This is due to the decrease in fish catches.

In addition, the high level of fishing could have an adverse impact on the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

Harvesting of marine fish resources in India takes place at three levels, namely, subsistence fishing, small scale fishing and industrial fishing.

Demand continued to increase, while catches seemed to have reached a maximum.

The actual amount obtained from capture fisheries will depend, inter alia, on the effectiveness of fisheries management and the improved management of currently overfished stocks, which could provide an increase of 5 to 10 million tons.39

Because worldwide fishing and fishing related industries employ approximately 400 million people and another 1 billion rely on fish for a significant source of protein, wasteful fishing practices can have significant multiplier effects.

According to Iraq, over fishing by shrimp trawlers is likely to have had the highest impact on shrimp catches.

Sea fishing

As a result, much of the swordfish caught is classified as so called bycatch. According to Crowder and Myers, swordfish is such a common catch on tuna targeted trips that about 50 percent of the total swordfish catch is taken as bycatch, not as targeted catch.

Bycatch is both a problem for target as well as non target species.

Regions exist where the biggest food production of women is that of catching shellfish and octopus.

The absence of controls on the overall fishing effort and the fishing practices of local fishers and foreign fishing vessels, prompted by the inadequacy of monitoring, control and surveillance, is the root cause of such unsustainable fishing practices.

Fishing overcapacity

1.h Sea fishing

It is estimated that more swordfish is caught by tuna longlines in the Pacific than longlines targeting swordfish and that such bycatch amounts to about 25 percent of the global catch.

At the same time, decreasing catches forced small scale fishermen to increase the size of their vessels and fish farther from shore.

Such an uncontrolled, unproductive process is known as ghost fishing .

We stress that the participation of citizens in fishing activities covered by relevant international laws is a principle addressed by our fishing and aquaculture regulations.

In fact, the swordfish caught by the world's leading swordfish harvesters Japan and Taiwan is primarily bycatch from tuna fisheries. In effect, the value of the bycatch fish may exceed the targeted fish.

Overfishing by foreign fleets in Ghana has been linked to an increase in the bush meat trade.

Previous studies conducted by various countries and international agencies have estimated an annual catch of 300,000 tons of fish and 10,000 tons of crustaceans.

All fish caught within national waters, regardless of size, had to be brought to port and those portions of the harvest caught as by catch would be confiscated upon landing and deducted from the quotas.

Deploring the fact that the straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks in many parts of the world are overfished or subject to sparsely regulated and heavy fishing efforts, mainly as a result of, inter alia, unauthorized fishing, inadequate regulatory measures and excess fishing capacity,

Noting with concern that effective management of marine capture fisheries has been made difficult in some areas by unreliable information and data caused by unreported and misreported fish catch and fishing effort and the contribution this lack of data makes to continued overfishing in some areas,

Such management decisions dictated that by catch mortality was counted directly as removal annually, and long term harvest rates were developed to account for the by catch mortality in setting yields.

It also advised that there were regulations in force concerning the yearly reporting of quota transfers and exchanges of quotas between the Contracting Parties, the reporting of vessels authorized to fish cod in the Baltic Sea, monthly catch reporting and monthly landings reporting by Contracting Parties.

Deploring the fact that fish stocks, including straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, in many parts of the world are overfished or subject to sparsely regulated and heavy fishing efforts, mainly as a result of, inter alia, unauthorized fishing, inadequate regulatory measures and excess fishing capacity,

One delegation noted that small scale fisheries were at times in conflict with industrial fishing and aquaculture.

The follow up and surveillance of fishing activities.

Other issues considered to be adversely affecting fisheries in the Mediterranean are those related to the degradation of the marine environment fishing by unidentified vessels fishing of some stocks at intensities significantly above those consistent with long term optimal yield fishing efforts exceeding levels providing maximum economic yield and competition between industrial fleets and artisanal coastal vessels.

IPHC furthermore had incorporated by catch removals into its stock assessments and harvest policy.

277. As both the value and volume of the Mediterranean capture fisheries have increased, there has been a growing concern regarding the high levels of fishing effort and the resulting mortality for most resources, particularly in fisheries for large pelagics, demersals and to lesser extent for small pelagics.

Another delegation underlined that both small and large scale fishing had to be conducted in a sustainable manner.

A number of delegations referred to the problems of by catches as well as to the issue of destructive fishing practices, in particular bottom trawling.

43 Paper presented by Greenpeace International, Overfishing and excessive capacity , 25 November 1997.

I've seen sort of OK pictures of bycatch, the animals accidentally scooped up while fishing for a specific species.

Deploring the fact that fish stocks, including straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks, in many parts of the world are overfished or subject to sparsely regulated and heavy fishing efforts, mainly as a result of, inter alia, unauthorized fishing, inadequate regulatory measures, harmful fisheries subsidies and excess fishing capacity,

It is believed that illegal fish catch in the Convention area was considered to be well over 100,000 tons in 1996, compared to the allowable catch of approximately 13,000 tons.

Brazil attributes the problem of excess fishing capacity not only to the illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries, but also to the oversized fishery fleets of some developed States.

Near shore waters long used for subsistence fishing, which account for an estimated 95 percent of world fish catch (80 million tons), are becoming an increasingly contested terrain that will determine the food security for about 20 percent of the human population.

The Impact on Small Scale Artisanal Fishing

296. With respect to the question of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, the Commission adopted a resolution providing advice to its Scientific Committee on the objectives of such a sanctuary, particularly those related to monitoring depleted populations and conducting research on the effects of environmental changes on whale populations.

Bycatch and overfishing impose significant costs on the oceans and society, most of which are not directly borne by the fishers themselves.

Moreover, the fish will not have had a chance to reproduce, undermining the fish stock altogether. For example, the avowed intention of the EU Common Fisheries Policy is to protect fish resources by regulating the amount of fish taken from the sea, by allowing young fish to reproduce , and by ensuring that measures are respected.

Reiterating its deep concern at the situation of many of the world's fisheries, caused principally by overcapacity, overfishing and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, as well as, in many areas, pollution,