The sustainable fishing world comes with a lot of vocabulary that most of us probably don’t use in our everyday lives. So, we’ve created a series of definitions to help you become a sustainable fishing expert.
Tldr:
Pelagic, from the Greek word for the sea (pelagos) is used to describe something that is relating to or living in the open ocean. This word is used a lot in fisheries management because it is an effective way to define the boundaries of certain species or fisheries.The details:
The pelagic zone: In physical oceanography, the pelagic zone describes the water column of the open ocean – basically, it’s all the water that exists away from the coast and above the sea floor. It’s the largest habitat on Earth!
A pelagic fish: Pelagic fish are ones that live in the water column, not near the seafloor or on the coast. This term is not exclusive to the ocean. It can also be used to describe fish living in the water columns of rivers and lakes. For example, tuna are oceanic pelagic fish because they live in the open ocean, spending lots of time far from the coast.
A pelagic fishery: A pelagic fishery is one that targets fish living in the water column. For example, the Small Pelagics Fishery in Sonora primarily targets sardines (in addition to anchovies, mackerel, and herring) in the water column of the Gulf of California. These species live in the gulf, fairly close to the coast, so they’re called coastal pelagic fish.
