...game fish and taste delicious. Most of the cobia you’ll find in the market comes from aquaculture operations. In the wild, cobia are rarely seen in large groups, so only a small amount is wild-caught. Commercial fishermen do not specifically target cobia and only harvest them incidentally when fishing for other species. China is the leading producer of farmed cobia. Other nations are developing technology to produce cobia, so global production of cobia will likely expand in the future. Ocean-cage operations are under way in Panama, the Bahamas, Vietnam, and Central America. In the United States, a freshwater facility in Virginia is producing and marketing farmed cobia, and research efforts are ongoing to enhance commercial aquaculture of cobia and demonstrate its technical and economic feasibility. LOOKING AHEAD Attaining a maximum length of 2 m (78 in) and maximum weight of 78 kg (172 lb), the cobia has an elongated fusiform (spindle-shaped) body and a broad, flattened head. The eyes are small and the lower jaw projects slightly past the upper. Fibrous villiform teeth line the jaws, the tongue, and the roof of the mouth. The body of the fish is smooth with small scales. It is dark brown in color, grading to white on the belly with two darker brown horizontal bands on the flanks. The stripes are more prominent during spawning, when they darken and the background color lightens. The large pectoral fins are normally carried horizontally, perhaps helping the fish attain...
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...one single fish was paid off for around $800,000. Such a high payment results in more fishermen eager to get a share of this profitable fish. Over the past six decades, there has been a drastic decline in the population of this species. Therefore alternative questions arises, is overfishing a factor directly responsible for the decline in the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna population; or is a larger scale external factor, global warming, the...
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...turtles to be so close to us. Sea turtles are really old animals and are very important. Sea turtles have a major effect on the environment around them. In the first place, sea turtles’ senses and speed have adapted to help them survive in the turtles’ environment .In the book, Sea Turtles an Extraordinary Natural History of Some Uncommon Turtles it says; “Sea turtles are not like normal fish, they are always holding their...
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...is because of it's extensive survivability tactics, reproductive cycle, and the regions that it is located The lionfish (also known as Pterois volitans and Pterois miles depending on the type of fish) is one of the most threatening species on earth, eating almost anything around it if it fits in their stomach. The classifications for him goes as follows: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Scorpaeniformes Family: Scorpaenidae Genus: Species:...
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...both “recovering endangered fish populations in the Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins while continuing to meet regional water and power development needs” (Curtis Bill to Promote Water Certainty). Instead of focusing on commercial production or saving fish population, the act attempted to balance the two goals. Protecting the fish, does not need to result in the loss of economic profits. The bill received bipartisan support, giving hope that more efforts to protect fish from harmful water and energy production techniques. Neither side denies the good intentions of the Endangered Species Act, yet many bills have gone through the house in order to amend the act to better function in its responsibility to protect species. The H.R. 1274...
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...gills, median fins supported by rays of cartilage or bone, and often paired fins, are all characteristics of fishes that allow them to live successfully in water. No fishes have limbs with digits. The diversity of forms among fishes provide evolutionary biologists with some of the best examples of natural selection, adaptation, divergence, speciation, and historical development of fauna on scales from regional to continental. Far from being the "dead-end" that we land-dwelling creatures tend to assume, fishes are extraordinarily diverse and their watery habitats provide a vast array of places in which to live and thrive. Fish species range in size from the smallest known living vertebrate, Trimmatom nanus, a goby, which is mature at a mere 8 millimeters, to the giant whale shark, Rhincodon typus, which can grow as large as 12 meters. There are species of fish living at 5,200 meters above sea level in Tibetan hot springs and fishes that live in a depth of eight thousand meters below the ocean surface — this is an incredible span, over 13 kilometers of vertical distance. No other vertebrate group occupies such a wide band of habitable space. Marine habitats include the deep...
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...dollar fishing enterprises. In North America, for many of us fish arrives on our plate by way of a long commodity chain ending at the local grocery store, and is a product we expect to see available daily as much as we might expect to see bread, milk, and eggs. Internationally, fish have different meanings; important culturally and economically, in some places what the ocean provides is the only available means of survival. However, the sea around us is changing, in temperature and in species composition. What species remain...
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...Overfishing refers to the act of overexploiting fish such that they reduce to unacceptable limits. The problem occurs if humans harvest large fish quantities than they can be replaced via natural reproduction in a given water body. Although catching large amounts of fish appear profitable, it has dire social and economic consequences. Overfishing interrupts balance of the marine ecosystem. Similarly, majority of the coastal population depends on fishing as their source of livelihood. This implies that the overpopulation causes an economic crisis to both the people who rely on fishing occupation; as well as several people who rely on fish diets. For many centuries, the oceans have been a reliable source of fish diets that replenish naturally. However, since the last half of the twentieth century, extensive fishing practices are risking depleting the natural sources of fish. For an ecosystem to remain in balance, the ecosystem should provide a suitable recovery environment. The objective of this presentation is providing the serious issues that result from overfishing, as well as provide suitable strategies for solving the problem. STATSTICSAccording the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) SOFIA report, 52% of the fish stock is completely exploited, 20% are moderately harvested, 17% are overexploited, 7% are depleted, and 1% is on the process of recovering from depletion. The data implies that 25% of the global fish population is either depleted or overexploited...
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... Many fish populations around the world are declining. Many factors contribute to these declines, among them overfishing. Neubert (2005) says as long as people have fished, they have overfished, and that fishery management always has been controversial. That controversy is not surprising as it can be difficult to balance competing goals—conserve the resources while harvesting as many fish as possible. Although industrial fishing is widely responsible for depletions of fish stock in the oceans, recreational fishing also plays a part. Industrial fishers and recreational anglers have been parts of the problem. They can also contribute to the solution. Murawski (2000) finds an exact definition of overfishing to be elusive. He offers this substitute: ‘‘I shall not today attempt to further define the kind of materials I understand to be within that shorthand definition; and perhaps I could never succeed in doing so . . . but I know it when I see it.’’ Former USA Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, writing on ‘‘obscenity’’ Measuring quantities is not enough. Managing fisheries requires qualitative as well as quantitative measurements to determine whether or not a fishery has been overfished Recreational Fishing Recreational fishing can contribute to depletion of fish stocks. Where...
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...Shark Killing and the Ecosystem Introduction Sharks are fascinating creatures that come in all sizes and live in water all over the world. Arguably, these creatures play a very imperative responsibility in the ocean that a fish cannot. Apparently, sharks are the top food providers in the ocean almost in every part of the world. In this case, they assist in keeping the inhabitants of other fish species healthy and in suitable proportion for their ecosystem. However, shark population faces the threat of extinction in almost all parts of the world due to overfishing. Fishers us a technique called Bycatch, a process in which marine mammals or species of fish are unintentionally, caught while fishing for a specific target. Irrespective of the initiatives and laws put in place for overfishing, fishers have continued to hunt sharks for the fin soup, which is in high demand than their meat. On the other hand shark cartilage and shark liver oil are sold as cures for the hosts of aliments. Due to this disparity between meat and fins, it has led to a horrific practice of shark fining. As a result, there is need to create awareness on the importance of sharks in all parts of the world in order to save ocean ecosystem from extinction. Catching Techniques Many fishing techniques and gear are no selective and result in catching and discarding millions of marine life that is not always the target species. Most of the fishing methods like the long line typically are used to catch tuna. However...
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...Chapter I INTRODUCTION Background of the Study One of the major sources of protein in human diet is fish. In fact, marine animals were assumed by ancient writers to be symbols of good health. However, nowadays, marine animals are far from being representatives of good health. They are subjected to diseases just as much as their terrestrial counterparts. Disease, in fishes, is closely linked to environmental stress. In the wild, they generally have some degree of freedom to modify their environment. They can move to more suitable conditions if faced with a negative environmental change such as a reduction in oxygen level. In culture conditions, on the other hand, they have limited opportunity to choose their external environmental conditions. Most individual fish, may it be in wild or cultivated populations are infected with parasites. The number of parasites necessary to cause harm to the fish varies considerably with the species and size of the host and its health status. Many parasite species are host-specific to at least some degree and are capable of infecting one or only a limited number of host species. Parasites disease of fish (and livestock) reduces the amount of food available to people around the globe. This is why many researchers mention that it is imperative to investigate the relationship between the environmental factors which affects the parasites that affect production and quality. Even today, it remains difficult to convince governments and...
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..................................... 2 Legal status of the National Fisheries Policy................................................................ 2 Range of the National Fisheries Policy......................................................................... 2 Policy for procurement of fish for the open freshwater bodies ..................................... 3 Fish culture and management policy in closed water bodies ........................................ 5 Coastal shrimp and aquaculture policy ......................................................................... 6 Marine fisheries resource development, exploitation and management policy ............. 8 Related fisheries policies............................................................................................ 10 Other related issues .................................................................................................... 15 Implementation strategy of National Fisheries Policy ................................................ 17 1 Introduction The role of fisheries resources in the national economy is very important. According to the 1995-96 statistics about 60% of the animal protein in our food come from fish. Of the total national income, the Fisheries sector alone contributed about 5% and of the agriculture resource contribution fisheries was 16.7%. In...
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...18 3.2. Main destinations 20 3.3. Imports 21 3.4. Value addition in Africa 21 4. Studies where value chain analysis has been used 22 4.1. Revenue distribution through the seafood value chain 23 4.2. Lake Victoria Nile perch fishery, Tanzania 25 4.3. Pelagic fishery in Morocco 32 4.4. Value addition opportunities in the Namibian seafood industry 38 4.5. Ugandan Nile perch quality management and certification 41 4.6. The Kenya capture fisheries value chain 45 4.7. Nigerian domestic catfish production 50 4.8. Gender analysis of aquaculture value chain in Nigeria and Vietnam 54 4.9. Private sector applications of value chain analysis 60 5. On-going value chain analysis studies 68 5.1. Value chain analysis of international fish trade and food security 68 5.2. Ghana: Value Chain and Cost Earnings Analysis 69 6. Example from Asia: Analysis of the fishery sector in Sri Lanka 70 6.1. Value chain summary 71 6.2. Production 71 6.3. Ownership and collective action 72 6.4. Fisheries value chain structure and dynamics 74 6.5. Value chain participants 76 6.6. Supporting markets 77 6.7. Inter-firm linkages 78 6.8. Value chain governance and power relations 79 7. Conclusions 81 References 82 Executive summary Executive summary The Trade Working Group of the Partnership for African Fisheries (a NEPAD programme) is...
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...INDEX Question number Page number Question 1: discuss the distinctive characteristics that set chordates apart from all other phyla Page 3 Question 2.1: Describe the events that takes place during metamorphosis of solitary ascidians Page 4 Question 2.2: Discuss the feeding method of larvaceans Page 5 Question 3: discuss each of the following aspects of Hemichordates Phylogeny body organisation Page 6 Question 4 write explanatory notes on each of the following 4.1) Adaptation of sharks which promote buoyancy in water 4.2) Osmoregulation in freshwater and marine bony fishes Page 7 Page 8 Question 5 discuss the different types of snake venom and their effect on pray Page 10 Bibliography Page 11 Question 1 Discuss the distinctive characteristics that set chordates appart from all other phyla: (Hickman et al 1994) The animals most familiar to most people belong to the great phylum chordate. Humans themselves are members and share one of the common characteristics from which the phylum derives its name, the notochord. 1) Notochord A structure to prevent body shortening. All chordates have as their primary internal longitudinal skeletal element the notochord, a stiff but flexible rod that runs the length of the bilaterally symmetrical animal just ventral to the nerve cord. The notochord develops in every chordate embryo and is retained in many adults. 2) Dorsal tubular nerve cord A structure to coordinate movement. In...
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...osteoblasts along with blood vessels, nerves, and pigment cells reside (Gemberling et al., 2013). Figure 1 shows a cross-section of a fin ray and its constituent parts from Tu and Johnson (2011). The process of regeneration involves coordinated steps beginning with wound healing. During the wound healing stage of regeneration, which occurs over twelve hours, epithelial cells migrate to the point of amputation to cover the wound (Gemberling et al. 2013). Once epithelial cells cover the entirety of the wound, a blastema begins to form. Blastemas are the region of undifferentiated cells used for regeneration which include mesenchymal cells and osteoblasts as well as fibroblast-like cells (Gemberling et al. 2013). It has been noted that migration of the cells forming the blastema is distal to the fin ray (Wehner and Weidinger, 2015). Blastema formation occurs over the course of two days, at which point mesenchymal cells...
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