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Figure 1. Taken from Grinning Planet.
Improvement in Fishing Technology (Short Term)
General Goals
General goals of the plan include decreasing the harmful effects of fishing technology on the environment and increasing the selectivity of fish caught both by species and size, to the purpose of drastically reducing bycatch. Improving technology and fishing equipment is really only a short term solution to global fisheries problems. Long term solutions will come from intelligent regulations and worldwide cooperation to use our resources wisely.
Technology Suggestions
Step 1:
Step 1 would include the use of methods that are more environmentally friendly such as hand lining or trapping rather than bottom trawling because trawls stir up sediment (turbidity is harmful to many fish species as well as bivalves), destroy fish habitat, and destroy plants and animals that live along the bottom whereas hand lining and other more environmentally friendly methods do not contact the bottom and thus do not harm the nonliving environment and are very selective with little bycatch.
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Local fishermen and small fishing companies would get larger per-net or equipment converted subsidies than large companies, who would receive a smaller subsidy based on a sliding scale. This is because large fishing companies would find it easier and have more capital available to convert to new technology than smaller groups of fishermen. However, due to this same capital, large fishing fleets might in fact be less likely to make the switch, so we propose that they also receive a tax break.
Regulation of Fishing Technology (Long Term)
The most effective means of managing ocean fisheries long-term will be regulations. Ideally, regulations would occur before fish are caught rather than after. For example, regulation should regulate net drag speed and net mesh size rather than enforcing quotas, which only encourage fishermen to throw fish exceeding the weight limit away. Regulation would be most effective if the two are combined.
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