Classification of All 16 Types of Fisheries on the Basis of 7 Major Criteria

CLASSIFICATION OF ALL 16 TYPES OF FISHERIES BASED ON 7 MAJOR CRITERIA

If you are here, it is probably because you intend to know about all the major types of fisheries that exist. Based on intensive research, I have assembled all you need to know about types of fisheries, and have presented these types, as well as the relationships, similarities and differences among them.

Below is a simple yet comprehensive classification of fisheries using seven major criteria. If you intend to know more about the word fishery, read this page on fisheries.

Types of fisheries

There are 16 major types. These major types of fisheries are:

Inland fisheries
Maritime/marine fisheries
Capture fisheries
Culture fisheries
Artisanal/traditional/subsistence fisheries
Semi-industrial fisheries
Industrial fisheries
Freshwater fisheries
Brackish water fisheries
fin fisheries
Shellfisheries
Small-scale fisheries
Medium-scale fisheries
Large-scale fisheries
Recreational fisheries
Commercial fisheries

B. Classification of fisheries types

Looking at the above listing, you may not easily see the relationship these fisheries types have with each other. Let’s try to group them based on 7 criteria into 7 categories.

1. Classification of fisheries based on profit: Recreational fisheries vs Commercial fisheries

Recreational fisheries:

Recreational fishery deals with aquatic resources (mainly fish) that do not constitute the individual’s primary resource to meet basic nutritional needs and are not generally sold or otherwise traded on export. (source: FAO Recreational fisheries. FAO Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries. No. 13). It is a non-commercial fishery activity exploiting aquatic living resources for recreation, tourism or sport.

Commercial fisheries:

Type of fishery which deals with fish and other seafood and resources from oceans, rivers, and lakes to market them. The main reason for this fishery is profit-making.

Table 1: Differences between Recreational fisheries and Commercial fisheries:

Comparison criteria	Recreational fisheries	Commercial fisheries
investment scale	smaller	larger
input effort	smaller	larger
gear type	typically smaller manual gears such as hooks and lines, Pots and traps.	typically larger gears and mechanised gears like purse seine, gillnets, trawls, surrounding nets, lift nets, etc.

2. Classification of fisheries based on obtaining method: Capture fisheries vs Culture fisheries

Capture fisheries:

This type of fishery deals with the catching/harvesting of uncultured edible living aquatic resources from the wild. Capture fishery is synonymous with fishing in most contexts.

Culture fisheries:

This type of fishery deals with culturing edible living aquatic resources in a natural environment like rivers, lakes, streams, etc. Culture fishery is synonymous with culture-based or farmed fisheries in most contexts. In contrast to aquaculture which involves the cultivation of aquatic life within controlled environments or the commercial production of certain aquatic species by managing the major part of their life history under strict control, culture-based fisheries increase production in natural environments by controlling a part of the life history of certain species and transplanting or releasing their seed or fry into the open waters (source: Honma, 1980).

Table 2: Comparing capture fisheries vs culture fisheries

Comparison criteria	Culture fisheries	Capture fisheries
resource obtaining method	farming	harvest
obtaining environment	controlled environment	natural environment
other names	farmed fisheries, culture-based fisheries	wild fisheries, wild-caught fisheries, wild-capture fisheries
input	more input on labour, feeding, etc	little or no input
natural recruitment	low	high
level of control on organisms’ development	high	low

3. Classification of fisheries based on products obtained: Fin fisheries vs Shellfisheries

Fin fisheries:

Fin fishery also known as finfish fishery deals with true fishes ie. fishes with fins like tilapia, carp, sardines, etc.

Shellfisheries:

shell fishery is a part of non-fin fishery that deals with shelled organisms other than true fish like prawns, crabs, lobsters, mussels, oysters, etc.

Table 3: Comparing Shellfisheries with Finfish fisheries

Comparison criteria	Shellfisheries	Finfish fisheries
Organism’s covering	shell	fin
Salinity of environment	mostly practiced in marine environments	practiced in both marine, brackish and freshwater environments
Resource examples	prawns, crabs, lobsters, mussels, oysters	tilapia, carp, kanga, etc.
Other names	shell fisheries	fin fisheries

4. Classification of fisheries based on water salinity: Freshwater fisheries vs Brackish water fisheries vs Marine fisheries

Freshwater fisheries:

Freshwater fishery deals with fish that spend some or all of their lives in freshwater, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. Examples of freshwater fish species are Carp, Catfish, Trout, Salmon, Perch, and Sunfish.

Brackish water fisheries:

Brackish water fishery, also known as estuarine fishery is fishery practiced in a mixture of fresh and salty water which usually occurs in estuaries and has a salinity usually of between 15 and 30 per thousand. Examples of freshwater fish species are Dragon Goby · Crab-Eating Frog · Archer Fish · Mudskipper ·American Alligator

Marine/maritime fisheries:

Marine or maritime fishery is a fishery dealing with fish living in saline environments like oceans, seas, etc. Marine fishery species include Atlantic Bonito · Atlantic Menhaden · Atlantic Croaker · Atlantic Spadefish.

Table 4: Difference between Freshwater, Brackish and Marine fisheries

Comparison criteria	Freshwater fisheries	Brackish fisheries	Marine fisheries
Salinity range	salinity value of less than 0.5 ppt	salinity anywhere between 0.5 ppt and 35 ppt	typically 35 ppt but ranges between 33-37 grams per liter (33ppt – 37ppt)
Environment	mostly practiced in freshwater environments	practiced in estuarine environments	mostly practiced in marine environments
Resource examples	tilapia, carp, kanga, etc.	Dragon Goby · Crab-Eating Frog · Archer Fish · Mudskipper including some species of prawns, crabs, lobsters, mussels, oysters	prawns, crabs, lobsters, mussels, oysters
Other names	shell fisheries	estuarine fisheries

5. Classification of fisheries based on location: Inland fisheries vs Marine/Maritime fisheries

Inland fisheries:

Inland fishery is any activity conducted to extract aquatic organisms (fish, crustaceans, and others) from inland waters.

Maritime fisheries:

Unlike inland fishery, maritime fishery is a fishery dealing with fish living in saline environments like oceans, seas, etc. Marine fishery species include Atlantic Bonito · Atlantic Menhaden.

Table 5: Comparing the difference between Inland and Marine fisheries

Comparison criteria	Inland fisheries	Marine fisheries
Salinity range	salinity value of less than 35 ppt	salinity is typically greater than 33 ppt
Environment	mostly practiced in freshwater and estuarine environments	mostly practiced in marine environments
Resource examples	tilapia, carp, kanga, etc.	Atlantic Croaker · Atlantic Spadefish and many marine prawns, crabs, lobsters, mussels, and oysters
Other names	–	maritime fisheries

6. Classification of fisheries based on scale: Small-scale fisheries vs Medium-scale fisheries vs Large-scale fisheries

Small-scale fisheries:

These fisheries are characterised by low capital investment, high labour activities often family or community-based, no vessel or small-size vessels. Some sub-groups of fishery that are considered synonymous with small-scale fisheries include subsistence fisheries and traditional fisheries.

Medium-scale fisheries:

It is a fishery undertaken by powered boats and with small or medium-sized capital. Medium-sized fishery is in between small and large-scale fisheries.

Large-scale fisheries:

Fisheries that are typically mechanized and employ advanced technology, high capital investment, heavy gears, and large-sized vessels.

Table 6: Difference between Small-scale, Medium-scale and Large-scale fisheries

Comparison criteria	Small-scale fisheries	Medium-scale fisheries	Large-scale fisheries
Input and output scale	small	medium	large
Technology level	low	medium	high
Capital investment	low	medium	high

7. Classification of fisheries based on technology: Artisanal fisheries vs Semi-industrial fisheries vs Industrial fisheries

Artisanal fisheries:

Artisanal fishery (or traditional/subsistence fishery) consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishery practices undertaken by individual fishermen or their families.

Semi-industrial fisheries: