Study takes a closer look at all the fishing in the sea

There may be a lot of fish in the sea. But we didn’t know much about where the fish were or who was fishing them.

Now, by analyzing satellite data that looked at thousands of high-seas fishing vessels over four years, a study for the first time shines a spotlight on fishing’s scope and pattern around the world.

Scientists used ships’ own emergency beacons to pinpoint their locations and movements.

A key finding of the study said fishing affects more than 55% of the ocean’s surface. Some parts of the world with poor satellite coverage were not visible. “The total area fished is likely higher,” possibly up to 73%, said the report.

Other findings from the study show that just five countries — China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea — account for 85% of fishing on the high seas. And, by far, China does the most fishing of any nation on Earth.

The world’s hotspots for fishing include the Northeast Atlantic, Northwest Pacific, and some regions off South America and western Africa.

Additionally, the researchers noted more than 37 million hours of fishing in 2016 and found fishing vessels traveled more than 285 million miles that year alone, a distance to the moon and back 600 times.

“Most people will be surprised that until now, we didn’t really know where people were fishing in vast swaths of the ocean,” said study co-author Chris Costello, an economist at the University of California Santa Barbara. “This new real-time data set will be instrumental in designing improved management of the world’s oceans that is good for the fish, ecosystems and fishermen.”