A sea change or no more fishing

Photo by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Wikimedia shows 400 tons of jack mackerel caught by a Chilean purse seiner

Will there ever be a sea change?

Industrial fishing, overfishing,  illegal fishing, bycatch, environmental dangers, exponentially growing seafood demand, danger to coral reef, and pollution at sea.

Doesn’t all this demand a sea change in our way of life, ever-growing consumption and callous disregard for balance in Nature?

The world is consuming sea food at unprecedented rates. According to the Economist, the per person consumption is 20 kilos a year – more than at any time  in history.

That remains the case recent advances in fish farming.

The United Nations statistics reveal that in 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish caught from wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms. Added to this was 7.4 kilograms harvested from fish farming.

China, whose billion plus people are one of the biggest fish markets, has particularly seen more reliance on farm fishing.

As noted by The Economist, “aquaculture has grown remarkably in the past decades, especially in China; in 2014 it accounted for half of all the fish people ate.”

Yet, it does not mean a turnaround for the situation in seas. Apart from a large number of consumers, fisheries and aquaculture are a big economic factor. According to UN statistics, as cited by Wikipedia, fisheries sand aquaculture “provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people in developing countries,”.

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Photo Credit: איתן טל Etan Tal

Amid clear warning signs, the UN has announced that for the first time since a treaty to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing went into force, the countries that endorsed it are meeting in Norway to discuss how to make it a success.

The Oslo meeting “is expected to define the responsibilities of the concerned states as well as Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and other international bodies,” according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), which helps countries implement the landmark treaty.

Included in the issues will be how a port will notify everyone concerned when a ship violates the treaty, and what resources developing countries might need to do such work.

Participants at the week-long event in Oslo, are from the more than 46 countries that have endorsed the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA).

The UN says an FAO Agreement adopted in 2009 after a years-long diplomatic effort, the PSMA is the first ever binding international treaty that focuses specifically on illicit fishing.

“This treaty signals a real sea change in the international community’s commitment to combat IUU fishing in a concerted and joint manner,” said Árni M. Mathiesen, FAO’s Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture.

The world body says parties to the PSMA currently account for more than two-thirds of the global fish trade and range from Albania, Cuba and Palau, to Indonesia and the United States. Japan – one of the world’s largest fish importers – and Montenegro will become full parties next month.

IIU fishing amounts to up to 26 million tonnes worth $23 billion a year, FAO has said, calling it a “huge threat to all efforts to bolster sustainable fishing in the world’s oceans.”

The practice is considered so harmful that is it explicitly listed in the Sustainable Development Goals. The international community aims to end the practice by 2020.

Terry Goss [GFD, via Wikimedia Commons

These include requiring foreign fishing vessels wishing to enter ports to request permission in advance, and transmitting detailed information on their identities, activities, and the fish they have onboard.

Ships suspected of being involved in IUU fishing can be denied entry into port outright; permitted to enter for inspection purposes only; or permitted to enter but refused permission to offload fish, refuel, or resupply.

The UN details cited above look encouraging but will they be enough to save the seas from multiple dangers.