Dissertation structure is a vital element in writing a successful dissertation

The major objective and underlying theme of the project is to take an unbiased look at the technological advances that are employed by the fisheries markets. The social, environmental, and economic of the exploitation of the fisheries market will be examined in order to enhance our company's knowledge of the socio-economic effects that aquaculture and the fishing industry has while at the same time taking into consideration the environmental impacts that the industry imparts in North eastern England.

Our company believes that as a whole England's fisheries and aquaculture remediation plan is very well assembled and only have a few suggestions.

•    The governmental monitoring system is well planned, however it would be more beneficial to have a separate monitoring agency that reports to the government in order to remain unbiased.
•    Remediation of the Tyne river is a encouraging example of environmental recovery, however the best solution is the prevention of degradation in the first place. Close monitoring and strict regulations are paramount.
•    The regulations for the destruction of spawning grounds and suitable habitat for industrial purposes should be strengthened to discourage this activity.
•    Develop a nation-wide fisheries monitoring system to keep track of the current populations of specific keystone species.
•    Finally, increase and encourage public interaction in the regulating and environmental monitoring of the nation's bodies of water to instill a feeling of personal stake in the state of the country's natural landscape.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

In order to make a proper assessment of the impacts that the fishing and aquaculture industries are having on the environment of north-east England and the surrounding environments, it is necessary to define the particular facts and information that has resulted as a direct effect of the fisheries industry.

Social

To assess the social impacts that the fishing industry has had on north-east England information concerning the local demographic of the area needs to be gathered. This includes the average age of the residents, places of employment, types of recreation, typical workweek, etc. All of this information may be collected either via census procedures or by making estimations from earlier demographic data.

Economic

The economic impacts of the fisheries industry are widespread, but in order to quantify the actual impacts on the economy of England there are specific areas that should be assessed. The average household income, cost of living, and economic fluctuations are all very telling characteristics of the impacts made by the economic industries of an area and would all need to be examined to determine how the fishing industry was helping/hurting the economy of north-east England. This information can be gathered by reviewing the economic reviews of the area for the past several years and looking at the financial reports for that area to determine trends, fluctuations, etc.

Environmental

Finally, possibly the most important impacts that could be taking place would be the environmental impacts that aquaculture and its subsidiaries are having in England. The negative impacts that take place are well documented and show up quite frequently in the primary literature journals, mostly due to the high level of regulation and monitoring that takes place now in the aquaculture industry. It is unfair to simply assume that all impacts that are going to be sustained by the environment will be negative. In order to provide an unbiased opinion, our company would need to perform several environmental tests on and near the sites of aquaculture in England. These tests would include procedures like water quality monitoring, water table monitoring, invasive species surveys, and chemical deposition testing. By compiling the information gathered from these tests and through casual observation, an opinion of the actual impacts of the fisheries industry in north-east England may be formed.

INTRODUCTION

The subjects of the fisheries and aquaculture industries are not new topics. There is evidence available that suggests that the Romans cultivated many species of fish, with China and Egypt having very old, well-documented legacies of aquaculture (Ager 2005). In many areas of the world, aquaculture is a fairly new development since up until recently most countries could sustain their populations solely by active fishing (Ager 2005). The increasing population has given the food industry a renewed importance with a need for scientific development in order to make meaningful advances in food production.

Aquaculture itself is a major economic factor in many southeast Asian countries like China and Japan, since a large portion of the diets of this ethnicity is made up of fish and other creatures of the seas (Ager 2005). Aquaculture also provides jobs in countries that otherwise would be “resource-poor” in the worldwide race for economic prosperity. Developed countries such as Great Britain, parts of Europe, and the United States also practice aquaculture, but at a lesser degree than do other parts of the world. This could be due to the absence of fish as a major staple food in the diets of these parts of the world, but could also be attributed to these countries in large part being more landlocked than some parts of Asia, Japan, and China.

On the other hand, fishing has been an activity that most if not all forms of indigenous peoples have partaken in at some point in time for survival. This ranges from the Native Americans of North America to the Inuit tribes in the Arctic regions. Many countries continue to support fishing as a major industry of food production as well as economic health, since the trading of fish in the Asian market can be very prosperous.

The fisheries market and its subsidiaries form a large network of economic growth and expansion worldwide. England is not a newcomer to the market, however its fish market does not have the backing that other larger “fish-dependent” countries are able to provide to their markets. In the past, various practices and procedures were adopted that allowed a larger harvest of fish and less expenditures, which translates into a larger profit. However, some of these practices were not beneficial to the environment and have had significant detrimental impacts on certain ecosystems. Today there are more regulations, higher agency and governmental expectations, and higher levels of monitoring so that our natural ecosystems may be preserved for future generations. This study examines the impacts that have taken place thus far, and strives to make recommendations in order for the negative impacts of tomorrow's fisheries industries to be lessened.

1.0 Aquaculture: Historical practices and their impacts

There are four main categories of aquaculture present in Britain and Ireland. They are: finfish (Salmon, Trout, Turbot, etc.), shellfish (mussels, oysters, and scallops), seaweeds (dulse:Palmaria palmata), and worms (the King Ragworm) (Ager 2005). The cultivation techniques are unique for each type and are outlined below in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1

Type of Aquaculture Facts Time Period

Salmon Cultivation Practiced in Scotland since the 1960's. Has both freshwater and seawater life cycles. Begins in holding pens in freshwater until smolt stage is reached. Then transferred to large saltwater suspended net cages.

1-2 years

Mussel Cultivation Divided into two types: On-bottom and Off-bottom farming. On-bottom: the mussels are taken from area of high concentration and spread out to allow maximum growth. Off-bottom: mussels are grown on ropes or rods suspended in a body of water. Both processes require a natural “seed source” for the mussels.

1 year or less

Dulse Long-line techniques. Dulse plants are transplanted from original location to ropes suspended in the ocean via a long-line and left to grow.

2-3 years

King Ragworm production Concentrated in the north-east of England. Used as bait and food staple for other cultured species. Variety of techniques employed including controlled food input, large production of juveniles, and utilizing waste heat from industrial practices to keep the seawater medium at the optimum temperature.

Less than 1 year

North east England is mainly an area of “bait” aquaculture or the production of baitfish for the feeding of or fishing for other, larger sought after species (Milner et al. 2004). While this area of England may not be producing dietary staples for humans, it provides the rest of the fisheries industry with the material needed to sustain the level of aquaculture that populations demand.

It is evident that the fisheries industry provides necessary resources, ranging from dietary staples to economic fortitude, to many countries of the world. However, what are the impacts of these processes. Does the intervention of humans into the natural cycle and growth pattern of aqueous creatures have any negative impacts on the environment? On economics or society? Many studies have shown that aquaculture can have significant negative impacts on the environment and can also cause large scale economic and social changes.

1.1 Aquaculture: Negative Impacts

Nutrient Enrichment

Aquaculture, by necessity forces as many of a particular species of organism in cultivation into as small an area as possible so that production may be increased while keeping costs down. In essence this is harmless, however the biological material and feces released by the population of organisms increases the nutrient gradient of the pool of water. This increases the production of algal organisms and has the potential to cause the eutrophocation of the body of water. Nitrogen and phosphorous are both known limiting factors in aqueous environments but in a closed body of water such as an aquaculture fish pool these nutrients are added in the form of uneaten fish food, making toxic algal blooms a concern (citation).

Chemical Pollution

In certain types of aquaculture it is necessary to utilize certain chemicals, whether they be fertilizers or lice treatments (Ager 2005). The addition of these chemicals to the water column can lead to effects on the native aqueous species of the area being cultivated. The added chemicals have the potential to kill or cause harm to the native organisms that are present in the water column and can even persist for a long period of time, causing problems much later than the release time (Ager 2005).

Impacts on Native Populations

If a cultivated organism were to escape from an aquaculture pond and breed with a native species of organism, the genetic effects could be very detrimental (Ager 2005). Aquaculture bred organisms usually come from a few individual organisms and through a process known as “the Founder Effect”, tend to be very genetically similar to one another and to their descendants. This makes the population more susceptible to disease and parasitism than a natural, genetically diverse community. If a cultivated organism were to breed and spread this unique set of genes to the native population of a certain area, the effects could be a loss of genetic diversity in the natural population leading to more disease and death in the native population.

Impacts on the environment

In some cases aquaculture entails the addition of natural inputs such as medium or other organisms as a food source for the cultivated species (Ager 2005). This can lead to the depletion of certain resources that are needed for the balance of the natural ecosystem (Ager 2005). For example, the sand eel population has declined considerably due to industrial fishing in the North Sea (Ager 2005). Since, the eels are a keystone species in this ecosystem this has caused a major shift in the biological diversity of this region (Ager 2005).

Invasive Species

The detrimental effects that non-native invasive species can have on undisturbed natural habitat is well documented. Some species that are cultivated in aquaculture settings are not native to the area in which the aquaculture takes place. There is the potential for the escape of the species into the surrounding landscape and then for that species to act as a non-native invader causing biodiversity changes, nutrient cycling changes, and environment structure changes (Ager 2005).

2.0 Fishing Practices

Fishing practices have not changed much since man first started searching for food except for the amount of harvest that is possible now. Most of England's fishing takes place off of the coastal shores, with a small amount of native fish being taken from inland practices. The processes that are employed by the fisherman are less important that the numbers of fish that are taken. There has been a vast increase in the harvest rate of fish in recent years due to technological advances and an increase of fishing pressure. The effects that this has had on the fish populations are evident. Humans are harvesting the fish at an unsustainable rate and the natural reproduction of the fish cannot keep up. The populations of fish species are not the only organisms suffering however. In many cases the reduction of a particular fish species creates a food shortage for another organism and opens up resources yet another. What this means is that the natural fluctuations of community populations are being thrown off by the fishing industry. This creates community wide species composition changes as well as a potential breakdown of important marine environments.

Anglers in England spend approximately 3 billion pounds a year supporting their sport, so the social and economic impacts of fishing are very considerable, however in some cases (as in our case study) this has led to the destruction of natural environmentally important ecosystems (Milner et al. 2004).

3.0 Case Study: The decline of Salmon in the Tyne

The Tyne river is a major fishery site in north-eastern England. In the 1950's the native salmon species population declined dramatically and were all but wiped out by 1960. This is mainly attributed to the destruction of estuarine water quality by the use of open sewer systems and lack of filtration systems. From 1960 to 1980 there were dramatic increases in the development of water quality technologies and the Tyne was restored to near normal water conditions. This period began the reintroduction of native Salmon back into the estuary by natural processes. It was not until the Kielder reservoir was built that human introduction of Salmon began to take place in an effort to increase the natural population. Today, the Tyne boasts the largest rod catch of native Salmon species in all of England. This has mainly been attributed to the natural movement of Salmon back into the newly restored estuary, but the introduction of Salmon by humans has also been cited as a contributing factor.

Conclusions and recommendations

The fisheries and aquaculture industries play a major role in shaping north-eastern England's social, economic, and environmental trends. There has been a renewed interest in environmentally friendly technology and practices in recent years, which is encouraging for the future outlook of the fisheries industry. The adoption of sustainable fish harvesting techniques insures that in the future England's economy will remain stable while maintaining the natural balance of organisms in the environment as well.

References

Ager, O. 2005. Aquaculture. Main Life Topic Note:MarLIN. pg. 1-5

Clarke, D. 2002. Comments from the Environment Agency on the scoping of the Environmental    Effects of Marine Fisheries Study. Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. pg. 1-5.

Milner, N.J., Russell, I.C., Aprihamian, M., Inverarity, R., Shelley, J., and Rippon, P. 2004. The role of    stocking in the recovery of the River Tyne Salmon Fisheries. Fisheries Technical Report        number 2004/1. Environment Agency. pg. 1-68.

Parr, J., Hiscock, K., and Lear, D. 2004. Scoping study and infrastructure development: UK Seabed    biology datasets access programme. Report to the UK National Biodiversity Network and the    Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. pg. 1-53.