By Dr Robert Rangeley
and Josh Laughren
10/08/2005 - Last week some of our colleagues
in the environmental movement brought much
needed attention to the problem of overfishing
by calling for a moratorium on high seas bottom-trawling.
This may seem to some a radical idea. However,
given the current state of Atlantic fish stocks
in particular, and global fish stocks generally,
we clearly are in desperate times that call
for desperate measures, including measures
in Canadian waters, as well as the high seas.
According to United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization estimates, 52 per cent of the
world’s marine fishery resources are already
fully exploited and another 24 per cent are
either overexploited, depleted, or recovering.
We have seen all too clearly the cost of overfishing
on Newfoundland people and communities. When
you consider that over 1 billion people in
the world rely on the ocean for food, it is
hard to imagine a more important global issue
that must be addressed.
Last May, Canada hosted an international
conference on the Governance of High Seas
Fisheries and the United Nations Fish Agreement
– Moving from Words to Action in St John’s,
Newfoundland where 48 countries convened to
tackle the problem of declining fish stocks.
If nothing changes in the way we conduct the
global fishery as a result of this meeting,
a global ban on high seas bottom-trawling
may be the only choice.
In particular, almost everyone agrees that
the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
(NAFO), an international body consisting of
many countries which manages the stocks on
the Grand Banks off Canada’s Atlantic coast,
has failed to adequately control fishing and
has overseen the decline of most of the stocks
under its purview. Canada can take a lead
role in reforming this flawed institution.
However, we must get our own house in order
if we are to be successful in getting others
to change.
At WWF-Canada, we suggest that there are
a number of solutions that will protect fish
stocks, restore the awesome productivity of
Canada’s oceans, and secure a sustainable
economic future for coastal communities. It
isn’t easy, and it will involve cooperation
and tough choices.
So, starting with the Grand Banks and NAFO,
here are five steps we feel that must be addressed
in the short term if we are to have any hope
of halting the slide and eventually rebuilding
our fisheries.
First, we need to base decisions on science
– which includes ecosystem based and precautionary
approaches. Too often quota setting is based
on economic, not scientific grounds. Furthermore,
if countries don’t like the quotas set in
NAFO, they can ignore the quota by “opting-out”
and set their own – as high as they like,
and without penalty.
Second, we must prohibit bottom-trawling
and other harmful forms of fishing in sensitive
areas. Important habitats, such as cold-water
corals, spawning grounds and areas of high
productivity, must be mapped and protected
in order to sustain and replenish our oceans.
Third, we must reduce bycatch. Globally,
25 per cent – some 30 million tonnes – of
everything caught in nets every year is thrown
back overboard, dead. This includes 300,000
whales and dolphins, tens of thousands of
seabirds, thousands of endangered sea turtles,
and millions of tonnes of juvenile fish that
are the foundation of the next generation.
In NAFO, boats are still catching hundreds
of tonnes of cod as bycatch. In 2003, 1600
tonnes of cod was caught as bycatch – including
800 tonnes by Canadian boats – despite the
moratorium.
Fourth, we need to invest in better technology.
By designing more selective “smart” fishing
gear, fewer non-targeted fish will be needlessly
killed, with less damage to habitat.
Fifth, we need to stop illegal fishing, especially
by foreign fleets on the high seas. We need
tougher enforcement both at sea and in ports.
When ships are caught violating the law on
the high seas, their home country is responsible
for punishment, which rarely happens. We cannot
allow this to continue.
Overfishing and declining fish stocks is
a complex issue that involves both science
and politics. If we don’t have the will to
implement the solutions outlined above in
both Canadian waters and the high seas, then
a moratorium on high seas bottom-trawling
– as radical as that sounds – may not even
be enough. One way or another, the ugly truth
is if we don’t find solutions soon, stocks
will continue to collapse and the more than
one billion people globally who rely on the
oceans bounty to sustain them may go hungry.
Now that’s a radical thought.
* Dr Robert Rangeley is WWF-Canada's Marine
Programme Director for the Atlantic Region.
Josh Laughren is WWF-Canada's Marine Conservation
Programme Director.
