1 What Is behind

Capture and Handling

of the Catch?
E. Grażyna Daczkowska-Kozon

CONTENTS
1.1 The Scope of the Book .....................................................................................1
1.2 What Is Seafood? ..............................................................................................2
1.3 Seafood and the Environment .......................................................................... 2
1.4 Marine Seafood Resources ...............................................................................3
1.5 Marine Seafood as a Diet .................................................................................3
1.6 Marine Seafood Quality Issues ........................................................................4
1.7 Hazards in Raw Seafood .................................................................................. 5
Acknowledgment .......................................................................................................5
References ..................................................................................................................5

Seeing paves the way for understanding

Correct conclusions are sure to follow...
But the final and most important step
Is acting in accordance with the conclusions drawn.

1.1 THE SCOPE OF THE BOOK

This book, Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality,
deals with a variety of factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic to the marine environ-
ment, and their potential to influence the availability of technologically valuable
finfish/shellfish, their nutritional value, quality attributes, and the safety issues at the
time of capture. The book also covers issues encompassing the handling of newly
caught finfish/shellfish aboard the fishing vessel prior to its landing and/or reaching
the place of delivery.
The topics covered in this volume are based on relevant, up-to-date knowledge and
are presented in a concise manner by an international group of scientists and practi-
tioners working in the fields of marine biology/ecology and seafood applied sciences.
Interdisciplinary in nature, the book provides valuable information on the environ-
mental impact on seafood resources, their quality attributes, and safety issues when
newly caught. In this respect, it should be of interest to upper-level undergraduate
and graduate students involved in marine biology as well as applied food sciences.

1
2 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

It also constitutes a useful set of reference materials for professionals dealing with
seafood, including food suppliers, seafood technologists; quality control specialists;
veterinarians, seafood plant managers; local and state food regulatory agencies’ rep-
resentatives; dieticians, and physicians. The interdisciplinary character of the vol-
ume may also attract the attention of weekend fishers, seafood lovers, scuba divers,
and biologists interested in connections between the environment and the accessi-
bility and well-being of seafood resources and/or the environmental impact on the
quality attributes and safety of marine organisms at capture.

1.2 WHAT IS SEAFOOD?

The term “seafood living resources” includes marine, freshwater and diadromous
fish, crustaceans, mollusks, miscellaneous aquatic animals, as well as aquatic plants
(FAO 2009). However, in this book, the term is mainly used to address mainly marine
finfish and shellfish resources, both wild and cultured. As affected by the variety of
interacting environmental factors, the availability, growth rate, reproduction ability,
and well-being of marine seafood organisms may differ essentially between wild and
farmed finfish/shellfish stocks. The implications that diverse biotic and abiotic envi-
ronmental factors may have on seafood accessibility, quality attributes, and safety
when alive and after being captured/harvested have been broadly discussed.

1.3 SEAFOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Direct contact with the environment makes seafood organisms vulnerable to changes
in their natural habitats, affecting their reproductive abilities, growth rate, and mutual
inter- and intra-species interactions. Marine seafood resources are an essential part of
diverse marine ecosystems composed of multifaceted ecological niches inhabited by
a variety of mutually related organisms. Environmental conditions are fundamental
to the productivity and well-being of marine ecosystems and can be supportive or
detrimental to commercially exploited, valuable fish/shellfish species.
The majority of unfavorable changes affecting marine habitats and their living
resources are due to direct or indirect human activities and may have short-term or
long-lasting implications, some of them irreversible. Intensive fishing, for instance,
by decreasing the stock densities, directly affects the availability of commercially
exploited finfish and shellfish, with overfishing having far-reaching implications on
the marine ecosystems biodiversity and ecological balance. Intensive trawling, for
instance, by disturbing the seabed, causes impairments to food webs supporting
valuable marine fish species restoration. Compared to 10% of the fish stocks in the
North Sea classified as seriously overfished in 1970, that figure had risen to approxi-
mately 50% by 2000, with only 18% of the fish stocks considered healthy (Roberts
2007 and references therein).
Loss of the link in the marine food chain by affecting the inter- and intra-species
relationships may cause serious disturbances in the local marine habitats. The nega-
tive implications may include replacement of more valuable overfished species by
less valuable ones and the formation of monocultures more vulnerable to infections
because of the lack of natural predators.
What Is behind Capture and Handling of the Catch? 3

Also, seawater pollution/contamination, by destabilizing the marine habitats,

may cause direct, short term or indirect, long-term implications on seafood safety
and quality attributes. Coastal marine waters overloaded with nutrients, originating
from off-land or intensive mariculture, favor the growth of microorganisms indig-
enous to a seawater environment and support the survival of nonindigenous microor-
ganisms, causing seawater quality impairment and having far-reaching implications
on seafood safety and quality attributes (see Chapters 8 and 14).
Water eutrophication may lead to temporal massive blooms of harmful algae
(see Chapter 13), resulting in a cumulative effect of the toxic compounds in finfish/
shellfish tissues. It may also increase the bacterial load, making the fish more sus-
ceptible to infections, resulting in higher mortality, or, when captured, in worsen-
ing the raw seafood quality and safety parameters. Degradation of marine habitats
by impairment of the seawater quality parameters may result in closure of inshore
culture sites/shellfish beds or bans set on fishing activities in the contaminated/
polluted areas.
Overfishing coupled with seawater pollution/contamination are to blame for
adverse changes to the marine environment, such as dead zones, toxic algal blooms,
and jellyfish explosions (Roberts 2007 and references therein). In addition to the
harmful effects of overfishing and environmental pollution/contamination to the
productivity and well-being of seafood living resources and marine ecosystems in
general, the capture fisheries also suffer from climate change affecting fish migra-
tions and the stocks accessibility (see Chapter 16).

1.4 MARINE SEAFOOD RESOURCES

Commercial fishing is, so far, the main source of raw seafood worldwide, followed
by aquacultured fish/shellfish and seafood derived from recreational and subsistence
fishing. For instance, in 2006, the capture fisheries and aquaculture supplied the
world with approximately 110 million tons of food fish, with aquaculture accounting
for 47% (FAO 2009). Global seawater capture fisheries production in 2006 was cal-
culated at approximately 82 million tones with the total marine capture production
remaining fairly stable since 2002 (see Chapter 2).
With the world’s sustainable capture fisheries reaching their maximum, a grow-
ing demand for marine seafood is satisfied by farming or aquaculture of com-
mercially important finfish/shellfish species (see Chapter 6). To be successful,
mariculture requires profound knowledge of the species biology and the environ-
mental factors affecting the growth rate and survival of the species consecutive
development stages. As genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are still a con-
troversial issue, further mariculture development requires clean waters as well as
unlimited access to broodstocks and seeds of commercially valuable species and
of feed components.

1.5 MARINE SEAFOOD AS A DIET

Rich in essential polyenoic fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals, seafood is an essential
part of a human’s diet. In many households, marine seafood has become a welcome
4 Environmental Effects on Seafood Availability, Safety, and Quality

alternative to red meat products. In 2006, fish provided over 2.9 billion people with
at least 15% of their average per capita animal protein intake, with the per capita
food fish supply estimated at 13.6 kg (China excluded; FAO 2009).
Though commonly recognized as healthy because of its high nutritional value
and digestibility (see Chapter 7), seafood is also perceived as potentially hazardous
for its possible contamination with harmful microbes and toxic compounds (see
Chapters 8 and 12). These hazards associated with the consumption of seafood are
often exaggerated in some media, since the introduction of hazard analysis and criti-
cal control points (HACCP) in the seafood industry have significantly reduced the
health risks. Also, the allergenic potential (see Chapter 9) of seafood, when part of
a food product, has to be indicated on the list of ingredients (EC Directives 2003/89
and 2006/142).

1.6 MARINE SEAFOOD QUALITY ISSUES

Seafood is among the most traded food commodity worldwide, with the majority
of fish used for human consumption being sold fresh (~45%) or frozen (30%; Huss
et al. 2003).
Unlike other foods, it is a unique commodity item, prone to wide variations owing
to its biological diversity (species, feeding habits, sex, maturity cycles, age, size),
its origin (fishing ground/aquaculture location), and method of capture/harvesting.
These variations affect the quality attributes (appearance, texture, flavor, nutritional
value) of individual raw seafood species. This specificity coupled with initial pro-
cessing (whole, eviscerated, peeled, deveined, filleted), if any, prior to cold or frozen
storage aboard the fishing vessel, influences the raw fish marketability and consum-
ers’ acceptability.
Yet, the similarity in appearance when raw and loss of recognizable external fea-
tures when processed makes distinguishing fish species of greater commercial and
nutritional value from less valuable ones a great challenge for producers, traders,
and consumers (see Chapter 17). In this respect, it is essential to be able to iden-
tify and trace the catch along the supply, production, and commercialization chain
(see Chapter 19). Such ability is also of the utmost importance to ensure sustainable
exploitation of resources and effective combating of illegal, unregulated and unre-
ported (IUU) fisheries.
Since seafood is more vulnerable to spoilage than any other type of raw food,
when at ambient temperature, the method of capture, taken out of the water, handled,
and stored aboard prior to landing is crucial to its shelf life and its technological
value. Bearing in mind that, according to many opinions, marine capture fisher-
ies yield has reached its limits in view of the biological productivity, the need for
better use of raw seafood aimed at a reasonable reduction of post-harvest losses is
unquestionable. This issue combined with the optimal use of production and trans-
port facilities is discussed in Chapter 20, which is devoted to the application of the
logistics tools and methods.
Separately, the quality attributes essential in raw seafood quality assessment and
the concept of seafood “quality” and “freshness” have been discussed in detail in
Chapters 3 and 18.
What Is behind Capture and Handling of the Catch? 5

1.7 HAZARDS IN RAW SEAFOOD

Intimate contact with the environment makes seafood organisms harbor numerous
biological and chemical agents, causing safety concerns to consumers. Seafood may
be the vehicle to various bacterial pathogens both indigenous and transient to the
marine environment. Potential hazards associated with raw marine seafood include
biotoxins, biogenic amines, toxic chemical compounds (e.g., heavy metals), viruses,
parasites, and unacceptable residues of purposely used chemicals (antibiotics, pesti-
cides). Some of these hazards are specific to marine fish/shellfish and related to their
natural habitats. Others may result from secondary contamination of raw seafood
materials when handled aboard the fishing vessel prior to cold storage.
Based on the risk of causing food-borne diseases, molluscan shellfish (fresh and
frozen) and raw fish have been considered “high-risk products” when consumed raw.
Safety aspects, biotoxins, and toxic compounds in the marine seafood context have
been broadly discussed in the following chapters.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Zdzisław E. Sikorski, editor of
the Chemical and Functional Properties of Food Components series for his support
during the entire process of the book manuscript preparation, for his friendly advice
whenever needed, and critical comments when necessary.

REFERENCES
Directive 2003/89/EC of 10 November 2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council
amending Directive 2000/13/EC as regards indication of the ingredients present in food-
stuffs. Official Journal L 308/15, 25. 11. 2003.
Directive 2006/142/EC of 22 December 2006 amending Annex IIIa of Directive 2000/13/
EC of the European Parliament and of the Council listing the ingredients which
must under all circumstances appear on the labeling of foodstuffs. Official Journal L
368/110, 23. 12. 2006.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2009. The State of World
Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008 (SOFIA). Rome, Italy. ISBN 978-92-5-106029-2; ftp://
ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0250e/i0250e.pdf.
Huss, H.H., Ababouch, L. and Gram, L. 2003. Assessment and management of seafood safety
and quality. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 444, FAO, Rome.
Roberts, C.M. 2007. The Unnatural History of the Sea. Washington, DC: Island Press/
Shearwater Books, p. 435.