Marine Resources – June
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Climate Change Affects
Productivity of Fisheries
Fish provide a vital source of protein for more than half the world’s population, with more than 56 million people employed by or subsisting on fisheries. But climate change is beginning to disrupt the complex, interconnected systems that underpin this major source of food.
A team of scientists led by Christopher Free, a postdoctoral scholar at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, has studied how warming waters may affect the productivity of fisheries. The study looked at historical abundance data for 124 species in 38 regions, which represents roughly one-third of the reported global catch. The researchers compared this data to records of ocean temperature and found that 8 percent of populations were significantly negatively impacted by warming, while 4 percent saw positive impacts.
From 1930 to 2010, the researchers saw the greatest losses in productivity in the Sea of Japan, North Sea, Iberian Coastal, Kuroshio Current and Celtic-Biscay Shelf ecoregions. The greatest gains occurred in the Labrador-Newfoundland region, Baltic Sea, Indian Ocean and Northeastern United States.
New Partner for
Kognifai Program
Met Office, the U.K.’s National Meteorological Service, has signed a partner agreement with Kongsberg Digital to offer meteorological and oceanographic data to customers, independent software developers and other users of the Kognifai ecosystem in the maritime market.
Both Met Office and Kongsberg Digital see an increasing demand for services involving environmental data.
Study Reveals Significant
Seafood Fraud in US
Oceana has released the results of a new seafood fraud investigation, finding that one in every five fish tested was mislabeled. The study tested seafood not included under the existing federal traceability program.
Oceana collected more than 400 samples from more than 250 locations in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
Last year, the federal government required traceability for seafood at risk of illegal fishing and seafood fraud. The Seafood Import Monitoring Program currently only applies to 13 types of imported fish and only traces them from the boat to the U.S. border.
The report finds: seafood was more frequently mislabeled at restaurants (26 percent) and smaller markets (24 percent) than at larger chain grocery stores (12 percent); of the species tested, sea bass and snapper had the highest rates of mislabeling (55 and 42 percent, respectively); and seafood substitutes identified include imported seafood sold as regional favorites, vulnerable species sold as more sustainable catch, and seafood sold with generic names like “sea bass” and “catfish” disguising lower-value species or masking health and conservation risks.
Japan Accedes to Ship
Recycling Convention
Japan is the 10th country to become a party to the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention, which covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships, and preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships.
Under the treaty, ships are required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, specific to each ship.
Ship recycling yards are required to provide a ship recycling plan, specific to each individual ship to be recycled, specifying the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory.
The Hong Kong Convention will enter into force 24 months after the following conditions are met: not less than 15 states are party; the combined merchant fleets of the parties constitute not less than 40 percent of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping; and the combined maximum annual ship recycling volume of the parties during the preceding 10 years constitutes not less than 3 percent of the gross tonnage of the combined merchant shipping of the parties.
Worldwide Consumer Demand
For Healthier Fish
The aquafeed and aquaculture additives market will be worth more than $215 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Global Market Insights.
An overwhelming increase in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity and other cardiovascular ailments has prompted consumption of fish among a diverse set of populations in varied geographical regions. Fish are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acid and lean protein.
The consumer demand has boosted the frequency of fish harvesting around the world, and increasing health consciousness is spurring a demand for healthier aquafeed and aquaculture additives.
P8X Metal Detector
For Underwater Search
Conventional marine propellers remain the standard propulsion instrument for ocean vessels, small to large boats, and underwater vehicles. The design process for propellers takes a lot of time and money.
When a propeller dislodges from a vessel and falls to the murky seafloor, usually, the operator contracts a diving company to aid in the search, using tools such as JW Fishers’ Pulse 8X underwater metal detector. Recently, Marine Diving Service used the Pulse 8X to locate and retrieve an expensive propeller at the bottom of the Hudson River.
Another recent use of the Pulse 8X was by Underwater Resources Inc. in a project to locate embedded rebar in a shallow lagoon basin at a water park.