6 TIPS TO FISH POPULATIONS ASSESSMENT
Fish population assessment
Fish industries contribute much in a countries economic development in Africa and other continents. This is achieved through exports, tourism, and domestic use. For this reason, it is important to maintain sustainable fish production as well as control. To achieve this, efficient fish population assessment has to be in place. However assessing the population of fish is not an essay task as it would be assumed, the reason being that fish are always in constant movement and predate on each other creating a population that is dynamic and cumbersome to keep track of.
– Importance and the use of fish population assessment.
– Estimations.
– In-depth information.
– Eco-system management.
– Cost of fish population assessment.
– Assessment experts.
Importance and the use of fish population assessment
– One question that probably comes to our minds is why carry out the assessment in the first place? Of what necessity is the population of fish? It is important to know that there are legislations that govern human activities with regard to aquatic ecosystems. One of these is the regulation of fishing to preserve fish and other aquatic living organisms from being extinct through overfishing. Therefore, fish population assessment helps in making sure that fishing management goals are achieved as well as making future predictions on the expected changes and the evaluation of the consequences of future managerial decision.
Estimations
– As already mentioned, fish population is not easy to track, as such this statistics of fish depend on estimates. The estimates are made from fishermen, scholar researchers and some of which is collected by fisheries scientists. Armed with this data, the scientists create models of estimates called “stock assessment” derived from the many subdivisions of fish species called stock.
In-depth information
– To obtain information that is reliable and worthy, it is crucial to perform a thorough or all in-depth statistics. The common methods of assessment have proven to provide data that though useful but have some limitations in terms of depth and totality. These include number of fish, sum of weigh of fish, age variation of old ones versus young ones. However, more insight into this will see more comprehensive data that will go to the extent of issues like: total number of eggs produced, the number of male compared to female, the rate of growth, the pattern of migration, food consumed and death trends.
Ecosystem Management
– With the complexity involved in providing accurate data, scientist need to divert their assessment direction and focus on management based on ecosystems. This management would demand for focus on things like the place where the fish lives and its preferred habitat its preys and habitats as well as the trends in the change in environment. However, this method demands for more resources and input in terms of money and time.
Cost of fish population assessment
– The cost of conducting fish population assessment varies depending on various factor like, the scope of the assessment, the number of people involved, the method used and the length and demands of the processes involved. A lot of funds and labor is demanded by the overall process because of the various activities that differ in time and requirements.
Assessment Experts
– It is not just anyone who can conduct fish population assessment. This procedure calls for experts in various concerned disciplines. Scientist, managerial experts, scholarship students and researchers specializing in Biology, chemistry and economics are better placed for various processes involved. With the above tips and many more, it is evident that fish population assessment in Asia, Africa and other continents is a long procedure that not only requires money, but also resources, time, and expertise.