Ocean fisheries

 ( Fishing Industry ) 

The areas in the north and the southeast are rich fishing grounds. The importance of the fishery in the sea is well illustrated by the dispute between South Korea and Japan over Liancourt Rocks.

The low salinity of the Baltic sea has led to the evolution of many slightly divergent species, such as the Baltic Sea herring, which is a smaller variant of the Atlantic Ocean herring. The benthos consists mainly of Monoporeia affinis, which is originally a freshwater species. The lack of tides has affected the marine species as compared with the Atlantic.

The area also generates a large fishing industry for the surrounding countries, accounting for half a million metric tons of fish a year. LME 12: Caribbean Sea NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center Narragansett Laboratory. URL last accessed May 14, 2006.

The Gulf Stream, a warm Atlantic Ocean current and one of the strongest known, originates in the gulf, as a continuation of the Caribbean Current-Yucatán Current-Loop Current system. Other circulation features include the anticyclonic which are shed by the Loop Current and travel westward where they eventually dissipate, and a permanent cyclonic gyre in the Bay of Campeche. The Bay of Campeche in Mexico constitutes a major arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the gulf's shoreline is fringed by numerous bays and smaller inlets. A number of rivers empty into the gulf, most notably the Mississippi River in the northern gulf, and the Grijalva River and Usumacinta Rivers in the southern gulf. The land that forms the gulf's coast, including many long, narrow barrier islands, is almost uniformly low-lying and is characterized by marshes and swamps as well as stretches of sandy beach.

The Gulf of Mexico is an excellent example of a passive margin. The continental shelf is quite wide at most points along the coast, most notably at the Florida and Yucatán Peninsulas. An important commercial activity is fishing; major catches include red snapper, amberjack, tilefish, swordfish, and various grouper, as well as shrimp and crabs. Oysters are also harvested on a large scale from many of the bays and sounds.

The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 metres (4,920 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,267 meters (about 3.27 miles). The coastline extends for .

Invasive species originating from the Red Sea and introduced into the Mediterranean by the construction of the Suez canal have become a major component of the Mediterranean ecosystem and have serious impacts on the Mediterranean ecology, endangering many local and endemism Mediterranean species. Up to this day, about 300 species native to the Red Sea have already been identified in the Mediterranean Sea, and there are probably others yet unidentified. In recent years, the Egyptian government's announcement of its intentions to deepen and widen the canal have raised concerns from , fearing that such an act will only worsen the invasion of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean, facilitating the crossing of the canal for yet additional species.Galil, B.S. and Zenetos, A. (2002). A sea change: exotics in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in: Leppäkoski, E. et al. (2002). Invasive aquatic species of Europe: distribution, impacts and management. pp. 325-336.

Pollution in this region has been extremely high in recent years. The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 650 million tons of sewage, 129,000 tons of mineral oil, 60,000 tons of mercury, 3,800 tons of lead and 36,000 tons of phosphates are dumped into the Mediterranean each year. The Barcelona Convention aims to 'reduce pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and protect and improve the marine environment in the area, thereby contributing to its sustainable development.'

Many marine species have been almost wiped out because of the sea's pollution. The Mediterranean monk seal is considered to be among the world's most endangered .

The Mediterranean is also plagued by marine debris. A 1994 study of the seabed using trawl nets around the coasts of Spain, France and Italy reported a particularly high mean concentration of debris; an average of 1,935 items per square kilometre. Plastic debris accounted for 76%, of which 94% was plastic bags.

The North Sea. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea. Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southern part of the coastal waters. The main method of fishing is trawling. Annual catches grew each year until the 1980s, when a high point of more than 3 million metric tons (3.3 million S/T) was reached. Since then, the numbers have fallen back to around 2.3 million tons (2.5 million S/T) annually with considerable differences between years. Besides the fish caught, it is estimated that 150,000 metric tons (165,000 S/T) of unmarketable by-catch are caught and around 85,000 metric tons (94,000 S/T) of dead and injured .

The maximum width of the Arabian Sea is approximately , and its maximum depth is ,

The Bay of Bengal is full of biological diversity, diverging amongst coral reefs, estuaries, fish spawning and nursery areas, and mangroves. The Bay of Bengal is one of the World's 64 Marine ecoregion Marine ecosystem.

Kerilia jerdonii is a sea snake of the Bay of Bengal. Glory of Bengal cone ( Conus bengalensis) is just one of the seashells which can be photographed along beaches of the Bay of Bengal. Phillip Colla Natural History Photography URL accessed January 21, 2007

An endangered species, the olive ridley sea turtle can survive because of the nesting grounds made available at the Gahirmatha Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, Gahirmatha Beach, Orissa, India.

Bryde's whale which can be seen in the Bay of Bengal is the 10th heaviest animal of the world, weighing in at 22,000 kg (48,000 lb).

Marlin, barracuda, skipjack tuna ( Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin tuna, Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphin ( Sousa chinensis), and Bryde's whale ( Balaenoptera edeni) are a few of the marine animals. Bay of Bengal hogfish ( Bodianus neilli) is a type of wrasse which lives in turbid lagoon reefs or shallow coastal reefs. Schools of can be seen, whether they are the bottle nose ( Tursiops truncatus), pantropical spotted ( Stenella attenuata) or the spinner dolphin ( Stenella longirostris) . Tuna and dolphins are usually residing in the same waters. In shallower and warmer coastal waters the Irrawaddy dolphin ( Orcaella brevirostris) can be found. Naturalist: On the swatch of no ground: Mashida R Haider goes to the Bay of Bengal and comes back full of the marine life there URL accessed January 21, 2007 CMS: Stenella attenuata, Pantropical spotted dolphin URL accessed January 21, 2007

The coast line of the Great Australian Bight is characterised by stunning cliff faces (up to 60 m high), surfing beaches and rock platforms, ideal for whale-watching. The waters of the Great Australian Bight, despite being relatively shallow, are not fertile. While most continental shelves are rich in sea life and make popular fishing areas, the barren north of the bight have very little rainfall, and what there is mostly flows inland, to dissipate underground or in salt lakes. In consequence, the Great Australian Bight receives very little of the runoff that fertilises most continental shelves and is essentially a marine desert. It is probably best noted for the large number of that frequent its coastal waters, as well as the increasing numbers of Right whale that migrate within the region.

Economically, the Bight has been exploited over many years as part of the fishing, whaling and shellfish industries. Bluefin tuna have been a favoured target of fishing in the Bight.

The Red Sea is a rich and diverse ecosystem. More than 1100 species of fishFishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly have been recorded in the Red Sea, and around 10% of these are found nowhere else.Siliotti, A. (2002) fishes of the red sea Verona, Geodia This also includes around 75 species of deepwater fish. The rich diversity is in part due to the of coral reef extending along its coastline; these are 5000–7000 years old and are largely formed of stony acropora and porites corals. The reefs form platforms and sometimes along the coast and occasional other features such as cylinders (such as the blue hole at Dahab). These coastal reefs are also visited by pelagic species of red sea fish, including some of the 44 species of shark.

Approximately 40% of the Red Sea is quite shallow (under 100 m/330 ft), and about 25% is under 50 m (164 ft) deep. About 15% of the Red Sea is over 1,000 m (3,300 ft) depth that forms the deep axial trough. Shelf breaks are marked by coral reefs Continental slope has an irregular profile (series of steps down to ~500 m/1,640 ft)

A 10-metre (32.8 feet) long colossal squid weighing 495 kilograms (1,091 lb) was captured in the Ross Sea on 22 February 2007.

The Ross Sea toothfish fishery

The Ross Sea toothfish fishery is the southernmost fishery in the world. The extreme cold and ice conditions can make fishing both difficult and dangerous. During most of the year the Ross Sea itself is covered by ice. However, during January and February, areas of open water (called ) allow access to the continental shelf and slope. Longline vessels (predominantly from New Zealand, but also from South Africa, Russia, and Uruguay) have taken advantage of this to develop an exploratory fishery. They start working in the deep south, and as the season progresses they move north to stay ahead of the freezing sea ice, and by May are restricted to the northernmost fishing grounds. CCAMLR agrees on annual precautionary catch limits. Since 1998, the catch has steadily increased from about 40 t to over 1350 t in 2002 (all of these catches are well within the CCAMLR limits). Because it is a high latitude fishery, Antarctic toothfish has formed over 95% of the catch. Up to three New Zealand vessels have been involved in the fishery in any year. However, in the 2003 season up to six New Zealand vessels are fishing in these waters.NZ National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (2003) www.niwa.cri.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/29842/fau-2003-06.pdf No 6. Retrieved 2 May 2008.