Assessing Sustainability of Resource Harvesting
- Human activities rely on the harvesting of resources, such as food and timber, for which we rely on the natural environment
- A sustainably harvested resource is one which is replaced as rapidly as it is harvested, meaning that it does not run out
- In order for a resource to be sustainable, its use needs to be carefully regulated and monitored to ensure that it is not over-harvested
Terrestrial plant: black cherry
- Black cherry is a species of hardwood tree, found in North America, that is popular for furniture production
- Hardwood tree species grow slowly, so it is especially important that sustainable harvesting methods are used; methods such as clear felling will leave no timber for many years to come
- Sustainable harvesting of black cherry timber involves
- Selective felling; choosing specific individual trees to harvest, leaving gaps in the forest canopy that will encourage growth of more plants on the forest floor
- Leaving enough individuals behind in the forest to flower and produce seeds, ensuring that new black cherry saplings will germinate
- Regular monitoring to ensure that new growth is keeping up with logging
CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hardwood forests contain trees that grow slowly, so harvesting must be carefully managed
Marine fish: Alaska pollock
- Pollock are a species of fish found across the North Pacific
- The Alaska pollock fishery is the largest sustainably certified fishery in the world
- This certification is awarded by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
- The fishery is considered to be sustainable because
- Pollock are a fast-growing species which can reproduce from the age of 3-4 years
- Nets have minimal contact with the sea bed, so do not damage this habitat
- The proportion of the fish caught that are not pollock, known as bycatch, is very low; less than 1 %
- According to regulation, any bycatch that is caught cannot be sold commercially, so it is in the interest of fishermen to avoid catching it
- Close monitoring is carried out by science research vessels and by trained individuals on board commercial fishing vessels
- Any areas where a higher than normal number of salmon bycatch occurs are closed off to fishing vessels
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wild Alaska pollock caught in the US is a sustainably harvested resource