Marine fish are an abundant and valuable resource. However, the ocean's supply is not limitless, and therefore careful planning and education must be undertaken to ensure the sustainability of the world's largest food source. This section contains information about different issues effecting the sustainability of marine fish, as well as a focus on coral reefs, which are home to the largest variety of fish.

For information on a specific species, try:

NBII Species Profiles: Life Histories and Environmental Requirements of Coastal Fishes and Invertebrates

There are a number of different fishing techniques, each of which has its own consequences to the marine environment, namely by-catch and structural damage to habitats. Some of the most common practices in the commercial fishing industry include long lining, drift netting, and trawling.

Long line fishing practices consist of hundreds or thousands of baited hooks strung along a line, that extends behind the fishing vessel. Long-lining results in a large amount of by-catch, specifically turtles and seabirds, including the Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses. Efforts have been undertaken to mitigate the amount of by-catch. These include the use of weights to ensure the lines sink quickly, the deployment of streamer lines to scare birds away from the baited hooks as they are deployed, setting lines only at night with ship lighting kept low. Read more about ongoing research aimed at improving these techniques.

[Image: NOAA]

Drift nets have been controversial in their tendency to capture large amounts of by-catch (species caught in a fishery which intended to target another species) including turtles and dolphins. In 1989, the US required that all countries exporting shrimp to US markets install and use a Turtle Excluder Device (TED), a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net. While TEDs have dramatically reduced the number of turtles caught as by-catch, enforcement is still an issue. Visit NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources for more information about TEDs as well as an underwater video of a turtle escaping from a net.

Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively pulling a large fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The trawl can be located either along the sea floor or mid-water. In addition to by-catch, trawling can have adverse effects on marine habitats, especially fragile coral reefs. Bottom trawling can also stir up bottom sediments and put a huge load of suspended solids into the water column. These areas of disturbance can be seen from Google Earth images.