Hauling in fish during commercial sea fishing. Image credit pinterest.comg

ZIMSEC O Level Geography Notes: Natural Resources: Fishing:Sea fishing methods

  • The types of fishing methods employed in sea fishing are determined by the type of fish being exploited.
  • There are two main types of fish found in the oceans of Southern Africa, namely pelagic or surface fishes and deep-sea fishes.
  • There is also a third small group of sea-bed fishes.

Surface fishing

  • This is for fishes that swim on the surface of the sea.
  • They are usually small.
  • They are found less than 50 m below the surface and swim in large schools called shoals.
  • Examples of such fish include sardines and anchovies.
  • They feed on small plants and micro-organisms.
  • Fishers use floating gill or drift net as well as seine nets, which can float on the surface.
  • These have floats on one side and sinkers on the other side.
  • Small sine boats are used.
  • The pelagic fisheries are fairly close to the coast.
  • The fish are caught in large numbers hence they are quickly over-exploited.

Deep sea fishing

  • Deep sea fishing is carried out for fish species found below 50 metres just above the sea bed.
  • These are usually large fish which feed on other sea organisms and small fish.
  • Common species are the hake and mackerel.
  • Fisheries usually use trawl nets and bigger trawl boats.

Sea bed fishing

  • Sea bed species include rock lobsters, crabs and prawns.
  • These are normally exploited using scooping or sea bed trawling.
  • Destructive methods like dynamite fishing are sometimes used to get the sea bed species out of the coastal reefs.
  • This involves blasting sea rock with dynamite to expose the lobsters and crabs.

To access more topics go to the O Level Geography Notes page