Aquatic Science: Seafood & Fisheries

Study Notes

Fishing techniques can be classified into non-destructive and destructive categories.
Non-destructive techniques can become destructive if not carried out properly.

Recreational Fishing:
- Uses hook and line method.
- Done for leisure, family, and friends' weekends and holidays.
- Examples include annual competitions like 'Pertandingan Memancing Joran' and Bill Fishing Festival.
Subsistence Fishing:
- Uses hook and line, cast net, gill net, and manual harvesting of shellfish and seaweed.
- Carried out in rivers, river mouths, estuaries, and coastal areas.
- Done for domestic consumption or small side income.
Commercial Fishing:
- Involves catching fish and other seafood from wild sources for commercial profit.
- Done on a large scale, often far into the ocean, under adverse conditions.
- Provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world.

Large scale commercial fishing is also known as industrial fishing.
Harvests a wide variety of animals, including large and important fisheries worldwide.
Examples of species caught include herrings, sardines, cod, anchovy, tuna, flounder, crabs, and lobster.
Methods used are very efficient, including:
- Large nets (trawl, seine nets, dredges, gill nets, and traps).
- Factory ships with extensive fish processing facilities for processing and freezing fish.

Practices that result in irreversible damage to aquatic habitats and ecosystems.
Examples include:
- Dynamite or blast fishing, which kills many fish and other marine organisms.
- Bottom trawling, which damages or destroys the environment.
- Cyanide fishing, which kills coral and wreaks havoc on marine life.
Destructive fishing is common in poor and developing countries.