Glossary |
F |
| Fmax | |
| The rate of fishing mortality for a given exploitation pattern rate of growth and natural mortality, that results in the maximum level of yield-per-recruit. This is the point that defines growth overfishing. | |
| fishing effort | |
| The total fishing gear in use for a specified period of time. When two or more kinds of gear are used, they must be adjusted to some standard type. | |
| flag of convenience | |
| The term flags of convenience refers to the registration
of merchant (including fishing) vessels under the flags of a number of States which
operate "open registers," i.e. registers open to vessels from any State, whether
or not there is any real connection between the orthodox State of the vessel and itself or
not. Panama and Liberia have traditionally been the principal open registry countries,
although since the 1980s there has been a growing list of flag of convenience States:
e.g., Honduras, Vanuatu, Belize. These States account for a sizeable proportion of the
world's ocean-going fleet. Vessel operators turn to flags of convenience for a variety of
(mainly financial) reasons: for example, because of lower operating costs or more
favourable tax conditions. International concern arises, however, when vessels use flags
of convenience to evade controls and regulations (such as restrictions on fishing adopted
through regional organizations or arrangements) adopted by the original flag State. The
unregulated fishing by vessels flying flags of convenience is now regarded as the major
threat to internationally sustainable fisheries. Attempts to regulate the problem by
requiring a genuine link between a vessel and the flag State have been
largely unsuccessful. See also: Genuine Link and Reflagging. |
|
| fork length | |
| The length of a fish measured as the distance between the tip of the snout and the most anterior point of the fork of "V" of the tail. | |
| freedom of fishing | |
| The freedom of fishing is one of the oldest principles of the international law of the sea. The concept is usually attributed to the early 17th Century Dutch jurist, Hugo Grotius, who argued that ownership of the high seas was unnecessary and that its resources should remain free for the use of all. This view was based on two premises: first, that the sea could not be reduced into possession, so that even if ownership were necessary it could not be obtained and, second, that the ocean was not exhausted by use. However, a realistic view of the ocean today - at least as far as concerns the exploitation of ocean resources - is almost diametrically opposed to that of Grotius. The EEZ regime has substantially diminished the principle, although the LOS Convention (Article 87) has preserved it for the areas of the oceans that remain high seas. There have been a number of attempts to limit the impact of the principle for high seas fisheries (e.g., the Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks Agreement). | |
| freezer trawler IMAGE | |
| These are trawlers which are outfitted with refrigerating plant and freezing equipment and on which the fish is preserved by freezing. For obvious reasons, the majority of trawlers operating in distant water fishing operations are freezer trawlers. | |