Since then, there has been an extraordinary increase Selleckchem GSK2118436 in the relative power of the fleets from Asia. Though all fisheries fleets have expanded during this time, it is the huge increase in the larger vessels, especially purse seiners, pursuing oceanic tunas that have been most dramatic [17]. Looked at on a per capita basis, the capacity of the fleets from all continents has increased (Table 1), with most fleets increasing by 2–3 times since the 1950s. This is indicative
of the highly competitive nature of global fisheries, and because fishing now occurs in increasingly remote locations, requiring greater processing on board, and greater vessel endurance. The deployment of large and high platforms of modern tuna purse seiners, augmented by helicopters, and the latest satellite data, has become more common. Some of the increase in the power of European fleets would undoubtedly have derived from the subsidized construction
of huge trawlers, which could not be accommodated in the European waters, and now fish elsewhere. Fisheries have, overall, moved southward since the 1950s [17] and [19], and the shelf and the slopes around the Antarctic continent have been reached [34], there in great interest in developing fisheries in the thawing Arctic [35]. In addition, continuing an age-old tradition, fleets from Europe, and now Asia, especially China, have become more and more active along
the African coast [17], [32] and [33] which can pose equity questions [36] and [37]. Recently, check details there was much controversy in southern Australia, after a 142-meter long, originally-Dutch, ‘supertrawler’ Abiraterone mouse was invited (and then un-invited), after years of negotiation, to exploit Greenback horse mackerel (Trachurus declivis) and other pelagic fishes, which, due to a range of factors, including reportedly a change in distribution through ocean warming, were no longer viable for local fleets to target. Around the world, similar marine resources, deemed to be ‘under-harvested’, will receive more and more scrutiny by roaming global fleets. One common understanding related to the declaration of exclusive economic zones in marine areas, is that resources that are not harvested by national fleets in these areas, should be made available for harvest by foreign fleets. For all fisheries management agencies, this is a time for increased vigilance. They must not simply focus on issues relating to their own resources, but track carefully those of their region, and indeed those of a global nature. Changes wrought through climate change will alter the level and distribution of ocean catch potential [38]. More than ever, it is necessary to look at changes in the big picture, and act on the policy implications of their major trends.