Saving Fish

In the last few decades, as overfishing has decimated fish and crustacean stocks, both species with resale potential and tossed out "bycatch" species, there has been exactly one method discovered that provides for dramatic increases in marine populations: no catch zones.

Not restricting catches to certain times of year. Not restricting sport and commercial fishing to certain species. Not trimming catch quotas.

Only designating certain areas as forbidden to fishing has proved such amazing recovery rates that marine life spills over to rejuvenate surrounding areas. It's extremely effective.

Now, the EU is taking no-catch, aka Marine Protected Areas very seriously in response to a growing scientific consensus about the perilous state of the world's oceans, as Andrew Purvis reports in The Guardian:

A third of the world's oceans must be closed to fishing if depleted stocks are to recover, scientists and conservation groups have warned. Such a measure could "set the clock back 200 years" and reverse the decline in fish populations, after which responsible fisheries management could regenerate the industry.

Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, has reviewed 100 scientific papers identifying the scale of closure needed. "All are leaning in a similar direction," he says, "which is that 20 to 40% of the sea should be protected." Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all support the idea of a 30% closure. "What we would see is a flourishing of life," Roberts says. "In 20 years, we could get to a point where a lot of species are in a far more productive state." ...

The article goes on to describe the poor shape of EU fisheries, and successes from declaring certain areas off-limits to all fishing in Iceland, Canada and the US.

I'd point out though, without a global agreement, without import controls that mandate appropriate compliance of fishing fleets operating in the waters of countries with weak regulatory regimes, the problem could just be shifted southwards. Wealthier countries have a good opportunity here to provide backbone to international regulatory regimes as the fishing industry competes for access to their markets.

Will they rise to the challenge or once again punt responsibility for the impact of their appetites?

(Photo credit: PhillipC on Flickr.)