Commercial Fishing Information
Commercial fishing involves catching fish and other kinds of seafood for the purpose of selling them. Fishermen board large ships with nets connected to them and go out into the ocean in dangerous conditions. The term commercial fishing applies to anything from a one-man operation to the operation of a large fishing company.
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History
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Though men have fished for food since the ice age, the ancient Egyptians are knows for fishing techniques and tools they developed on the Nile River. They used nets, baskets and hook and line to catch perch, catfish and eels. Sometime they used a club to beat the fish to death. Commercial fishing got its start in Europe in 950 A. D. and the first commercial fishing port in the United States opened in Glouster, Massachusetts in 1623. Since then, laws have regulated the industry.
Tools
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Commercial fishermen commonly use a large wall of netting to encircle the fish, or they employ the use of long fishing line with baited hooks to catch the fish. Another method commonly used in commercial fishing, the trawl and dredge method, drags a large net or frame with mesh along the sea floor to catch fish, shrimp, scallops, clams and oysters. Commercial fishers harvest crabs and lobsters in traps that sit on the ocean floor.
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Risks
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According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, fishermen face a risk of fataity 20 to 30 times higher than any other occupation. A 2008 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistic says that almost 129 out of 100,000 fishermen die each year on the job. The average for other occupations is only 3.6 per 100,000. Many deaths occur when boats sink or fishermen go overboard. Fishermen also risk death and injury by becoming tangled in the fishing gear.
Workers
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Fishermen may find work part-time, full-time or on long-term contracted work for extended trips. A captain of a commercial fishing vessel plans and oversees the trip. For success, he must have skill in finding the best fishing spot, and he should know the best methods to capture fish and negotiate the sale of them to wholesalers or food processors. Other crew members take care of supplies, maintain the fishing equipment, keep the vessel clean and extract the fish. The averages wages for a fisherman in 2008 was $27,950 according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Regulations
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The government imposes limits on commercial fishing operations within the United States to avoid over fishing the waters. These limits stipulate to commercial fishing outlet who many of which type of fish they can catch, and the weight and size of the fish they can keep. Regulations also restrict how many fish can be in operation. According to an article in the Boston Globe, in 2010 federal regulators project that some fishermen could lose up to 25 percent of their income because of new regulations. These regulations along with the higher fuel cost have caused some fishermen to leave the industry to find more lucrative work.
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References
- Photo Credit fishing boat image by paul mitchell from Fotolia.com
