can be dedicated towholesale trade betweenfishermenand fishmerchants, or to the sale of seafood to individualconsumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type ofwet market, often sellstreet foodas well.

Mostshrimpare sold frozen and aremarketedin different categories. Thelive food fish tradeis a global system that links fishing communities with markets.

Traditional sector

The traditional fishing industry, or artisan fishing, are terms used to describe small scalecommercialorsubsistencefishing practices, particularly using traditional techniques such as rod and tackle, arrows and harpoons, throw nets and drag nets, etc. It does not usually cover the concept of fishing for sport, and might be used when talking about the pressures between large scale modern commercial fishing practices and traditional methods, or when aid programs are targeted specifically at fishing at or near subsistence levels.

Recreational sector

The recreational fishing industry consists of enterprises such as the manufacture and retailing offishing tackleand apparel, the payment of license fees to regulatory authorities, fishing books and magazines, the design and building of recreational fishing boats, and the provision of accommodation, fishing boats for charter, and guided fishing adventures.

International problems

The ocean covers 71% of the earth's surface and 80% of the value of exploited marine resources are attributed to the fishing industry. The fishing industry has provoked various international disputes as wild fish capture rose to a peak about the turn of the century, and has since started a gradual decline.Iceland, Japan, and Portugal are the greatest consumers of seafood per capita in the world.

Problems in the Americas

ChileandPeruare countries with high fish consumption, and therefore had troubles regarding fish industry. In 1947, Chile and Peru first adopted the 200nautical milesofExclusive Economic Zonefor their shore, and in 1982,UNformally adopted this term. In 2000s, Chile and Peru suffered serious fish crisis because of excessive fishing and lack of proper regulations, and now political power play in the area is rekindled.From the late 1950s, offshore bottom trawlers began exploiting the deeper part, leading to a large catch increase and a strong decline in the underlying biomass. The stock collapsed to extremely low levels in the early 1990s and this is a well-known example of non-excludable, non-rivalrouspublic goodin economics, causingfree-riderproblems.

Problems in Europe

Icelandis one of the largest consumers in the world and in 1972, a dispute occurred betweenUKand Iceland because of Iceland’s announcement ofExclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) to reduce overfishing. This dispute is called theCod War, direct confrontations between Icelandic patrol vessels and British warships. Nowadays in Europe in general, countries are searching for a way to recover fishing industry. Overfishing ofEUfisheries is costing 3.2 billion euros a year and 100,000 jobs according to a report. So Europe is constantly looking for some collective actions to prevent overfishing.

Problems in Asia

Japan,ChinaandKoreaare some of the greatest consumers of fish, and have some disputes overExclusive Economic Zone. In 2011, due to a serious earthquake, the nuclear power facility inFukushimawas damaged. Ever since, huge amount of contaminated water leaked and is entering the oceans.Tokyo Electric Power Company(Tepco) admitted that around 300 tons of highly radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank on the site. In theKuroshio Current, the sea near Fukushima, about 11 countries catch fish. Not only the surrounding countries such as Japan, Korea and China, but also the countries likeUkraine,SpainandRussia have boats in the Kuroshio Current. In September 2013,South Koreabanned all fish imports from eight Japanese prefectures, concerning radioactive water leak from the Fukushima nuclear plant.