Fishing

Until fairly recently, the oceans seemed so immense, so huge, that they contained an infinite supply of food and a boundless ability to absorb human refuse. Today, at least 70% of the world's fish stocks are considered over-exploited, overfished, or collapsed [1]. In 2002, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that global production from capture fisheries and aquaculture was the highest on record [2]. Many of the world's formerly most productive fishing grounds have already been fished to exhaustion.

The current perilous state of the world's fisheries exists for several reasons. The world's rapidly expanding population exerts greater pressure on the oceans as it grows. Increased technology and cheap fuel allow fishermen to catch fish at alarming levels of efficiency further and further from shore. With airplanes, modern sonar, radar, and satellite technologies in use, few fish go undetected. Government subsidies have created an overabundant workforce where vessels strive to make a living from a dwindling resource. Wetlands loss, polluted inshore waters, dams, and bottom-trawling practices threaten crucial breeding grounds. Indiscriminate fishing practices often result in high rates of mortality of unintended species, or bycatch. Further propelling the decline in fish stocks is a recent increase in the popularity of seafood as a healthy alternative to other meats.

International laws and treatise have been established but in most of the world it is immensely difficult to maintain an effective policing force. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is rampant and distant water fleets move to fishing grounds where there is little to no enforcement of any fishing regulations.

Aquaculture promises to help supply the world with some of the fish it needs, but aquaculture is not without its own problems. Aquaculture pens are often located in breeding grounds critical to countless other species. These pens are hotbeds for disease that spread and infect wild populations. Furthermore, many commonly raised aquaculture species, such as salmon, must be fed 2–5 times the amount of fish protein, in the form of fish-meal, than they supply as a product [3].

Why This Is Important

The UN reports that 56 % of the world's population receives over 20% of their daily protein intake from the ocean [4] . In some Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines people receive close to 50% of their protein from seafood [5] .

In many developing nations fishing represents a key source of employment. When jobs are scarce, many people turn to fishing as the open-access occupation of last resort. In terms of both protein and employment, fishing is often the only thing preventing many communities from unraveling. A continuing decline of fish stocks could have devastating consequences in underdeveloped, coastal nations worldwide.

In addition to their importance to humans, sustainable fisheries have grave ecological importance. Significantly reducing large populations from the food chain will have unpredictable effects as the predator-prey balance is shifted. A more unpredictable and less stable ocean environment will only further complicate future management of the ocean's resources.

Japan Eats A Lot Of Fish

Perhaps no other country bears more per capita responsibility for the current state of the world's fisheries crises than Japan. The FAO reports that Japan is currently the third largest producer of fishery products in the world [6] and the number one importing country, accounting for some 26 percent of total world imports [7] .

Despite the fact that Japan places more pressure on the world's fishery resources than almost any other nation on earth, Japan has rejected international pleas to join the newly formed Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention (WCPFC). The United States and 18 other countries have joined the WCPFC but the Convention has yet to go into force because of a lack of support from major north Pacific fishing nations that include Japan. Without the WCPFC, the western and central Pacific continues to be the last major area of the world's oceans not yet protected by any international management plan for tunas and other highly migratory species. This region produces more than 26% of the world's tuna [8] .

Instead of working to alleviate the burden Japan places on the ocean's resources the Japanese government provides its fishing fleet with nearly $3 billion in support [9] . This allows even failing fishing ventures to continue fishing despite falling catches. The New York Times writes, When it comes to the strip mining of the oceans it is hard to top Japan's heavily subsidized fleets. (10)

What You Can Do

There are several steps you can take to help alleviate the current fishery crises. The simplest thing you can do is to eat less fish products. However, which fish products you eat can make a significant difference. Products with a high level of bycatch, such as shrimp, or fish that are on the decline, such as tunas, and fish that are currently threatened, such as snappers, should be avoided or eaten less often. If you fish, release the juveniles and what you won't eat.

Limiting personal consumption, however, is but a small step one can take to reduce man's impact on ocean resources. Governments like Japan need to foster careful stewardship of the resources available. Juvenile fish should not be targeted so they can reach a reproductive age. Responsible and more discriminate fishing practices need to be introduced and enforced by government agencies. International management treaties, such as the WCPFC, need to be supported by the major fishing nations. Write to your government and let them know that you are concerned about declining fish stocks. Contact and support NGOs working on these issues.

Most importantly, attitudes need to change. People need to consider that the oceans do have limits and what we take does matter.

Who To Contact

Traffic East Asia Japan

c/o WWF Japan
6th FL. Nihonseimei Akabanebashi,
3-1-14 Shiba,
Minato-ku,Tokyo, Japan
Fax: +81-3-3769-1304
Email: izawa@trafficj.org Website: http://www.trafficj.org

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

http://www.maff.go.jp/

National Research Institute of FarSeas Fisheries, Fisheries Research Agency (NRIFSF)

5-7-1, Onida, Shimizu
Shizuoka, 424-8633, Japan
+81-543-36-6000
http://www.enyo.allrc.go.jp

Recommended Reading

Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina (available in Japanese and English)

FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report 2002

References

1. William J. Broad and Andrew C. Revkin.
   New York Times, July 29 ????:
   Has the Sea Given Up Its Bounty?
2. SOFIA:
   State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report.
3. Rosamond L. Naylor, Rebecca J. Goldburg et al.
   Nature 405 (6/29/00) pp.1017-1024):
   Effect of Aquaculture on World Fish Supplies
4. FAO SOFIA 2002
5. FAO website:
   http://www.fao.org/
   english/newsroom/field/2003/1203_stream.htm.
6. FAO:
   Yearbook of Fishery Statistics — Capture Production 1999
   Aquaculture Production Statistics 1999
7. FAO SOFIA 2002
8. FAO website http://www.fao.org
9. New York Times, May 27 2003:
   Oceans in Peril