Managing the Worlds Fisheries

How to Manage and Observe Fisheries

     Phil Gwinnell is a biologist who has had previous experience in observing fishing boats in Alaska. Observer candidates should have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in one of the natural sciences with at least 30 hours in biological sciences, including a combination of marine science and fisheries course work. While taking his notes of the fish caught by the crew he was observing, he had to jot down any by-catch or anything that was not supposed to be caught, even if the fishermen threw it back into the ocean, which they are not supposed to do. There was a lot of by-catch that he observed which is a negative sign of a fishery because a sustainable fishery should only catch the targeted fish. The type of fishing technique used in the Alaska fisheries was the long lining technique as well as the bottom trawling technique. These observers are treated like part of the fishing team and given their own living area. This makes a job like this more intriguing to the biologist. Phil stated that in order to be in this line of work you need to have very good social skills because you are going to be living with random people for an extended period of time.The work that biologist like Phil do is very important as we manage the worlds fisheries to be as sustainable as possible. Observers need to note all of the flaws in the fishery in order to make a better understanding of the rules these fishing boats should follow.