Audio Transcript:
Fishing for Answers.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
You know the old saying, "give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day -- teach a community to manage marine ecosystems, and depleted overfished areas can recover very quickly". Ok, that's not really the saying, but new hope for the world's fisheries, based on the work of an international consortium of scientists and researchers. The study is really the first comprehensive evaluation of the status of marine life in developed countries on a global scale.
Their findings warn of a trend toward stock collapse across all regions. But in areas that are being managed, the group found fish populations bouncing back. Like the efforts of some small fishing communities in Kenya that found by restricting overfishing and implementing other measures, the system recovered, yields increased, and so did their income.
Successful management strategies include collecting regular scientific data on the marine population, catch quotas, closures, zoning, even regulating the type of fishing gear used. These practices are paying off in managed programs in Alaska, New Zealand, Iceland, the northeast U.S. shelf, and California current. The key to quick recovery in some of these areas was to start before the situation became critical.
I suppose it's time for the world's fisheries to "fish, or cut bait" wait -- that didn't come out right.
"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
