Illegal Fishing

To explain what illegal fishing is I first have to explain the “un” of fishing. There is a committee where representatives of each country, fishing company and activist groups meet and determine how much of each fish may caught per year. They view how much fish is left and what should be a level to keep it sustainable. The activist groups and scientist who believe that the oceans are being depleted say that to keep the level of fish constant each year only fifteen tons should be caught and if we want to see sustainable growth it should be only ten tons. The governments have decided to let the fisheries cat thirty tons of fish a year (this is each type of fish, so it would be 30 tons of blue fin tuna, 30 tons of salmon, etc.) Now when I say illegal fish this is because the actual fishing that is happening is sixty tons of fish are being caught each year. This is double the legal amount and six times that of sustainable growth amount. This means that fifty present of the fish on the market has been illegally caught. This is a huge problem as it’s causing in accurate data collection because fifty present of the fish caught is not being recorded. This is also causing more and more fish to become endangered.

Endangered Fish

The South African sustainable seafood initiative has made some effort to stop the catching of endangered fish, they have done this by creating a table that demonstrates three colours, Red is very endangered and should not be eaten, orange is a warning that this fish is on its way to becoming endangered and green, this is fish that is sustainable and is causing little or no environmental damage in the way it is caught. They have also created ad campaigns to show the public the ordeal of overfishing. Movies have been created and may articles on the Internet have been put up to grab the attention of the public. The media is a major player in the change from over fishing to sustainable fish because the more the public is informed of the over fishing the more pressure gets placed on governments to start making a change. Here is the list of fish that are under the RED category in South Africa:
“This group includes unsustainable species as well as those that are illegal to sell in South Africa, according to the Marine Living Resources Act.
Some of these “no-sale” species are very important recreational species that cannot handle commercial fishing pressures, and may therefore only be caught for your own enjoyment and use, subject to the possession of a valid recreational fishing permit and other restrictions that may apply (such as daily bag limits, closed seasons and minimum sizes).
These are species that you should never buy.” (WWF, sassi, 2010)

BAARDMAN - NO SALE SPECIES BANDED GALJOEN - NO SALE SPECIES BLACKTAIL - NO SALE SPECIES BRINDLE BASS - NO SALE SPECIES BRONZE BREAM - NO SALE SPECIES CARPENTER - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL CATSHARK, STRIPED - NO SALE SPECIES DAGERAAD - LINEFISHERY ELF - LINEFISHERY (IN KZN) GALJOEN - NO SALE SPECIES GARRICK - NO SALE SPECIES GEELBEK - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL HAKE, ARGENTINE - BOTTOM TRAWLED JACOPEVER - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL JANBRUIN - NO SALE SPECIES KINGFISH - NO SALE SPECIES KNIFEJAW, CAPE - NO SALE SPECIES KNIFEJAW, NATAL - NO SALE SPECIES KOB, DUSKY - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL KOB, DUSKY - LINEFISHERY KOB, SILVER - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL KOB, SQUARETAIL - SHALLOW WATER PRAWN TRAWL MUSSELCRACKER, BLACK - LINEFISHERY MUSSELCRACKER, WHITE - NO SALE SPECIES NATAL WRASSE - NO SALE SPECIES POMPANO, LARGESPOT - NO SALE SPECIES POMPANO, SOUTHERN - NO SALE SPECIES POTATO BASS - NO SALE SPECIES

RIVER BREAM - NO SALE SPECIES RIVER SNAPPER - NO SALE SPECIES ROCKCOD, WHITE-EDGED - LINEFISHERY ROCKCOD, YELLOWBELLY - LINEFISHERY SAWFISH - NO SALE SPECIES SCOTSMAN - LINEFISHERY SEVENTY-FOUR SEABREAM - NO SALE SPECIES SKATES - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL SOUPFIN SHARK - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL SPOTTED GRUNTER - NO SALE SPECIES SPOTTED GULLEY SHARK - NO SALE SPECIES SPRINGER - NO SALE SPECIES STEENBRAS, RED - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL STEENBRAS, RED - LINEFISHERY STEENBRAS, WEST COAST - NO SALE SPECIES STEENBRAS, WHITE - NO SALE SPECIES STONEBREAM - NO SALE SPECIES STUMPNOSE, CAPE - NO SALE SPECIES STUMPNOSE, NATAL - NO SALE SPECIES STUMPNOSE, RED - LINEFISHERY STUMPNOSE, WHITE - INSHORE DEMERSAL TRAWL TUNA, ALBACORE (IMPORTED LONGLINE) TUNA, BIGEYE (IMPORTED LONGLINE) TUNA, BLUEFIN (ALL REGIONS) TUNA, SKIPJACK (IMPORTED LONGLINE) TUNA, YELLOWFIN (IMPORTED LONGLINE) ZEBRA - NO SALE SPECIES

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