Name
Date
Fisheries Sustainability Research Answer Key
Common and
Scientific
Names
Biomass
Overfishing
or
Overfished*
Effects of
Fishing on
Habitat
Bycatch
Geographic
Range
Commercial or
Recreational
Interest
Fishery
Status
Prediction
Atlantic Cod
(Georges Bank)
Gadus morhua
Georges Bank
stock is at 10%
of its target level
Both
Gillnets and
longlines have
little-to-no
impact. Otter
trawls may
impact habitat.
Harbor porpoise
and large
cetaceans
(whales,
dolphins, and
porpoise)
Cape Cod,
Massachusetts to
Cape Sable Island,
Nova Scotia
Both
Collapsed
Atlantic Herring
Clupea harengus
97% of the
biomass needed
to support
maximum
sustainable yield
Neither
Purse seines and
mid-water trawls
do not typically
contact the
bottom and have
little impact.
Little or no
interactions with
sea turtles, but
interactions with
marine mammals
have been
recorded
Eastern and western
North Atlantic; from
Labrador to Cape
Hatteras, North
Carolina in western
Northern Atlantic
Commercial
Sustainable
Pacific Sardine
Sardinops sagax
caerulea
High
Neither
Caught with
roundhaul gear
(purse seine or
lampara nets),
which likely have
little effect on
habitat
Other coastal
pelagic species,
such as Pacific
salmon
Coastal subtropical
and temperate
waters from tip
of Baja California
to southeastern
Alaska and in Gulf of
California
Commercial
Recovered and
sustainable
* Overfishing based on rate of harvest; Overfished based on amount of species in sea
1
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© 2011 National Geographic Society
Use the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service FishWatch website to research and predict the status of a variety of United
States fisheries. For your fishery status predictions, use one or more of the following descriptions: collapsed, fully exploited, overexploited, recovered, stable, sustainable.
Common
and Scientific
Names
Biomass
Overfishing
or
Overfished*
Effects of
Fishing on
Habitat
Bycatch
Geographic
Range
Commercial or
Recreational
Interest
Fishery
Status
Prediction
Atlantic Salmon
Perilously
Overfished
(wild) Salmo salar low due to
commercial and
recreational
fisheries
No commercial
fishery for
Atlantic salmon
in federal waters
No directed
or incidental
commercial
fishery for Atlantic
salmon in federal
waters
Northern Quebec
southeast to Newfoundland and southwest to Long Island
Sound
Both
Collapsed
Red Snapper
Lutjanus
campechanus
Minimal damage
from hook-andline, longlines,
and spears
Sea turtles, sea
birds, other
species of reef
fish
From North Carolina to
the Florida Keys and
throughout the Gulf of
Mexico to the Yucatán
Both
Overexploited
and/or collapsed
Finfish and
invertebrates
Northwest Atlantic
(Labrador to Cape Hattaras) in coastal waters.
Most abundant from
Maine through New
Jersey
Both
Stable and/or
sustainable
Breeding popu- Both
lation is 11%
of target size in
Gulf of Mexico
American Lobster Abundance
Homarus
estimates
americanus
above
respective
thresholds
Neither
Little impact from
lobster traps and
other trawls
Atlantic Bluefin
Tuna
Thunnus thynnus
Between 14%57% of target
level
Both
Minor damHigh degree of
age from purse
live release of
seines, longlines, bycatch species
and handgear
that rarely contacts the sea floor
West Atlantic (Gulf of
Mexico to Newfoundland); East Atlantic (Canary Islands to south
Iceland and Mediterranean Sea)
Both
Overexploited
or collapsed
Pink Shrimp
Farfantepenaeus
duorarum
Estimates
Neither
based on
historic landings
due to shrimp
living less than
1 year
Trawling has
multiple, longterm effects
on bottom
communities
Worldwide in tropical and temperate
waters. In U.S., from
Chesapeake Bay to
Florida Keys and Gulf
of Mexico
Both
Stable
Varies by depth
and area fished
* Overfishing based on rate of harvest; Overfished based on amount of species in sea
2
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© 2011 National Geographic Society
Fisheries Sustainability Research Answer Key, continued