a. What is the country’s sustainable biological capacity? b. Is the county’s annual fishing harvest sustainable? c. To what extent, as a percentage, is the country undershooting or overshooting its biological capacity?
A fishprint provides a measure of a country’s fish harvest
in terms of area. The unit of area used in fishprint analysis
is the global hectare (gha), a unit weighted to reflect the
relative ecological productivity of the area fished. When
compared with the fishing area’s sustainable biocapacity (its
ability to provide a stable supply of fish year after year,
expressed in terms of yield per area), its fishprint indicates
whether the country’s annual fishing harvest is sustainable. The fishprint and biocapacity are calculated using the
following formulas:
Fishprint in (gha) = metric tons of fish harvested
per year/productivity in metric tons per hectare ×
weighting factor
Biocapacity in (gha) = sustained yield of fish in metric
tons per year/productivity in metric tons per hectare ×
weighting factor
The following graph shows the earth’s total fishprint and
biocapacity between 1950 and 2000. Study it and answer
the following questions:
If biologists determine that this country’s sustained
yield of fish is 17 million metric tons per year,
a. What is the country’s sustainable biological
capacity?
b. Is the county’s annual fishing harvest sustainable?
c. To what extent, as a percentage, is the country
undershooting or overshooting its biological
capacity?
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