Sustainability is a worthy goal most of us seek to achieve in our lives. We realize the world would be better off with sustainable use of resources. U.S. Mysids takes this very seriously and consequently developed a sustainable fisheries system in order to collect Live Mysids.
The following will explain how that is accomplished using a few techniques that, while they might seem on the surface very inefficient, are, in fact, the basis for a Sustainable Mysid Fishery.
Our collecting technique does not use a trawl or equipment that damages the collection site. We use small dip nets as we wade thru the water.
There is no grass bed damage, and we only leave footprints.
There are more catch-efficient methods than using a dip net. However, taking a long sustainable fisheries view is very efficient in ensuring a continued sustainable Mysid supply maintained by mother nature.
Using a Dip Net encourages us to leave a collection site when the catch falls to a low level in search of a new location where the Mysids are more abundant. This relocation leaves sites time to recover and sustain a good population.
This method also compares favorably to culturing Mysids. A couple of fisherpeople with a small boat have a smaller carbon footprint than if individual hobbyists and large aquariums each set up Mysid cultures. One culture might seem like a small carbon footprint, but multiplying this by 100 or 1,000+ cultures and quickly becomes a very inefficient method compared to our sustainable Mysid collection methods. These cultured Mysid populations require lots of energy and water to maintain. Compare that to the small carbon footprint of our sustainable Mysid fishery with manual collection using Dip Nets.
A sustainable Mysid fishery uses less energy and fewer resources because mother nature is our most sustainable and efficient system. Working in partnership with mother nature will always be the best long-term sustainable system.