Fisheries Policy Makers make “a Mockery of Science and a Mockery of the World”

The world over, fish stocks are declining, catch rates are falling and management is failing. Ever bigger ships with ever bigger nets employing more advanced technology should surely result in increasing catch sizes. However internationally, catch rates are declining. Even small scale subsistence fisheries are in decline. Why is this happening?

The ocean is a complex system which crosses our arbitrary international boundary’s making management of these resources incredibly difficult. Over fishing of one fish species in one area can have a knock-on effect in areas far removed and on completely different species. Our understanding of these delicate interactions is very limited.

Since 1983 the fisheries of the European Union have been managed under the Common Fisheries Policy. In September this year the European Commission announced a full review of of the Common Fisheries Policy because it has failed to protect fish stocks.

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In order to help devise a suitable catch level, at present government bodies such as the European Commission (EC) obtain data and recommendations from scientific bodies such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). From this data and advice they formulate a quota which is then put forward to the governments of the member states. Unfortunately the EC generally ignores the advice of ICES, and sets quotas too high. The member states ignore the advice of the EC and set even higher catch quotas. The result over the last 35 years is constant decline in.

Blue Fin Tuna quotas ignore the advice of fisheries scientists

So, recent attempts to regulate the fishing of the most expensive commercial fish species in the world, the Blue Fin Tuna, have followed down the path of ineffective quotas and ignoring the advice of scientists. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas has passed total allowable catch figures for the Mediterranean tuna fleet over 1/3 higher than recommended by scientists. They have also rejected calls for a suspension of fishing during spawning. All of this despite suggestions from countries such as Spain (the worlds largest catcher of tuna) for a suspension of the fishery. A spokesman for the WWF was quoted by the BBC as saying:

“The decision is a mockery of science and a mockery of the world; Iccat has shown that it doesn’t deserve the mandate to manage this iconic fishery”.

Environmental groups are now considering taking a case to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Listing of the East Atlantic stock as ‘threatened’ may be possible as numbers have decreased so rapidly in recent years.

As with so many environmental issues governments appear to ignore the advice of the scientific community. When will policy makers start listening to the environmental scientists they have trained in their nations universities instead of ignoring them?

Image credit: maesejose at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

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