Certain terms used in this denote special or restricted meaning and need elaboration for bringing more clarity. Some terms are familiar to Indian readers but may not be so for readers from other countries. Definitions of standard terms are adapted from FAO Term Portal – www.fao.org/faoterm/en.
Artisanal fisheries
Traditional fisheries involving fishing households (as opposed to commercial companies), using relatively small amount of capital and energy, relatively small fishing vessels (if any), making shore fishing trips, close to shore, mainly for local consumption.
Assimilation efficiency
The proportion of consumed resource biomass that is converted into consumer biomass.
Benthic
Associated with the seabed underlying a water body.
Biodiversity
Variety among living organisms, including genetic diversity, diversity within and between species, and diversity within ecosystems.
Biomass
The total weight of the living organisms concerned, whether in a system, a stock, or a fraction of a stock.
Biomass at maximum sustainable yield (BMSY)
Average biomass corresponding to maximum sustainable yield. A target reference point estimated using a stock assessment model.
Bivalves
Molluses with two hinged shells that encase the soft parts of the animal, e.g. mussels, oysters, clams etc.
Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE)
The amount of catch that is taken per unit of fishing effort. CPUE can be used as a measure of the economic efficiency of a type of gear, but normally it is used as an index of abundance. Nominal CPUE is simply the measure of CPUE from the fishery. However, it is known that there are many factors (including economics, geographical distributions) which may affect CPUE but do not represent changes in abundance. Therefore, CPUEs are often “standardized” using a variety of statistical techniques to remove the effect of those factors which are known not to be related to abundance.
Catchability
The fraction of a fish stock that is caught by a defined unit of fishing effort
Census
A fisheries census is a survey in which the value of each variable for the survey area is obtained from the values of the variable in all reporting units that are usually fishing households. The primary objective of fisheries censuses is to provide a detailed classification of the fisheries structure of the country. It provides estimates for each household, and therefore, aggregate data for the smallest administrative, political or statistical subdivisions of the country and for classifications of households by size or other subgroups of interest.
Closed seasons
A period during which fishing, within a specified area, is prohibited
Co-management
A process of management in which government shares power with resource users, with each given specific rights and responsibilities relating to information and decision-making.
Commercial fisheries
Fisheries undertaken for profit and with the objective to sell the harvest on the market, through auction halls, direct contracts, or other forms of trade.
Continental shelf (shelf)
The area of relatively shallow water that fringes a continent from the shoreline to the top of the continental slope. The top of the continental slope is often defined by the 200 m isobath.
Continental slope (slope)
Region of the outer edge of a continent between the relatively shallow continental shelf and the abyssal depths. Often characterised by a relatively steep slope compared to the continental shelf.
Data
Facts that result from measurements or observations.
Database
A logically structured and consistent set of data that can be used for analysis.
Data-poor fishery
A fishery with little to no existing scientific information on the fishery characteristics relevant for management decisions (e.g. baseline biological data such as size at maturity, fishing mortality and growth rates, stock assessments, fishing effort assessments, and baseline habitat quality assessments)
Dataset
A collection of data and accompanying documentation which relate to a specific theme.
Deep-sea fishing vessel
Fishing crafts, which fish in the deeper parts of the ocean, especially those beyond the edge of the continental shelf
Demersal
Found on or near the benthic habitat (sea bottom).
Detritus
Dead organic matter and the decomposers that live on it; when broken up by decomposers, detritus provides energy to many coastal ecosystems
Discard
Part of the catch, which is not retained and is returned to the sea. Discard typically consists of "non-target" species or undersized specimens.
Ecosystem
A complex system of plant, animal and microorganism communities that, together with the non-living components, interact to maintain a functional ecological unit.
Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management
A fisheries management approach that takes major ecosystem components and services both structural and functional into account, often with a multispecies or habitat perspective
Effort
A measure of the level of fishing activity used to harvest a fishery's stocks. The measure of effort appropriate for a fishery depends on the methods used and the management arrangements. Common measures include the number of vessels, the number of hooks set, number of trawl tows, the duration of trawl tows and the number of fishing days or nights.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
The area adjacent to a coastal state which encompasses all waters between: (a) the seaward boundary of that state, (b) a line which each point is 200 nautical miles (370,40 km) from the baseline from which the territorial sea of the coastal state is measured (except when other international boundaries need to be and (c) the maritime boundaries agreed between that state and the neighbouring states.
Fish
Finfish, mollusks, crustaceans and any marine plant or animal that is harvested.
Fish meal
Protein-rich meal derived from processing whole fish (usually small pelagic fish, and fishery bycatch) as well as residues and byproducts from fish processing plants (fish offal). Used mainly as agriculture feeds for poultry, pigs, and aquaculture feeds for carnivorous aquatic species.
Fish refugia
Spatially and geographically defined, marine or coastal areas in which specific management measures are applied to sustain important species [fisheries resources] during critical stages of their life cycle, for their sustainable use.
Fish stock
The living resources in the community or population from which catches are taken in a fishery. Use of the term fish stock usually implies that the particular population is more or less isolated from other stocks of the same species and hence self-sustaining. See: Fishery resource
Fish-aggregating device (FAD)
Buoys or platforms used to attract and aggregate pelagic fishes to increase fishing harvest rates.
Fisherman
A person (male or female) participating in a fishery.
Fisheries Subsidies
Fisheries subsidies are government actions that are specific to the fisheries industry and that modifies -by increasing or decreasing the potential profits by the industry in the short-, medium- or long-term.
Fishery
The sum (or range) of all fishing activities on a given resource. It may also refer to the activities of a single type or style of fishing (e.g. beach seine fishery or trawl fishery). The fishery can be artisanal, or/and industrial, commercial, subsistence, and recreational, and can be annual or seasonal.
Fishery Management
The integrated process of information gathering, analysis, planning, decision-making, allocation of resources and formulation and enforcement of fishery regulations by which the fishery management authority controls the present and future behaviour of interested parties in the fisheries, in order to ensure the continued productivity of the living resources.
Fishery Management Plan (FMP)
Also referred to as a "plan," this is a document that describes a fishery and establishes measures to manage it.
Fishery Survey
Sampling, collecting, observing, or surveying the fish or fishery resources, on board scientific research vessels, to increase scientific knowledge of the fishery resources or their environment, or to test a hypothesis as part of a planned, directed investigation or study conducted according to methodologies generally accepted as appropriate for scientific research
Fishing
Any activity, that can reasonably be expected to result in the catching, taking, or harvesting of fish and any operations at sea in support of it.
Fishing capacity
Fishing capacity is the ability of a stock of inputs (e.g. boats) used in fisheries to produce output, measured as either effort or catch, over a period of time.
Fishing effort
Amount of fishing taking place, usually described in terms of gear type and the frequency or duration of operations (for example, number of hooks, trawl hours, net length).
Fishing industry
Includes both recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing, and the harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors.
Fishing intensity
Effective fishing effort per unit area. It is proportional to fishing mortality.
Fishing mortality
A mathematical expression of the rate of deaths of fish due to fishing.
Fishing mortality maximum sustainable yield (FMSY)
The fishing mortality rate that at equilibrium is expected to produce the maximum sustainable yield.
Fishing vessel
Any vessel, boat, ship, or other craft that is used for, equipped to be used for, or of a type that is normally used for the exploitation of living aquatic resources or in support of such activity.
Flag State
State having registered a vessel under the national flag.
Fleet
The aggregation of units of any discrete type of fishing activity utilising a specific resource. Hence, for example, a fleet may be all the purse seine vessels in a specific sardine fishery, or all the fishers setting nets from the shore in a tropical multispecies fishery.
Food security
A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
Gear
Any tools used to catch fish, such as hook and line, trawls, gill nets, traps, spears, etc.
Geographic Information System (GIS)
An information system that stores and manipulates data which is referenced to locations on the earth's surface, such as digital maps and sample locations.
Geo-referenced data
Data which is connected to a specific location on the earth's surface.
Gill net
Curtains of netting that hang vertically in the water, either in a fixed position (e.g. surface or seabed) or drifting, that trap fish by their gill covers-operculum-when they try to swim through the net's meshes.
Handline
A hook-and-line method of fishing, e.g. for mackerel, ostensibly hauling by hand
Harvest control rules
A rule that describes how harvest is intended to be controlled by management in relation to the state of some indicator of stock status
Herbivory
Consumption of plant material by animals
High seas
Waters beyond the areas of national jurisdiction (which can be 200 miles or less)
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
Fishing that is conducted contradictory to legal conservation and management measures currently in place around the world.
Index of abundance
A relative measure of the abundance of a stock; e.g. a time series of catch per unit of effort data.
Jigging
A term most frequently associated with fishing for squid with handlines that are 'jigged' up-and down
Landing
The offload or transfer in port of fish from a vessel
License
A license or permit is a document giving the producer the right to operate in a fishery according to the terms established by the regulating authority.
Logbook
A record of the fishing activity registered systematically by the fisher, including catch and its species composition, the corresponding effort, and location.
Longline
A method of fishing with large number baited hooks set on branch lines attached to single main line
Macroalgae
Large, multi-celled, photosynthetic algae. Commonly called seaweed.
Macrobenthos
Organisms that live at the bottom of a water column and are visible to the naked eye
Management (of fishery resources)
The integrated process of information gathering. analysis, planning, decision-making, allocation of resources and formulation and enforcement of fishery regulations by which the fishery management authority controls the present and future behaviour of interested parties in the fisheries, in order to ensure the continued productivity of the living resources.
Marine Fishing Regulation Acts (MFRA)
Acts enacted by the maritime states and Union Territories of India to manage the fishery resources within the 12 nautical mile territorial limits Marine Protected Area (MPA) Geographic area with discrete boundaries that has been designated to enhance the conservation of marine resources.
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
The highest theoretical equilibrium yield that can be continuously taken (on average) from a stock under existing (average) environmental conditions without affecting significantly the reproduction process. Also referred to sometimes as Potential yield.
Mechanised vessels
Fishing boats using engines for propulsion and mechanical devices for handling of fishing gear.
Meiobenthic fauna
Small benthic invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water. Environments. The term meiofauna loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna.
Mesopelagic
Pelagic zone of intermediate depth, 200-1000m
Migratory (straddling) species
Species that move between distinct geographical areas, especially across the outer limit of the national fisheries waters of coastal States and the adjacent high seas
Minimum landing (legal) size
The smallest length at which it is legal to retain a fish or offer it for sale.
Model
A set of equations and data used to make estimates
Modeling
The construction of physical, conceptual, or mathematical simulations of the real world.
Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS)
Activities undertaken by the fishery enforcement system to ensure compliance with fishery regulations
Mortality
Deaths from all causes, usually expressed as a rate or as the proportion of the stock dying each year.
Motorised fishing boats
Fishing boats using engines for propulsion, but handling of fishing gear is done manually.
Motorised mechanical (ReALCraft)
Mechanised boats which could use power for fishing, apart from propulsion.
Motorised non-mechanical (ReALCraft)
Motorised (inboard or outboard) boats using power for propulsion only..
Multispecies fishery
Fishery in which more than one species is caught at the same time.
Natural mortality
Deaths of fish from all causes except fishing (e.g. ageing, predation. cannibalism, disease and perhaps increasingly pollution).
Natural mortality (M)
Deaths of fish from all natural causes, excluding fishing. Usually expressed as an instantaneous rate or as a percentage of fish dying in a year.
Nautical Mile
Unit of distance (commonly used in navigation) equal to 1,852 meters.
Nominal catch
The sum of the catches that are landed (expressed as live weight equivalent). Nominal catches do not include unreported discards and may differ considerably from the actual catch.
Non-motorised (ReALCraft)
Boats not motorised but using human/wind power for propulsion.
North-Eastern Arabian Sea (Trophodynamics)
15°N to 23.5°N of Arabian Sea in the Indian EEZ
North-West Bay of Bengal
15°N to 22°N of Bay of Bengal in the Indian EEZ.
Observer
A certified person on board fishing vessels who collects scientific and technical information for the management authority on the fishing operations and the catch.
Oceanic
Open-ocean waters beyond the edge of the continental shelf.
Omnivory
Animals taking food of both plant and animal origin.
Open access
Access to the resource is free to anyone who wants to use or harvest it because there is no ownership of the resource
Optimum fleet size
Size and composition of the fishing fleet needed to harvest Potential yield estimated
Others/Miscellaneous/Mixed (Catch)
Resources which could not be classified at finer resolution of nomenclature due to damaged condition, small insignificant quantities, or inability to segregate (trash/by-catch)
Overcapitalisation
Where the amount of fishing capacity (number of boats) in the fishery exceeds the amount needed to harvest the MSY
Pelagic fish
Fish that spend most of their life swimming in the water column with little contact with or dependency on the bottom.
Plankton
The animals and plants that float in mid water and drift to-and fro with the tides.
Policy
The course of action for an undertaking adopted by a government, a person or another party.
Potential Yield
See Maximum Sustainable Yield
Precautionary principle (approach)
A set of agreed cost-effective measures and actions, including future courses of action, which ensures prudent foresight, reduces or avoids risk to the resources, the environment, and the people, to the extent possible, taking explicitly into account existing uncertainties and the potential consequences of being wrong.
Primary productivity
A measurement of plant production that is the start of the food chain. Much primary productivity in marine or aquatic systems is made up of phytoplankton, which are one-celled algae that float freely in the water.
Production efficiency (PE)
Amount of biomass stored by consumers relative to the amount of food they successfully absorbed.
Productivity
Production of organic matter by phytoplankton
Protected Areas
A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.
Protected species
A species of animal or plant which it is forbidden by law to harm or destroy
Purse seine
A deep curtain of netting that is shot in a circle to form an enclosing cylinder around shoals of pelagic fish. A 'pursing wire attached to the end and lower edges are drawn in to close the bottom of the cylinder. At the same time, the net is progressively hauled aboard to concentrate the fish alongside the boat in the final bight of netting the ‘purse’.
Quota
A share of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) allocated to an operating unit such as a country, a vessel, a company or an individual fisherman (individual quota) depending on the system of allocation.
ReALCraft (Registration and Licensing of Fishing Craft)
It is a work flow based online application system for Vessel Registration under MS Act and License Certificate under MFR Act to the fishing vessels operating along the Indian coast
Reference point
An indicator, typically of the level of stock biomass or fishing mortality rate, used as a benchmark for assessment and as the basis for management objectives set within harvest strategies.
Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMO)
An Intergovernmental organization, established by international agreement, with the competence to adopt conservation and management measures.
Resources
Biological resources include genetic resources, organisms or parts thereof, populations or any other biotic component of ecosystems with actual or potential use of value for humanity. Fishery resources are those resources of value to fisheries.
Responsible fishing
Sustainable utilisation of fishery resources in harmony with the environment; the use of capture practices which are not harmful to ecosystems, resources and their quality
Seasonal closure of fishery
Closure of a fishing ground for a defined period. Used as a management tool, often to protect a particular component of the stock at a particular time, such as a spawning aggregation.
Secondary production
Any production by organisms which themselves consume primary producers
South-Eastern Arabian Sea (Trophodynamics)
5°N to 15°N of Arabian Sea in the Indian EEZ and Lakshadweep Sea.
South-West Bay of Bengal (Trophodynamics)
5°N to 15°N of Bay of Bengal in the Indian EEZ.
Spatial closure
A method of fisheries management that prevents fishing in a defined area.
Spawning stock biomass
The total biomass of fish of reproductive age during the breeding season of a stock
Species group
Group of species considered together, often because they are difficult to differentiate without detailed examination (very similar species) or because data for the separate species are not available (e.g. in fishery statistics or commercial categories).
Stakeholders
A large group of individuals and groups of individuals (including governmental and non-governmental institutions, traditional communities, universities, research institutions, development agencies and banks, donors, etc.) with an interest or claim (whether stated or implied) which has the potential of being impacted by or having an impact on a given project and its objectives.
Standing stock
See biomass
State of the stock
An appreciation of the situation of a stock, usually expressed as: protected, under-exploited, intensively exploited, fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted, extinct or commercially extinct.
Stock assessment
The process of collecting and analysing biological and statistical information to determine the changes in the abundance of fishery stocks in response to fishing, and, to the extent possible, to predict future trends of stock abundance.
Straddling stock
Stock which occurs both within the EEZ and in an area beyond and adjacent to EEZ
Subsistence fishery
A fishery where the fish caught are consumed directly by the families of the fishers rather than being bought by middle-(wo)men and sold at the next larger market.
Sustainable development
Management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment of continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations.
Sustainable fishing
Fishing activities that do not cause or lead to undesirable changes in the biological and economic productivity, biological diversity, or ecosystem structure and functioning from one human generation to the next.
Target Reference Point (TRP)
Corresponds to a state of a fishery and/or a resource which is considered desirable. Management action, whether during a fishery development or a stock rebuilding process should aim at bringing and maintaining the fishery system at this level. In most cases a TRP will be expressed in a desired level of output for the fishery (e.g. in terms of catch) or of fishing effort or capacity and will be reflected as an explicit management objective for the fishery.
Target species
Those species that are primarily sought by the fishermen in a particular fishery.
Total Allowable Catch (TAC)
It is the total catch allowed to be taken from a resource in a specified period (usually a year), as defined in the management plan. The TAC may be allocated to the stakeholders in the form of quotas as specific quantities or proportions.
Zooplankton
Plankton consisting of small animals and the immature stages of larger animals.
