| Anadromous
- Fish that migrate from saltwater to fresh water to spawn.
|
| Autotrophic
- An organism that is capable of living exclusively on inorganic
materials, water, and some energy source such as sunlight of
chemically reduced matter, such as algae and plants. (Contrast
with heterotrophic) |
| Benthic
- Refers to animals and fish that live on the seafloor. |
| Catadromous
- Fish that migrate from fresh water to saltwater to spawn.
|
| Commercial
Fishery - A term related to the whole process of catching
and marketing fish and shellfish for sale. *It refers to and
includes fisheries resources, fishermen, and related business
directly or indirectly involved in harvesting, processing, or
sales. |
| Catch
Per Unit of Effort (CPUE;C/E) - The number of fish caught
by an amount of effort. Typically, effort is a combination of
gear type, gear size, and length of time gear is used. Catch
per unit of effort is often used as a measurement of relative
abundance for a particular fish. |
| Economic
viability - |
| Gravid
- Being with child; heavy with young; pregnant |
| Growth
overfishing - When fishing pressure removes too many large
individuals. Larger females are able to produce more eggs than
smaller females, thus reducing the ability of a population to
recover quickly. |
| Heterotrophic
- An organism that requires preformed organic molecules
as food, such as humans, sea otters, blue crabs, and sea jellies.
(Contrast with autotroph) |
| Landings
- The number or poundage of fish unloaded at a dock by commercial
fishermen or brought to shore by recreational fishermen for
personal use. Landings are reported at the points at which fish
are brought to shore. Note that landings, catch, and harvest
define different things. |
| Nutrients
- chemical elements and compounds found in the environment that
plants and animals need to grow and survive. For water-quality
investigations the various forms of nitrogen and phosphorus
are the nutrients of interest. (toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/nutrients.html) |
| Recreational
Fishery - Harvesting fish for personal use, fun, and challenge.
Recreational fishing does not include sale of catch. *The term
refers to and includes the fishery resources, fishermen, and
businesses providing needed good and services. |
| Recruit
- An individual fish that has moved into a certain class, such
as the spawning class or fishing-size class. |
| Recruitment
- A measure of the number of fish that enter a class during
some time period, such as the spawning class or fishing-size
class. Also the addition of new individuals to a population. |
| Recruitment
Overfishing - When fishing pressure is too heavy to allow
a fish population to replace itself. |
| Sessile
- Refers to animals that are fixed to one spot and unable to
move, e.g. barnacles, corals, mussels |
| Shellfish
- General term for crustaceans and mollusks. |
| Stock
- A grouping of fish usually based on genetic relationship,
geographic distribution, and movement patterns. *Also a managed
unit of fish. |
| |
