rebounded in 1999, taking the global capture total to 84.5 Mt. Also in the 1990s, the
demersal trawling fleet decreased as the former USSR, Poland, and East Germany
retreated from intense fishing activity. The retreat was enforced by the installation of
capitalist-style accounting for costs, particularly opportunity costs. Earlier,
Communist Bloc fishing was inefficient from an economic standpoint. World totals
were not greatly reduced by reduction in Eastern Bloc harvesting. The gap was filled
by return of the Peruvians to exploitation of the anchoveta. Since 2000, annual
capture fisheries totals have been 80 to 84 Mt, consistently led by anchoveta ranging
from 7 to 10.7 Mt and Alaskan pollock at 2.7 to 2.9 Mt (latest complete data are for
2008).
(^) In addition to capture fisheries, coastal waters around the world now host
substantial mariculture operations (distinct from aquaculture operations in
freshwater). Important products are salmon (mostly in Norway and Canada), mollusks
(mussels, oysters, clams, and scallops) and shrimp. These activities produced over 12
Mt of these products in 1999 and 19.7 Mt in 2008. Note that FAO reports whole
weight of mollusks, including shells, and most shells end up in piles near the shore,
not inside diners. Aquaculture has grown even more, from 18.4 Mt in 1999 to 32.9 Mt
in 2008. In both cases, and marine-capture landings as well, there has been doubt
about totals reported by the Chinese based on the special value of over-reporting in
their accounting system (e.g. Brander 2007). That is not accounted for here.
(^) Many fishing operations do not bring to port all that they catch. Captured fish and
invertebrates other than the species targeted by a fishing operation are termed
“bycatch”. Some bycatch is valuable enough to return to port, so is included in the
catch totals. But much bycatch has no accessible market, is made up of species closed
to fishing by regulations, or just has no commercial value. Fishers shovel that part,
most of it killed or injured by the gear and hauling aboard, back into the ocean.
Discarded bycatch is a major component of the mortality imposed by fisheries on
marine populations. Alverson et al. (1994) used observer estimates to calculate a
likely world total in 1992 of 27 Mt, or about a third of the FAO landings estimate for
that year. Discarded bycatch probably has been about that proportion of landings for a
long time (assumed to show the bycatch impact in Plate 17.1), amounts greater than
the total clupeid landings.
(^) At the present time, China is the number-one fishing nation, even accounting for
likely over-reporting. It has risen to that rank by dramatic increases since 1980,
mostly concentrated around its own coast and very broadly distributed among many
species. Moreover, China has more than matched its increased fishing effort in
expansion of pond (and rice paddy) culture of carp and Tilapia. Extending fisheries
and aquaculture has made China self-sufficient for good-quality protein.
(^) The capacity of commercial fishery interests to push the total catch upward has been
astounding. So far as we know, few new resources exist that might be exploited to