Tag Archives: commercial fishing

Fish-Mania: Fishing in the Twilight Zone

Leave a reply

A new study led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) finds that industrial-scale fishing has been removing substantial biomass from the ocean’s “twilight zone” for decades, challenging the common assumption that this vast midwater ecosystem remains largely unexploited. The research focuses on a poorly understood group of larger midwater fishes that the authors call the “dark web,” species, such as pomfrets and snake mackerels, that live in or move through the mesopelagic zone, roughly 200 to 1,000 meters below the surface. Unlike smaller fishes often sampled in research nets, larger species are frequently missed by traditional scientific surveys but are regularly caught in commercial fisheries…

The study identified evidence of heavy mesopelagic fishing pressure globally, including declining abundance, shrinking fish size, and pervasive under-reporting of fish catches that complicates fishery management.

Excerpt from Industrial fishing has been depleting midwater fish for decades, new WHOI study finds, Press Release, May 8, 2026

Fishing in the Arctic: Banned

Leave a reply

The Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) in Ilulissat, Greenland was adopted on October 3, 2018.  The historic agreement represents a collaborative and precautionary approach by ten countries to the management of high seas fish stocks in the Central Arctic Ocean. The agreement covers approximately 2.8 million square kilometers, an area roughly the size of the Mediterranean Sea.

Ice has traditionally covered the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean year-round. Recently, the melting of Arctic sea ice has left large areas of the high seas uncovered for much of the year. The Agreement bars unregulated fishing in the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean for 16 years and establishes a joint program of scientific research and monitoring to gain a better understanding of Arctic Ocean ecosystems. It also authorizes vessels to conduct commercial fishing in the CAO only after international mechanisms are in place to manage any such fishing. This effort marks the first time an international agreement of this magnitude has been proactively reached before any commercial fishing has taken place in a high seas area.

Signatories include the United States, Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, the European Union, Iceland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Norway, the People’s Republic of China, and the Russian Federation.

Excerpt from U.S. Signs Agreement to Prevent Unregulated Commercial Fishing on the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean, NOAA Press Release, Oct. 3, 2018