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Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Fishing

Published: 10 January 2023

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People in coastal regions will experience great changes as water temperature will increase followed by introduction to new (for the area) species and loss in the traditional ones. This scenario is not only a threat but could with right preparation give the arctic region new opportunities. Harvesting and processing of new commercial marine species could be possible and aquaculture would become more feasible in the warmer water. To meet these future challenges, the societies in the high Arctic must have access to the best available knowledge, knowhow and skills in order to not only survive but also to benefit from these changes.

Considerable knowledge is available in the Subarctic on the Arctic ecosystem, and on how to best manage the resources in an ecologically and economically sustainable way. In fact the only two universities in the world that put emphasize on fisheries science (that is running businesses in the fisheries sector) are located in the Subarctic. These are the University of Tromsø in Norway and the University of Akureyri in Iceland. Many other northern universities have emphasis on fisheries or the marine environment on their curriculum. University of the Faroe Islands, Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland and University of Nordland, Bodø, Norway are involved with aquatic related issues from various other perspectives and together these universities provide a wide spectrum of education and knowhow in oceanography, marine ecology, marine biotechnology, energy utilization, and aquaculture. The universities not only offer B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees but have an experience of offering longer and shorter programs for different groups e.g. as part of vocational training, short courses for and in developing countries and are even involved in education in primary and secondary schools. Across the Atlantic, Memorial University of Newfoundland and University of Alaska also have a strong focus on the marine environment.

It is only natural that these northernmost maritime universities link up to form a network to ease and increase the flow of information and people among themselves and to the people in the arctic region. It is important that these institutions of higher education team up to aid the more northern neighbours in managing and harvesting currently available and future resources in an ecologically and economically sustainable way.

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Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Fishing

Published: 10 January 2023

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The marine species of the cold regions are not really so many, as species diversity decreases as we get closer to the poles. The rather few subarctic and still fewer arctic species can on the other hand be extremely abundant. The most abundant large mammal in the world is probably the crabeater seal of the Antarctic. The harp seal of the Arctic is only slightly less abundant. The Atlantic herring might be the most abundant commercial fish in the world, followed closely by Atlantic cod and Alaska Pollack. While the animals above are quite large the most abundant animals in the world in term of total biomass might be the small copepod Calanus finmarchius in the far north and the krill species Euphausia superba in the far south. These two are vital links in the food chain from the phytoplankton to the fishes and mammals. Seabirds also nest in huge colonies in the polar regions.

It would be futile to write about all the species here on this page, that is what we have Wikipedia for.

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Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Fishing

Published: 10 January 2023

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It is assumed from Stone Age carvings that ancient northern people knew about whales. It is unsure if they hunted them but whale strandings must have been utilized. Nearshore whaling, similar as still conducted in the Faroes, was known from Norway in the 9^th century and must at a similar time have been conducted by the Inuit as well. This type of whaling has always been important for the people living in the north.

However, large-scale commercial whaling began much later. In the 16^th century, Basque fishermen from Spain, who hunted whales in the Bay of Biscay and were already fishing cod near Newfoundland, began to hunt whales in the north. According to written accounts and archaeological evidence they hunted around 450 whales annually. The species were the closely related northern right whale and the bowhead whale. These were the “right” species as they are slow and fat. The whales were mostly hunted for the fat that gave the valuable oil.

The right whales were found all over the world but were most common in temperate and subarctic waters. However, the Bowheads are pure Arctic animals and whaling stations were operated in Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen to process those.

The whaling by the Basques was immensely profitable and other European nations therefore followed suit later. This early commercial whaling did already deplete the Northern European right and bowhead whale stocks by the 1650´s and the whalers had to seek the whales further and further away and into more and more dangerous waters.

It was only in the late 19^th century that whaling on the rorquals (essentially all the other baleen whales) began. They were too fast and strong for the sailing ships and were only hunted after the Norwegians invented the explosive harpoon (that killed the whales quickly) and used them on steamships. These whales are found all over the world but the main hunting grounds were in the subarctic waters both in the northern and southern hemisphere where these species aggregate in the summer to feed in the bountiful waters.

As the whaling was not managed in those days the same story followed as for the right whales, the stocks were overexploited severely. After 1950 most of the whaling in the North Atlantic has been managed carefully and it has been illegal to hunt many species. Today most of the rorqual species in northern waters have recovered but the right whale stocks still have not.

Most countries in the north still hunt whales, whales and whaling have simply been a major commodity for these nations for a very long time. In Iceland the fin and minke whales are hunted, minke whales in Norway, minke, humpback, fin, and bowhead whales in Greenland, and bowhead and grey whales in Alaska and Siberia.

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Written by: ofurpaur

Category: Fishing

Published: 10 January 2023

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Fisheries have tended to dominate the discussion on utilization of marine bio-resources (it is a tough word but it essentially means natural resources such as animals and plants but not oil and minerals). However, in the north other resources are extremely important. Due to their high metabolic rate marina mammals and birds are in fact very abundant in cold places. It follows that they have always been very important resource for the people living in cold places.

Aquaculture has been increasing rapidly in the world. It is still not so important in the far north but lightly to the south especially salmon farming has grown rapidly. This phenomena is also moving north with warming climate.