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Scrapping away Future Fishing.
There is an art to reeling in fishing tackle, and like artists, every fisher has their own technique. Very few consider the damage to the seabed and reef that reeling in causes. In high cast zones, encrusting flora and fauna are scraped off the rocky substrate and reef, leaving a bare strip arcing out approximately 45o from the casting location. At popular fishing sites, the impact on the reef is significant with negative repercussions on the basal productivity of the reef.
Reef surveys demonstrate that in high cast zones there is no flora or fauna, and in the absence of the basal production, there are reduced densities of bait fish species.
High Cast Zones reduce Marine Biodiversity.
Equipment is determined by budget with sports and recreational shark fisherman using expensive and sophisticated tackle while subsistence fishermen use a more simple setup, often a hand line with small hooks and a single in line sinker. How fishing tackle is set up and where fishing takes places influences both the rate of snagging and the manner in which gear snags. Ultimately how and where line fishing occurs determines the rate of snagging, damage to reefs,and the threat of ghost fishing and entanglements.
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