Fisheries glossary
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fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
,
fisheries management The goal of fisheries management is to produce sustainable biological, environmental and socioeconomic benefits from renewable aquatic resources. Wild fisheries are classified as renewable when the organisms of interest (e.g., fish, shellfish, am ...
and
fisheries science Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, conservation, eco ...
.


A

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Abundance Abundance may refer to: In science and technology * Abundance (economics), the opposite of scarcities * Abundance (ecology), the relative representation of a species in a community * Abundance (programming language), a Forth-like computer prog ...
- is a measure of how many fish are in a population or a fishing ground. See relative abundance and absolute abundance. *
Acoustic survey Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water, its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake, a river or a tank. Typ ...
- a systematic gathering of information on fish availability and abundance using underwater sound. *
Acoustical oceanography Hydroacoustics is the study and application of sound in water. Hydroacoustics, using sonar technology, is most commonly used for monitoring of underwater physical and biological characteristics. Hydroacoustics can be used to detect the depth ...
- the use of underwater sound to map underwater topography and the contents of the sea. *
Aerial survey Aerial survey is a method of collecting geomatics or other imagery by using airplanes, helicopters, UAVs, balloons or other aerial methods. Typical types of data collected include aerial photography, Lidar, remote sensing (using various visible ...
- a method of gathering information on surface fish movement and density by visual observation and photography from low-flying aircraft. * Aggregation - any grouping of fish, for whatever reason (or unknown reason) they are concentrating. See
shoaling In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. Ab ...
. *
Agricultural runoff Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pol ...
- surplus water from agricultural land, often draining into rivers and then into the sea, and often enriched with nutrients, sediment, and agricultural chemicals. * Alginate production - a gel substance extracted from
brown algae Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and po ...
and used industrially as a thickening agent for food and paint. *
Algal bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompas ...
- a rapid excessive growth of algae, generally caused by high nutrient levels, particularly phosphorus. When the algae die, algal blooms can deplete oxygen to the point where fish cannot survive. *
Artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
- someone who practices a
craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...
as a livelihood, as opposed to an
artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
, who practices an art for its own sake. *
Artisan fishing Artisanal fishing (or traditional/subsistence fishing) consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishing households (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are o ...
- a term sometimes used to describe small scale commercial or subsistence fishing practices. The term particularly applies to coastal or island ethnic groups using traditional
techniques Technique or techniques may refer to: Music * The Techniques, a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group of the 1960s *Technique (band), a British female synth pop band in the 1990s * ''Technique'' (album), by New Order, 1989 * ''Techniques'' (album), by M ...
and traditional
fishing boats A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing. The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
. *
Anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
- fish that live their adult lives in the ocean but migrate up fresh water rivers to spawn. Examples are
Pacific salmon ''Oncorhynchus'' is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmon and Pacific trout. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “lump, bend”) + ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos, “snout”), in r ...
. Fish that migrate in the opposite direction are called ''catadromous''. *
Anoxic sea water Anoxic waters are areas of sea water, fresh water, or groundwater that are depleted of dissolved oxygen. The US Geological Survey defines anoxic groundwater as those with dissolved oxygen concentration of less than 0.5 milligrams per litre. Anoxic ...
- sea water depleted of oxygen. See
hypoxia Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment * Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the tis ...
. * Anoxic sediments -
sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...
s depleted of oxygen. *
Antarctic convergence The Antarctic Convergence or Antarctic Polar Front is a marine belt encircling Antarctica, varying in latitude seasonally, where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the relatively warmer waters of the sub-Antarctic. Antarctic waters pr ...
- a line encircling Antarctica where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet and sink beneath the sub-Antarctic waters, creating an upwelling zone which is very high in marine productivity, especially in
Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (''Euphausia superba'') is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 ind ...
. *
Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
- the farming of freshwater and saltwater organisms including molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. See also
fish farming upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland Fish farming or ...
and
mariculture Mariculture or marine farming is a specialized branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in enclosed sections of the open ocean ( offshore mari ...
. * Availability - (1) the proportion of a fish population living where it can be fished. (2)
catch per unit effort In fisheries and conservation biology, the catch per unit effort (CPUE) is an indirect measure of the abundance of a target species. Changes in the catch per unit effort are inferred to signify changes to the target species' true abundance. A decr ...
. (3) a term sometimes used to describe whether a given fish of a given size can be caught by a given type of gear in a given fishing area.


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Bait fish 300px, Feeder Goldfish are common baitfish. Bait fish (or baitfish) are small-sized fish caught and used by anglers as bait to attract larger predatory fish, particularly game fish. Baitfish species are typically those that are common and bree ...
- are small fish caught for use as bait to attract large predatory fish. See
forage fish Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish feed near the base of the food ...
. *
Bathypelagic The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagic ...
- the open ocean or pelagic zone that extends from a depth of 1000 to 4000 meters below the ocean surface. *
Beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
- a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water, consisting of loose particles composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobble, or of shell fragments or coralline algae fragments. *
Beam trawling Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and Demersal zone, demersal trawling. Benthic tra ...
- the simplest method of bottom trawling. The mouth of the trawl net is held open by a solid metal beam attached to two solid metal plates, welded to the ends of the beam, which slide over and disturb the seabed. This method is mainly used on smaller vessels, fishing for flatfish or prawns, relatively close inshore. *
Bed A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many b ...
- the bottom of a river, or watercourse, or any body of water, such as the
seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...
. *
Benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...
- the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called
benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.Benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...
, also known as the
benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...
. Included are both mobile animals, such as crabs and abalone, and non mobile animals, such as corals and sponges. *
Billfish The term billfish refers to a group of saltwater predatory fish characterised by prominent pointed bills (rostra), and by their large size; some are longer than . Extant billfish include sailfish and marlin, which make up the family Istiophor ...
- large, predatory fish characterised by their long sword-like bill. Billfish include the sailfish, marlin and swordfish. They are important
apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic lev ...
s feeding on a wide variety of smaller fish and cephalopods. *
Bioacoustics Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion and reception in animals (including humans). This involves neurophysiological and anatomical b ...
- in
underwater acoustics Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water, its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake, a river or a tank. Typ ...
and fisheries acoustics this term is used to mean the effect of plants and animals on sound propagated underwater, usually in reference to the use of
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
technology for
biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
estimation *
Bimodal In statistics, a multimodal distribution is a probability distribution with more than one mode (statistics), mode. These appear as distinct peaks (local maxima) in the probability density function, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Categorical, ...
- a bimodal distribution is a distribution with two different modes which appear as distinct peaks. An example in fisheries is the length of fish in a fishery, which might show two or more modes or peaks reflecting fish of different ages or species. *
Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
- is the variation of life forms within an area. In the context of fisheries the number and variety of organisms found within a fishery. *
Biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
- the total weight of a fish species in a given area. Can be measured as the total weight in tons of a stock in a fishery, or can be measured per square metre or square kilometre. The most successful species worldwide, in terms of biomass, may be the
Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (''Euphausia superba'') is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 ind ...
, with about five times the total biomass of humans. *
Biotone A biotone is a biogeographical region characterized not by distinctive biota but rather by a distinctive transition from one set of biota to another. They often contain the limits of distribution of the biota of neighbouring regions. Biotones are ...
- a region where a distinctive transition from one set of biota to another occurs. An example is the region where tropical and temperate waters mix. *
Biotoxin A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849– ...
s - natural toxins produced by organisms, often for use as a defence mechanism. *
Bony fish Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilag ...
- fish that have a bony skeleton and belong to the class osteichthyes. Basically, this is all fish except for sharks, rays, skates, hagfish and lampreys. *
Bottom trawling Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towin ...
- a fishing method that involves towing trawl nets along the sea floor. Bottom trawling can cause serious damage to sea floor habitats. *
Brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...
- water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater with fresh water, as in
estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
. *
Breach Breach, Breached, or The Breach may refer to: Places * Breach, Kent, United Kingdom * Breach, West Sussex, United Kingdom * ''The Breach'', Great South Bay in the State of New York People * Breach (DJ), an Electronic/House music act * Miroslava ...
- a whale's leap out of the water. * Breaker zone - the zone where
ocean surface waves In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction of t ...
approaching the shore commence breaking, typically in water depths between five and ten metres. *
Brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest bro ...
- the collective offspring of a species produced in a particular time span. See also
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit), ...
. *
Buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...
- a floating object usually moored to the bottom. Buoys can be used as temporary markers, called dans, during Danish seine fishing to mark the anchor position of a net, or when fishing with lobster pots to mark the position of the pots. *
Bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
- bycatch is the harvest of marine life and seabirds during fishing operations when other fish were the target. For example, bycatch might consist of a species which was not the targeted species, such as a shark caught on a tuna longline. Or it might consist of fish of the targeted species, but not of the targeted age or size. Some shrimp fisheries have a bycatch five times the weight of the caught shrimp. See also
incidental catch In fishing, incidental catch is that part of the catch which was not originally targeted, but was caught and retained anyway. It can be contrasted with discards, which is that part of the catch which was not originally targeted, but was caught and ...
.


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Carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...
- a calcified protective cover on the upper frontal surface of crustaceans. It is particularly well developed in lobsters and crabs. *
Carrying capacity The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as t ...
- the supportable population of a species, given the food, habitat conditions and other resources available within a fishery. *
Casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...
- the act of throwing bait or a lure over the water, using a fishing rod. *
Catadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
- fish that live their adult lives in fresh water lakes or rivers but migrate down rivers to spawn in the sea. An example are freshwater eels of genus ''
Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territo ...
'', whose larvae drift on the open ocean, sometimes for months or years, before travelling thousands of kilometres back to their original rivers (see
eel life history The eel is a long, thin bony fish of the order Anguilliformes. The species has a catadromous life cycle, that is: at different stages of development migrating between inland waterways and the deep ocean. Because fishermen never caught anything the ...
). Fish that migrate in the opposite direction are called ''anadromous''. *
Cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...
s - (from the Greek for "head-feet") animals such as squid and octopus where tentacles converge at the head. Cephalopods are the most intelligent of the invertebrates with well-developed senses and large brains. *
Cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...
- member of the group of marine mammals that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life and are noted for their high intelligence. *
Cetacean bycatch Cetacean bycatch (or cetacean by-catch) is the incidental capture of non-target cetacean species such as dolphins, porpoises, and whales by fisheries.Alverson et al. (1994) Bycatch can be caused by entanglement in fishing nets and lines, or di ...
- the incidental capture of non-target cetacean species by fisheries. Bycatch can be caused by entanglement in fishing nets and lines, or direct capture by hooks or in trawl nets. *
Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
- variation in the Earth's global climate or in regional climates over time. Climate change involves changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over time periods ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by natural processes on Earth, external factors including variations in sunlight intensity, and more recently by human activities. *
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit), ...
- those individuals of a stock born in the same spawning season. For annual spawners, a year's recruitment of new individuals to a stock is a single cohort or year-class. See brood. *
Commercial fishery Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often p ...
- An umbrella term covering fisheries resources and the whole process of catching and marketing fish, molluscs and crustaceans. It includes the fishermen and their boats, and all activities and resources involved in harvesting, processing, and selling. *
Conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...
- organisms or populations that belong to the same species. Organisms that don't belong to the same species are ''heterospecific''. *
Continental margin A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...
- the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from the thick continental crust. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area. *
Continental rise The continental rise is a low-relief zone of accumulated sediments that lies between the continental slope and the abyssal plain. It is a major part of the continental margin, covering around 10% of the ocean floor. Formation This geologic str ...
- is below the slope, but landward of the abyssal plains. Extending as far as 500 kilometres from the slope, it consists of thick sediments which have cascaded down the slope and accumulated as a pile at the base of the slope. *
Continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
- the seabed from the shore to the edge of the continental slope, covered by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and
gulfs A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...
. *
Continental slope A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...
- the slope which starts, usually abruptly at about a 200-metre depth, at the outer edge of the continent shelf and dips more steeply down to the deep-ocean floor (abyssal plain). *
Coriolis effect In physics, the Coriolis force is an inertial or fictitious force that acts on objects in motion within a frame of reference that rotates with respect to an inertial frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the force acts to the ...
- due to the Earth's rotation, freely moving objects on the surface of the earth veer right in the northern hemisphere and left in the southern hemisphere. This effect is called the Coriolis effect, and works, in particular, on winds and ocean currents. The effect varies with latitude and is zero at the equator and increases towards the poles. *
Cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...
- small, locally owned businesses usually associated in fishing with traditional methods and low relative yield. * Crab pot fishery - a fishing technique where crabs are lured by bait into portable traps, sometimes called pots. *
Crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s - A group of freshwater and saltwater animals having no backbone, with jointed legs and a hard shell made of chitin. Includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and krill.


''D''

* Danish seine - a widely used commercial fishing technique which uses a small trawl net with long wire warps. The seine boat drags the warps and the net in a circle around the fish. The motion of the warps herds the fish into the central net. Danish seining works best on demersal fish which are either scattered on or close to the bottom of the sea, or are aggregated (schooling). See also
purse seine Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be dep ...
. * Dead zone - an area in an ocean or large lake where oxygen levels are extremely low, often due to
eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...
. Dead zones have been increasing since the 1970s. * Deep ocean currents - currents in the deep ocean, also known as
thermohaline circulation Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The adjective ''thermohaline'' derives from '' thermo-'' referring to temper ...
or the "conveyor belt", are driven by density and temperature gradients. They can be contrasted with surface ocean currents, which are driven by the wind. *
Demersal zone The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
- the zone at or near the bottom of a sea or lake. Inhabitants of the demersal zone feed off the bottom or off other demersal fish. See also pelagic zone. *
Demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...
- fish that live in the demersal zone. Examples are cod, flounder and snapper. Compared to pelagic fish, demersal fish contain little oil. See also bottom feeder. * Demersal trawling - trawling on or near the bottom of a sea or lake. See also ''bottom trawling''. * Depletion - reducing the abundance of a fish stock through fishing. * Delisted - a species which is no longer listed under the ESA. See also ''recovered species''. *
Diatoms A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group com ...
- minute planktonic unicellular or colonial algae. *
Downwelling Downwelling is the process of accumulation and sinking of higher density material beneath lower density material, such as cold or saline water beneath warmer or fresher water or cold air beneath warm air. It is the ''sinking'' limb of a convecti ...
- A downward movement (sinking) of surface water caused by onshore
Ekman transport Ekman transport is part of Ekman motion theory, first investigated in 1902 by Vagn Walfrid Ekman. Winds are the main source of energy for ocean circulation, and Ekman Transport is a component of wind-driven ocean current. Ekman transport occurs w ...
, converging currents or when a water mass becomes more dense than the surrounding water. *
dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...
- relating to or situated near or on the back. *
Dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
- dredge designed to catch scallops, oysters or sea cucumbers are towed along the bottom of the sea by specially designed dredge boats. *
Driftnet Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. The nets are kept vertical in the water by floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weig ...
- a gillnet suspended by floats so that it fishes the top few metres of the water column. Drift nets can be many kilometres long. Because drift nets are not anchored to the sea bottom or connected to a boat, they are sometimes lost in storms and become
ghost net Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded in the ocean. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea. They can entangle fish, dolp ...
s. *
Dropline A dropline is a commercial fishing rig consisting of a long fishing line set vertically down into the water, with a series of baited hooks attached to the ends of side-branching secondary lines called ''snoods''. Dropline fishing, or droplining ...
- a fishing line with one or more hooks, held vertically in the water column with weights and generally used on the continental shelf and slope. Several droplines may be operated by a vessel, either on manually or mechanically operated reels.


E

*
Echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea ...
s - a group of marine animals that includes seastars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers, abundant on the floor of the deep sea, as well as in shallower seas. *
Ecologically sustainable development Ecologically sustainable development is the environmental component of sustainable development. It can be achieved partially through the use of the precautionary principle; if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack o ...
- in the context of fisheries, using, conserving and enhancing fishery resources so that the ecological processes, on which the fish depend, are not degraded. *
Economic rent In economics, economic rent is any payment (in the context of a market transaction) to the owner of a factor of production in excess of the cost needed to bring that factor into production. In classical economics, economic rent is any payment m ...
- the profit that could be earned from a fishery owned by an individual. Individual ownership maximizes profit, but an open entry policy usually results in so many fishermen that profit barely matches opportunity cost. See ''maximum economic yield''. *
Ectotherm An ectotherm (from the Greek () "outside" and () "heat") is an organism in which internal physiological sources of heat are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature.Davenport, John. Animal Life a ...
ic - animals that control body temperature through external means, using the sun, or flowing air or water. *
Ekman transport Ekman transport is part of Ekman motion theory, first investigated in 1902 by Vagn Walfrid Ekman. Winds are the main source of energy for ocean circulation, and Ekman Transport is a component of wind-driven ocean current. Ekman transport occurs w ...
- resultant flow at right angles to and to the right of the wind direction in the northern hemisphere, to the left in the southern hemisphere. *
Elasmobranch Elasmobranchii () is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including sharks (superorder Selachii), rays, skates, and sawfish (superorder Batoidea). Members of this subclass are characterised by having five to seven pairs of gil ...
- cartilaginous fish that includes sharks, skates and rays. Compare
bony fish Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilag ...
. *
Electrophoresis Electrophoresis, from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, "amber") and φόρησις (phórēsis, "the act of bearing"), is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric fie ...
- A technique used by fisheries scientists. Tissue samples are taken from fish, and electrophoresis is used to separate proteins such as enzymes, based on their different mobilities in an electric field. This information is used to differentiate between morphologically similar species and to distinguish sub-populations or stocks. *
El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...
- large scale, cyclical (generally three to seven years), ocean warming and cooling episodes across the equatorial Pacific. Warm water pools in the east in El Niño conditions and in the west during
La Niña La Niña (; ) is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern. The name ''La Niña'' originates from Spanish for "the girl", by an ...
conditions. It begins around Christmas (El Niño means Christ child). These changes disrupt weather patterns and the migration habits of fish. *
Endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
- An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct. The
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been evaluated through to 2006. *
Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
- native to a certain region, often a fairly small local area. *
Endothermic In thermochemistry, an endothermic process () is any thermodynamic process with an increase in the enthalpy (or internal energy ) of the system.Oxtoby, D. W; Gillis, H.P., Butler, L. J. (2015).''Principle of Modern Chemistry'', Brooks Cole. p. ...
- animals which maintain a body temperature which is above ambient temperature. See Ectothermic. *
Epibenthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.Epipelagic The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...
- The top layer of the ocean from the surface down to about 200 metres. This is the illuminated zone where there is enough light for photosynthesis. Nearly all
primary production In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...
in the ocean occurs here. See
photic zone The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...
. *
Escapement An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy to ...
- the percentage of a
spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...
anadromous fish population that survives all obstacles during their migration, including fishing pressure and predation, and successfully reach their spawning grounds. *
Estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
- a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Healthy estuaries can have high rates of biological productivity. * Eulittoral zone - another name for the
intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...
or ''foreshore'', extending from the spring high tide line to the neap low tide line. *
Euryhaline Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the molly (''Poecilia sphenops'') which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab (''Carcinus maenas'') is an e ...
- fish that are tolerant to a wide range of salinities. *
Eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...
- an increase in chemical nutrients – typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus – in an ecosystem. Eutrophication in water often results in an increase in algae growth and decay, which can lead to decreased levels of oxygen and fish populations. * Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - a seazone under the law of the sea over which a state has special rights to the exploration and use of marine resources. Generally a state's EEZ extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) out from its coast.


F

* Farmed fisheries - are
fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
where the fish are farmed using
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
techniques. They can be contrasted with
wild fisheries A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal (crustaceans and molluscs) population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/ri ...
. *
Fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...
- the number of eggs a fish produces each reproductive cycle; the potential reproductive capacity of an organism or population. Fecundity changes with the age and size of the fish. *
Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
- a true fish is a vertebrate with gills that lives in water. However, in the context of fisheries, the term "fish" is generally used more broadly to include any harvestable animal living in water, including
mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
s,
crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s and
echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea ...
s. :::*the term "
shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
" refers to molluscs :::*the term "
finfish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of liv ...
" refers to bony fishes, sharks and some rays :::*the term "scalefish" refers to fish bearing scales :::*the term "fish" can refer to more than one fish, particularly when the fish are from the same species :::*the term "fishes" refers to more than one species of fish *
Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
- the activity of trying to catch fish *
Fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...
or ''fisher'' - someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. *
Fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
- the activities leading to and resulting in the harvesting of fish. It may involve capture of
wild fish A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal (crustaceans and molluscs) population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riv ...
or raising of fish through
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
. A fishery is characterised by the species caught, the fishing gear used, and the area of operation. *
Fishing effort A fishery is an area with an associated fish or aquatic population which is harvested for its commercial or recreational value. Fisheries can be wild or farmed. Population dynamics describes the ways in which a given population grows and shrinks ...
- a measure of how much work is needed by fishermen to catch fish. Different measures are appropriate for different kinds of fisheries. *
Fishmeal Fish meal is a commercial product made from whole wild-caught fish, bycatch and fish by-products to feed farm animals, e.g., pigs, poultry, and farmed fish.R. D. Miles and F. A. Chapman.FA122: The Benefits of Fish Meal in Aquaculture DietsFisherie ...
- protein-rich animal feed product based on fish. * Fishing trip - usually performed by using a vessel, fishing trip starts when departing a port and ends when returning to port or in some cases when landing the catch. Fishing trip consists of different types of activities performed when fishing, for example - setting traps, recovering traps, crossing a fishing zone, relocating catch, discarding catch etc. *
Fishing vessel A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing. The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
- any vessel normally used for the harvesting of living aquatic resources or in support of such activity. This includes vessels which provide assistance to other fishing vessels such as supply, storage, refrigeration, transportation or processing (mother ships). *
Fishing fleet A fishing fleet is an aggregate of commercial fishing vessels. The term may be used of all vessels operating out of a particular port, all vessels engaged in a particular type of fishing (as in the "tuna fishing fleet"), or all fishing vessels of ...
- an aggregation of fishing vessels of a particular country, such as the Russian fishing fleet, or using a particular gear, such as purse seine fleet. *
Flushing time The residence time of a fluid parcel is the total time that the parcel has spent inside a control volume (e.g.: a chemical reactor, a lake, a human body). The residence time of a set of parcels is quantified in terms of the frequency distributi ...
- the time required to replace all the water in an
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
or
harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
by the actions of currents and tides. *
Fork length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...
- in fishes with forked tails, this measures from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail. It is used in fishes when is difficult to tell where the vertebral column ends. *
Forage fish Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish feed near the base of the food ...
- are small fish which are preyed on by larger predators. Typical ocean forage fish are small,
filter-feeding Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...
fish such as
herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
,
anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...
and
menhaden Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera ''Brevoortia'' and ''Ethmidium'', two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. ''Menhaden'' is a blend of ''poghaden'' ...
. They compensate for their small size by forming
schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
. See
bait fish 300px, Feeder Goldfish are common baitfish. Bait fish (or baitfish) are small-sized fish caught and used by anglers as bait to attract larger predatory fish, particularly game fish. Baitfish species are typically those that are common and bree ...
. *
Foreshore The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species of ...
- intertidal area between the highest and lowest tide levels *
Founder effect In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It was first fully outlined by Ernst Mayr in 1942, using ...
- the loss of genetic variation when a new colony is established by some individuals moving to a new area that is unoccupied. As a result, the new population may be distinctively different from its parent population. *
Free-diving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-h ...
- diving under water without the assistance of breathing apparatus to collect oysters, abalone, corals, sponges, crayfish etc. The gear usually includes a snorkel, face mask, flippers, weight belt and wet suit. *
Front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...
- region of sharp gradient in
temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...
or
salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
, indicating a transition between two current systems or water masses. Fronts are usually associated with high biological activity and high abundance of highly migratory resources such as tuna. They are actively sought as fishing areas and can be monitored by satellite remote sensing.


G

*
Gamete A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce t ...
s - eggs and sperm. *
Gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...
- the equipment used by fishermen when fishing. Some examples are hooks, lines, sinkers, floats, rods, reels, baits, lures, spears, nets, gaffs, traps, waders and tackle boxes. *
Gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as gene migration or geneflow and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent a ...
- The movement of genes from one population to another by individuals moving between the populations. *
Ghost net Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded in the ocean. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea. They can entangle fish, dolp ...
s - fishing nets and other gear that has been left or lost in the ocean and continues to capture and kill fish. *
Gillnet Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...
- fishing nets constructed so that fish are entangled or enmeshed, usually in the gills, by the netting. According to their design, ballasting and buoyancy, these nets can be used to fish on the surface, in midwater or on the bottom. The mesh size of the net determines the size of fish caught, since smaller fish can swim through the mesh. See also
drift net Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. The nets are kept vertical in the water by floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weig ...
. *
Global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
- a device which uses satellite signals to accurately determine a fishing vessel's position and course. *
Global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
- the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades, as well as the projected continuation of this trend. *
Groundfish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...
- fish that lives most of its life on or near the sea bottom, such as cod, haddock, or flounder. *
Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...
- a large area of water bordered by land on three sides.


H

*
Habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
- the place where an organism lives. *
Halocline In oceanography, a halocline (from Greek ''hals'', ''halos'' 'salt' and ''klinein'' 'to slope') is a Cline (hydrology), cline, a subtype of chemocline caused by a strong, vertical salinity gradient within a body of water. Because salinity (in c ...
- a zone in which salinity changes rapidly. *
Harmful algal bloom A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are sometimes ...
(HAB) - an algal bloom that produces toxins detrimental to plants and animals. Scientists prefer this term to
red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...
, since not all algal blooms are harmful, nor do all algal blooms cause discoloration, and the blooms are not associated with tides. *
Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
- the number or weight of fish caught and retained from a given area over a given period of time. Note that landings, catch, and harvest are different. *
Hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled condit ...
- the process of cultivating and breeding a large number of juveniles in an enclosed environment. The juveniles are then released into lakes, rivers or fish farm enclosures. *
High seas The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
- waters outside national jurisdictions. *
Highly migratory species Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
- a term which has its origins in the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...
. It refers to fish species which undertake ocean migrations and also have wide geographic distributions. It usually denotes tuna and tuna-like species, shark, marlins and swordfish. See also transboundary stocks and
straddling stock Fish stock or stock fish may also refer to: *Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish. * Fish stock (food), liquid made by boiling fish bones with vegetables, used as a base for fish soups and sauces * Fish stocking, the practi ...
s. *
Husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...
- the farming practice of breeding and raising fish stock. *
Hypoxia Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment * Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the tis ...
- occurs in aquatic environments when dissolved oxygen becomes depletion to a level which is harmful to aquatic organisms.


I

*
Incidental catch In fishing, incidental catch is that part of the catch which was not originally targeted, but was caught and retained anyway. It can be contrasted with discards, which is that part of the catch which was not originally targeted, but was caught and ...
- the catch of non-fish species, caught in the course of commercial fishing practices. Examples of non-fish species are
seabirds Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine (ocean), marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ev ...
, and marine mammals and reptiles, such as
dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
s,
seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
and
sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...
s. Incidental mortality can be contrasted with
bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
, which is a general term for the catch of all fish and non-fish species other than the targeted species. * Individual transferable quota (ITQ) - a management tool by which the total allowable catch quota is allocated to individual fishers or companies who have long-term rights over the quota or can transfer it to others by sale, lease, or will. See also ''quota.'' *
Intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of Marine habitat, habitats with var ...
- The intertidal zone is the region of land which is submerged during high tide and exposed during low tide. *
Introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
- Species brought into an area where it does not naturally occur, but is able to survive and reproduce there. *
Invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s - animals without a backbone, such as octopus, shellfish, jellyfish and corals. See also
vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
s. *
Isobath Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors (''seabed topography''), lake floors, or river floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of water de ...
- a contour line linking regions of the same depth. *
Isopleth A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional graph ...
- contour line joining points corresponding to similar values. Often used to plot yield-per-recruit values on a graph showing the changes as a function of size-at-first-capture and fishing mortality. *
Isopod Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
s - group of small
crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s that includes fish lice. * isotherm - contour line connecting points with the same temperature.
Summary of 2006 IUCN Red List categories.
*
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
- the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species. Their system divides threatened species into three categories: critically endangered (CR),
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
(EN), and vulnerable (VU). They also list extinctions that have occurred since 1500 AD and taxa that are extinct in the wild. *
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
- the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.


J

*
Jigging Jigging is the practice of fishing with a jig, a type of weighted fishing lure. A jig consists of a heavy metal (typically lead) sinker with an attached fish hook that is usually obscured inside a soft lure or feather-like decorations. Jigs ...
- a method of fishing which uses lures on a vertical line that is moved up and down, or jigged. Jigging can be done manually with hand-operated spools. It is also done automatically using machines when fishing for arrow squid. *
Jukung A jukung or kano, also known as cadik is a small wooden Indonesian outrigger canoe. It is a traditional fishing boat, but newer uses include "Jukung Dives", using the boat as a vehicle for small groups of SCUBA divers. The double outrigger jukun ...
- a
traditional fishing boat Traditionally, many different kinds of boats have been used as fishing boats A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recr ...
used in Indonesia. * Juvenile - a young fish or animal that has not reached sexual maturity.


K


L

*
La Niña La Niña (; ) is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern. The name ''La Niña'' originates from Spanish for "the girl", by an ...
- a condition involving an excessive pooling of cool water which occurs in the equatorial Eastern Pacific Ocean. See
El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...
. *
Lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
- a body of shallow salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature. *
Land runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when the ...
- rainfall, snow melt or irrigation water that runs off the land into streams and other surface water, and ultimately into the ocean. Land runoff can carry pollutants, such as petroleum, pesticides, and fertilizers. *
Landing Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or ...
- the amount of fish (usually in tons) harvested from the sea and brought to the land. May be different from the catch, which includes the discards. Landings are reported at the points at which fish are brought to shore. Most often, landings provide the only record of total catch, i.e. landings plus discards. Note landings, catch, and harvest define different things. * Line fishing - a general term for fishing methods which use
fishing line A fishing line is a flexible, high-tensile cord used in angling to tether and pull in fish, in conjunction with at least one hook. Fishing lines are usually pulled by and stored in a reel, but can also be retrieved by hand, with a fixed attachm ...
s. It includes
handline Handline fishing, or handlining, is a fishing technique where a single fishing line is held in the hands, rather than with a fishing rod like the usual angling. It is a type of angling, and is not to be confused with handfishing, which is catch ...
s, hand reels, powered reels, pole-and-line, droplines, longlines,
trotline A trotline is a heavy fishing line with shorter, baited branch lines commonly referred to as ''snoods'' suspending down at intervals using clips or swivels, with a hook at the free end of each snood. Trotlines are used in commercial angling an ...
s and troll lines. *
Littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...
- the shallow water region around lake or sea shores where significant light penetrates to the bottom. Typically occupied by rooted plants. On sea shores it includes the
intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...
. *
Logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...
- an official record of catch and its species composition, fishing effort and location, recorded on board the fishing vessel. In many fisheries, logbooks are a compulsory condition of licensing. * Longlines - a long
fishing line A fishing line is a flexible, high-tensile cord used in angling to tether and pull in fish, in conjunction with at least one hook. Fishing lines are usually pulled by and stored in a reel, but can also be retrieved by hand, with a fixed attachm ...
with many short lines, called snoods and carrying hooks, attached at regular intervals.
Pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
longlines are suspended horizontally at a fixed depth using surface floats.
Demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
longlines are weighted at the seabed and have closer-spaced hooks. A longline can be miles long with several thousand hooks.


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Mariculture Mariculture or marine farming is a specialized branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in enclosed sections of the open ocean ( offshore mari ...
- a particular branch of aquaculture where marine organisms are cultivated in the open ocean, or an enclosure of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds or raceways filled with seawater. Examples are the farming of marine fish, prawns, oysters and seaweed. *
Marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reli ...
- mammals that are primarily ocean-dwelling or depend on the ocean for food, such as porpoises, whales, seals, walrus and polar bears. *
Marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...
(MPA) - marine area with some level of legal restriction to protect living, non-living, cultural, and/or historic resources. * Maximum economic yield (MEY) - the total amount of profit that could be earned from a fishery if it were owned by one individual. An open entry policy usually results in too many fishermen so profits are barely higher than opportunity costs. See ''economic rent''. *
Maximum sustainable yield In population ecology and economics, maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is theoretically, the largest yield (or catch) that can be taken from a species' stock over an indefinite period. Fundamental to the notion of sustainable harvest, the concept of ...
(MSY) - the maximum catch that can be taken from a species' stock over an indefinite period. Under the assumption of logistic growth, the MSY will be exactly at half the carrying capacity of a species, as this is the stage at when population growth is highest. The maximum sustainable yield is usually higher than the optimum sustainable yield. Studies have shown that fishing at the level of MSY is often not sustainable. See also long-term potential yield. *
Meristics Meristics is an area of ichthyology and herpetology which relates to counting quantitative features of fish and reptiles, such as the number of fins or scales. A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species of fish, or us ...
- A series of measurements on a fish, such as scale counts, which are used to separate different populations or races of fish. *
Mesopelagic The mesopelagic zone (Greek μέσον, middle), also known as the middle pelagic or twilight zone, is the part of the pelagic zone that lies between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones. It is defined by light, and begins ...
- ocean depths extending from 200 to 1000 metres (650 to 3280 feet) below sea level *
Migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
- a systematic (as opposed to random) movement of individuals in a fish stock from one place to another. *
Minimum landing size The minimum landing size (MLS) is the smallest fish measurement at which it is legal to keep or sell a fish. The MLS depends on the species of fish. Sizes also vary around the world, as they are legal definitions which are defined by the local regu ...
- the smallest length at which it is legal to keep or sell a fish. Sizes vary with the species of fish and also vary in different places around the world. *
Population model A population model is a type of mathematical model that is applied to the study of population dynamics. Rationale Models allow a better understanding of how complex interactions and processes work. Modeling of dynamic interactions in nature can ...
- a hypothesis of how a population functions. It often uses mathematical descriptions of growth,
recruitment Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...
and
mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...
. *
Mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
- A group of freshwater and saltwater animals with no skeleton and usually one or two hard shells made of calcium carbonate. Includes oysters, clams, mussels, snails, conches, scallops, squid and octopus. *
Morphometrics Morphometrics (from Greek μορϕή ''morphe'', "shape, form", and -μετρία ''metria'', "measurement") or morphometry refers to the quantitative analysis of ''form'', a concept that encompasses size and shape. Morphometric analyses are co ...
- Measurements which characterise the form, shape and appearance of an animal or plant. Difference in morphometrics, such as colouration, can be used to distinguish different stocks of the same species. *
Mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...
- Mortality is a death rate from various causes, such as the proportion of a fish stock dying annually. See also natural mortality and fishing mortality. *
Mud flat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
- are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by the tides or rivers, sea and oceans. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries.


N

*
Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...
- relating to birth, such as many salmon that return to their place of birth to spawn. * Nearshore waters - relatively shallow inshore waters that do not extend beyond the continental shelf. See also
sublittoral zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...
*
Neritic zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...
- the shallow
pelagic zone The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
over the
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
. See also nearshore waters. *
Nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...
- a water-soluble molecule made up of nitrogen and oxygen, commonly found in agricultural fertilizers, and therefore in
land runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when the ...
. Too much nitrate concentration is can be
toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...
to marine life. * Nursery - The part of a fish or animal habitat where the young grow up. * Nutrient upwelling - Nutrient upwelling is the 'welling-up' of deeper water that is usually richer in nutrients than surface water.


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Ocean basin In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, ocean basins are large  geologic basins that are below sea level. Most commonly the ocean is divided into basins foll ...
- geologically an ocean basin is a large geologic basin which is below sea level. *
Ocean current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, s ...
s - Oceanic currents can be divided into surface and deep ocean currents. Surface currents are generally wind driven and develop typical clockwise spirals in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise spirals in the southern hemisphere. Surface currents can operate to a depth of 400 meters and apply to about ten percent of water in the ocean. Deep ocean currents are driven by density gradients in water due to temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline) differences. This
thermohaline circulation Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The adjective ''thermohaline'' derives from '' thermo-'' referring to temper ...
, occurs at both deep and shallow ocean levels and moves much slower than tidal or surface currents. Upwelling and downwelling areas in the oceans are areas where significant vertical currents of water are observed. Ocean currents can be contrasted with the
tidal currents Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...
that occur in coastal areas. *
Ocean surface waves In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction of t ...
- are surface waves that occur on the free surface of the ocean. They usually result from wind, and are also referred to as wind waves. Some waves can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. *
Ocean Tracking Network The Ocean Tracking Network is a research effort using implanted acoustic transmitters to study fish migration Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, o ...
- a research effort using implanted acoustic transmitters to study fish migration patterns. *
Oceanodromous Fish migration is animal migration, mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few ...
- fish that migrate only within salt (ocean) waters. *
Oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...
- the branch of earth sciences that studies the ocean, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents and waves; plate tectonics and the formation of underwater topography; and movements of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. *
Otolith An otolith ( grc-gre, ὠτο-, ' ear + , ', a stone), also called statoconium or otoconium or statolith, is a calcium carbonate structure in the saccule or utricle of the inner ear, specifically in the vestibular system of vertebrates. The sa ...
s -
calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...
deposits or bones found in chambers at the base of the skull in fish. Sectioned, these bones often show rings or layers which can be used to determine age. *
Otter trawl Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towin ...
- An otter trawl is a demersal trawl which uses large rectangular otter boards to keep the opening of the trawl net from closing. Otter trawls are towed by a single trawler. *
Overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
- occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans. *
Oxytetracycline Oxytetracycline is a broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic, the second of the group to be discovered. Oxytetracycline works by interfering with the ability of bacteria to produce essential proteins. Without these proteins, the bacteria cannot g ...
- an
antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...
which is injected in a fish to leave a mark on its
skeletal structure The skeletal formula, or line-angle formula or shorthand formula, of an organic compound is a type of molecular structural formula that serves as a shorthand representation of a molecule's bonding and some details of its molecular geometry. A ...
s such as
otolith An otolith ( grc-gre, ὠτο-, ' ear + , ', a stone), also called statoconium or otoconium or statolith, is a calcium carbonate structure in the saccule or utricle of the inner ear, specifically in the vestibular system of vertebrates. The sa ...
s. When the fish is later recaptured, the mark left can be used to validate age estimates.


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Pair trawling Pair trawling is a fishing activity carried out by two boats, with one towing each warp (the towing cables). As the mouth of the net is kept open by the lateral pull of the individual vessels, otter boards are not required. With the towing power ...
- occurs when two
trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes ** Trawlers of the Royal Navy * Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built tra ...
tow the same net. Otter boards are not needed and very large nets can be held open and towed in this manner. *
Panmictic Panmixia (or panmixis) means random mating. A panmictic population is one where all individuals are potential partners. This assumes that there are no mating restrictions, neither genetic nor behavioural, upon the population and that therefore all ...
- refers to random mating where all individuals within a population are potential partners. *
Parameter A parameter (), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when ...
- parameter in fisheries is a characteristic measure of some aspect of a fish stock. it is usually expressed as a numerical value, such as the "natural mortality rate". *
Pelagic zone The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
- any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom. *
Pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reef ...
- fish that spend most of their life swimming and feeding in the pelagic zone, as opposed to resting on or feeding off the bottom. Examples are
tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...
and most
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...
s. *
Phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
- a chemical compound containing phosphorus and oxygen, commonly found in agricultural fertilizers and land runoff. *
Photic zone The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...
- "sun lit" zone extending downward from a lake or ocean surface to the euphotic depth where the light intensity falls to one percent of that at the surface. The photic zone exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. The depth of the photic zone can be greatly affected by seasonal turbidity. Typical euphotic depths vary from only a few centimetres in highly turbid eutrophic lakes, to around 200 metres in the open ocean. About 90% of all marine life lives in this region. *
Plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
- consist of any drifting organisms (animals, plants, archaea or bacteria) that inhabit the pelagic zones, particularly the surface areas, of oceans or bodies of fresh water. * Population - See stock. *
Population dynamics Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems. History Population dynamics has traditionally been the dominant branch of mathematical biology, which has ...
- The study of fish populations and how fishing mortality, growth, recruitment, and natural morality affect them. *
Precautionary principle The precautionary principle (or precautionary approach) is a broad epistemological, philosophical and legal approach to innovations with potential for causing harm when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking. It emphasizes caut ...
- a moral and political principle which states that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action *
Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
-
Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...
- A predator is a species that feeds on other species. A prey is a species that is being eaten by a predator. *
Primary Productivity In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...
- A measurement of plant production that is the start of the food chain. Much primary productivity in marine or aquatic systems is made up of phytoplankton, which are tiny one-celled algae that float freely in the water. *
Projection Projection, projections or projective may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphic ...
- With the help of a
mathematical model A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences (such as physics, ...
as a numerical representation of the population, a projection is a prediction of what may happen in the future under a variety of conditions. *
purse seine Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be dep ...
- a
fishing technique Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs (shellfish, squid, octopus) and edible marine invertebrates. Fishing techniques include hand-gatherin ...
capable of harvesting large quantities of surface-schooling pelagic fish by surrounding the school with a net. A line which passes through rings on the bottom of the net can be tightened to close the net so that the fish are unable to escape. See also Danish seine. *
Phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...
- tiny, free-floating, photosynthetic organisms in aquatic systems.


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Quota Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * Indi ...
- Quota is the amount of catch that can be legally landed in a time period. It could refer to a fishery as a whole (total allowable catch) or to an amount allocated to an individual or company. See also individual transferable quota. *
Quota management system The Quota Management System (QMS) is a type of individual fishing quota that is used in New Zealand to manage fish stocks. New Zealand fishing industry Seafood is one of New Zealand's largest export markets, with 85% of catches being exported. Over ...
(QMS) - a system that limits the amount of fish that can be taken by commercial fishers. The QMS sets a quota that can be taken by each commercial fisher.


R

*
Recruitment Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...
- the number of new young fish that enter a population in a given year. More pragmatically, it can be defined as the number of young fish that attain a size where they can be legally caught, or become susceptible to being caught by a given fishing gear. *
Red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...
- discolouration of surface waters, most frequently in coastal zones, caused by large concentrations of micro-organisms. See
harmful algal bloom A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are sometimes ...
. * Risk analysis - evaluates the possible outcomes of various harvesting strategies or management options.


S

*
Salinity gradient Osmotic power, salinity gradient power or blue energy is the energy available from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. Two practical methods for this are reverse electrodialysis (RED) and pressure retarde ...
- Salinity gradient: Change in salinity with depth, expressed in parts per thousand per metre. See
halocline In oceanography, a halocline (from Greek ''hals'', ''halos'' 'salt' and ''klinein'' 'to slope') is a Cline (hydrology), cline, a subtype of chemocline caused by a strong, vertical salinity gradient within a body of water. Because salinity (in c ...
. *
Sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...
- A relatively small part of a fish stock which is removed for study, and which ideally is representative of the whole. The greater the number and size of the samples, the greater the confidence that the information obtained accurately reflects the status (such as abundance by number or weight, or age composition) of the stock. *
Seamounts A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...
- underwater mountains rising at least 1000 metres above the sea floor. *
Sea grass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...
- members of marine seed plants that grow chiefly on sand or sand-mud bottom. They are most abundant in water less than 10 metres deep. Common types are
eel grass Eelgrass is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Zostera'', marine eelgrass * ''Vallisneria ''Vallisneria'' (named in honor of Antonio Vallisneri) is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant, commonly called eelgrass, tape grass or ...
,
turtle grass ''Thalassia testudinum'', commonly known as turtlegrass, is a species of Marine (ocean), marine seagrass. It forms meadows in shallow sandy or muddy locations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Turtle grass and other seagrasses form sea ...
and manatee grass. * Selectivity - ability of a type of
fishing tackle Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/ lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/ feeders, nets, stringers/ k ...
or gear to catch a certain size or kind of fish, compared with its ability to catch other sizes or kinds. * Seashore - the coast or that part of the land adjoining or near the ocean. See
intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...
. *
Shelf break A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
- where the
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
and continental slope meet. At the shelf break, the more gently sloping region of the
seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...
adjacent to a landmass rather abruptly slopes moresteeply down towards the ocean depths, commonly around depths of 200 metres. *
Shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
- general term for aquatic invertebrates (molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms). *
Shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...
- or ''sandbar'' is a somewhat linear landform within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt or small pebbles. Bars can appear in the sea, in a lake, or in a river. *
Shoaling In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. Ab ...
- describes the behaviour of fish which aggregate together, including mixed species groups. Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defence against predators through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of capture, enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate. It is also likely that fish benefit from shoal membership through increased hydrodynamic efficiency. *
Shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...
- A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. A shore of unconsolidated material is usually called a
beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
. See
intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...
. *
Simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...
- An analysis that shows the production and harvest of fish using a group of equations to represent the fishery. It can be used to predict events in the fishery if certain factors change. See
population dynamics Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems. History Population dynamics has traditionally been the dominant branch of mathematical biology, which has ...
. *
Socioeconomics Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern society, societies social progress, progress, economic stagnation ...
- A word used to identify the importance of factors other than biology in fishery management decisions. For example, if management results in more fishing income, it is important to know how the income is distributed between small and large boats or part-time and full-time fishermen. *
Spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...
- the production or depositing of large quantities of eggs in water. *
Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
- a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. * Species density - the number of species in a sampled area. *
Species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
- a group of similar species. Similar species are often difficult to differentiate without detailed examination. * Sport fishery - See recreational fishery. * Stakeholder - anyone who has a stake or interest in the outcome of the project, as well as anyone one who is affected by the project. *
Standardization Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...
- procedures which maintain methods and equipment as constant as possible. Without standardization one cannot determine whether measurements of yearly differences in relative abundance are caused by actual fluctuations in stock abundance or by differences in the measurement procedure used. Lack of standardization is one reason why surveys using different commercial fishing vessels in different years do not produce comparable information. For example, if two vessels of different horsepower are used in separate years, the results can't be compared unless vessel mensuration experiments are performed. This would involve comparing the two vessels' catches to determine the influence of their fishing power on the size of the catch, and a determination of a correction factor. *
Stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
- group of fish of the same species (for example, snapper) that occupy a defined area of the ocean. Fish stocks are the basis of fisheries’ management. Not to be confused with
stockfish Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage lif ...
. *
Straddling stock Fish stock or stock fish may also refer to: *Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish. * Fish stock (food), liquid made by boiling fish bones with vegetables, used as a base for fish soups and sauces * Fish stocking, the practi ...
s - A term defined by the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
as "stocks of fish such as pollock, which migrate between, or occur in both, the economic exclusion zone of one or more states and the
high seas The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
". They can contrasted with transboundary stocks. A stock can be both transboundary and straddling. * Subantarctic waters - waters adjacent to, but not within, the
Antarctic circle The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. S ...
(about 66030'S). * Subtropical waters - waters adjacent to, but not within, the tropics. * Super seiner - a large
purse seiner A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing. The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
, usually over 70 metres long, with freezing and storage facilities, and capable of fishing for an extended period in open oceans. * Surf - collective term for breakers. Also the wave activity in the area between the shoreline and the outermost limit of breakers. *
Surf zone As ocean surface waves approach shore, they get taller and break, forming the foamy, bubbly surface called ''surf''. The region of breaking waves defines the surf zone, or breaker zone. After breaking in the surf zone, the waves (now reduced in ...
- As ocean surface waves come closer to shore they break, forming the foamy, bubbly surface called surf. The region of breaking waves defines the surf zone. * Surface ocean currents - surface currents are generally wind driven and develop typical clockwise spirals in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise rotation in the southern hemisphere. In wind driven currents, the
Ekman spiral The oceanic, wind driven Ekman spiral is the result of a force balance created by a shear stress force, Coriolis force and the water drag. This force balance gives a resulting current of the water different from the winds. In the ocean, there are t ...
effect results in the currents flowing at an angle to the driving winds. Surface currents make up about ten percent of the water in the ocean, and are generally restricted to the upper 400 meters. They can be contrasted with deep ocean currents, which are driven by density and temperature gradients. * Surplus production - Surplus production is the inherent productivity of a fish stock that can be harvested on a sustainable basis. Based on the theory that, at large stock size, reproductive rates and rate of stock growth are slowed by self-regulating mechanisms, and that stock growth rates are faster after removals, as the stock attempts to rebuild. In theory, fishing can be moderated to take advantage of the more productive stock growth rates, provided that it does not exceed the stock recovery capacity. *
Sustainable fishing A conventional idea of a sustainable fishery is that it is one that is harvested at a sustainable rate, where the fish population does not decline over time because of fishing practices. Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical discipl ...
- fishing activities that do not cause or lead to undesirable changes in biological and economic productivity, biological diversity, or ecosystem structure and functioning, from one human generation to the next. *
Sustainable yield The sustainable yield of natural capital is the ecological yield that can be extracted without reducing the base of capital itself, i.e. the surplus required to maintain ecosystem services at the same or increasing level over time. The term only ...
- Sustainable yield is the catch that can be removed over an indefinite period without causing the stock to be depleted. This could be either a constant yield from year to year, or a yield which is allowed to fluctuate in response to changes in abundance.


T

*
Tag and release Tag and release is a form of catch and release fishing in which the angler attaches a tag to the fish, records data such as date, time, place, and type of fish on a standardized postcard, and submits this card to a fisheries agency or conservatio ...
- marking or attaching a tag to a fish so that it can be identified on recapture. Used for the study of fish growth, movement, migration, and stock structure and size. *
Threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...
- Threatened species are species which are vulnerable to extinction in the near future. The
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
further divides them into three categories: vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered. *
Tidal current Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...
- alternating horizontal movement of water in coastal areas, associated with the rise and fall of the tide as the earth rotates. The rise and fall is caused by gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun. Unlike
ocean current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, s ...
s, tidal currents change in regular patterns that can be predicted for future dates. *
Tidal flats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
- are coastal
wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. Also called ''mudflats''. * Transboundary stocks - are fish stocks which range across the EEZs of two or more countries. They can be contrasted with
straddling stock Fish stock or stock fish may also refer to: *Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish. * Fish stock (food), liquid made by boiling fish bones with vegetables, used as a base for fish soups and sauces * Fish stocking, the practi ...
s. A stock can be both transboundary and straddling. * Trap fishing - fishing by means of traps, often designed to catch a particular species, such with
lobster pot A lobster trap or lobster pot is a portable trap that traps lobsters or crayfish and is used in lobster fishing. In Scotland (chiefly in the north), the word creel is used to refer to a device used to catch lobsters and other crustaceans. A lo ...
s. *
Trash fish Rough fish (or the slang trash fish or dirt fish) is a term used by some United States state agencies and angling, anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport fishing, sport anglers within a defined region. The term usually refers to l ...
- catch with no commercial value which is discarded, especially when trawling. Also called ''rough fish''. See also ''coarse fish''. *
Trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different speci ...
- is fishing with a large bag-like net, called a trawl, which is drawn along behind a boat called a trawler. The net can be dragged along the sea bottom in order to target
demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...
, or pulled through clear water in order to target
pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
fish. Trawling along the sea bottom can result in significant bycatch and habitat destruction. *
Trophic level The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it i ...
- The position that a species occupies in a
food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...
. The species it eats are at a lower trophic level, and the species that eats it are at a higher trophic level. *
Trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the int ...
- a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn slowly through the water behind a boat. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as
mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...
and
tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...
species. *
Turbidity current A turbidity current is most typically an underwater current of usually rapidly moving, sediment-laden water moving down a slope; although current research (2018) indicates that water-saturated sediment may be the primary actor in the process. T ...
- a current of rapidly moving, sediment-laden water that is heavier than clear water and therefore flows downslope along the bottom of the sea or a lake. The term is most commonly used to describe underwater currents in lakes and oceans, which are usually triggered by earthquakes or slumping. *
Turtle excluder device A turtle excluder device (TED) is a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net. In particular, sea turtles can be caught when bottom trawling is used by the commercial shrimp fishing indus ...
(TED) - a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a trawl net.


U

*
Underwater acoustics Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water, its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake, a river or a tank. Typ ...
- due to its excellent propagation properties, underwater sound is used as a tool to aid the study of marine life, from microplankton to the blue whale. See also
Ocean Tracking Network The Ocean Tracking Network is a research effort using implanted acoustic transmitters to study fish migration Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, o ...
. *
Upwelling Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface. It replaces the warmer and usually nutrient-depleted surface water. The nutr ...
- the process by which water, usually cold and nutrient-rich, rises from a deeper to a shallower depth. This is often a result of offshore surface water flow, particularly when persistent wind blows parallel to a coastland and the resultant
Ekman transport Ekman transport is part of Ekman motion theory, first investigated in 1902 by Vagn Walfrid Ekman. Winds are the main source of energy for ocean circulation, and Ekman Transport is a component of wind-driven ocean current. Ekman transport occurs w ...
moves surface water away from the coast.


V

*
Vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
s - animals with a backbone, including fish (sharks, rays and bony fish), amphibians, reptiles and mammals. See also
invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s. *
Vessel monitoring system Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) is a general term to describe systems that are used in commercial fishing to allow environmental and fisheries regulatory organizations to track and monitor the activities of fishing vessels. They are a key part of ...
(VMS) - technology used in commercial fishing to allow environmental and fisheries regulatory organizations to track the location of vessels. * Virtual population analysis (VPA) - an analysis of fish population numbers that uses the number of fish caught at various ages or lengths and an estimate of natural mortality to estimate fishing mortality in a
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit), ...
. It also provides a back estimate of the number of fish in a cohort at various ages. *
Vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...
- a species which is likely to become an
endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve.


W

*
Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s - areas of land where the soil is saturated with moisture, such as
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s and
mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fr ...
s. *
Wild fish A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal (crustaceans and molluscs) population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riv ...
- are fish which live free, not penned in, in lakes, rivers or the sea. They can be contrasted with
farmed fish upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland Fish farming or ...
. *
Wild fisheries A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal (crustaceans and molluscs) population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/ri ...
- also called "capture fisheries", are
fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
which target wild fish. They can be contrasted with farmed fisheries. * Wind currents - currents created by the action of the wind. Surface ocean currents are generally wind driven and develop typical clockwise spirals in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise rotation in the southern hemisphere. In wind driven currents, the
Ekman spiral The oceanic, wind driven Ekman spiral is the result of a force balance created by a shear stress force, Coriolis force and the water drag. This force balance gives a resulting current of the water different from the winds. In the ocean, there are t ...
effect results in the currents flowing at an angle to the driving winds. Surface currents make up about ten percent of the water in the ocean, and are generally restricted to the upper 400 meters.


See also

* Wiktionary's fishing terms *
FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

''Aquaculture glossary''
*
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

''Glossary of statistical terms''


Sources

*
FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

''Fisheries glossary''
*
NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

''Fisheries glossary''
*
NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

''FishWatch glossary''
* Madden, CJ and Grossman, DH (2004
''A Framework for a Coastal/Marine Ecological Classification Standard''
NatureServe, Appendix 3: Glossary. Prepared for
NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fisheries Glossary Fishery terms