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Ocean Crisis Caused by Destructive Fishing

 

By Cat Lazaroff

 

DENVER, Colorado, February 18, 2003 (ENS) - Some of the most productive marine

fishing methods are also the most damaging, and should be restricted or banned,

scientists argued at a scientific meeting this week. Today, more than 400

leading scientists called today for the United Nations to issue a moratorium on

longline and gillnet fishing, methods they say are wiping out populations of

fish, turtles, marine mammals and other species in the Pacific Ocean.

 

In a full page ad which ran in today's " New York Times, " the researchers urged a

ban on industrial fishing techniques including longlining and gillnetting, which

they blamed for the plight of the endangered Pacific leatherback turtle and

other rare species.

 

 

 

Many sea birds fall victim to longline fishing methods. (Photo courtesy American

Bird Conservancy)

The call to halt these wasteful fishing methods was made at the annual American

Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference being held in

Denver, and in advance of the international Food and Agriculture Organization

Committee on Fisheries meeting next week in Rome.

A total of 405 scientists from 47 nations - along with 100 conservation, animal

welfare and other nonprofit groups - signed open letters to the United Nations,

urging governments and fisheries managers in the United States and abroad to

heed the worsening crisis of global fisheries.

 

" In recent decades the impact of commercial fishing on ocean ecosystems has

dramatically increased, and we are confronted with the unprecedented reality

that we are rapidly depleting the oceans' resources, " states the letter printed

today in the " New York Times. " " The oceans, once mistakenly thought to be

inexhaustible, clearly are not. "

 

The letter points out that more than 70 percent of global fish populations are

now considered overfished or on the brink of being overfished, according to

United Nations figures. Not just fish are at risk: " indiscriminate commercial

fishing practices wastefully harm and kill millions of non-targeted animals per

year, causing unsustainable mortality to sea turtles, sea birds, bluefin tuna,

swordfish and sharks, " the letter states.

 

Leatherback Turtle May Face Extinction

 

Among the marine species most threatened by longlining and gill netting is the

Pacific leatherback sea turtle, the scientists wrote.

 

 

 

The scientists would like to see longliners like this one banned from the

Pacific Ocean. (Photo courtesy National Marine Fisheries Service)

" Tragic declines of leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles have been well

documented in the Pacific, " said Dr. Larry Crowder, Duke University Marine

Laboratory researcher, " and the impact of longline fishing on these and other

marine species can't be understated. "

This year's return of nesting leatherbacks to Pacific beaches was the worst on

record, biologists report. Scientists estimate that there are now less than

5,000 nesting female leatherbacks left in the Pacific Ocean - down from 91,000

in 1980, a decline of 95 percent.

 

" The decline of the leatherback in the last five years is nothing short of

catastrophic, and it is imperative that the global community come together to

eliminate the use of the most destructive forms of industrial fishing before it

is too late. " said Dr. Sylvia Earle, a marine expert and explorer in residence

at the National Geographic Society.

 

A recent report to the Pew Charitable Trusts estimates that there are almost two

billion hooks set per year by the longline fishing fleet. Longline fishing in

all the world's deep oceans kills some 40,000 sea turtles each year, along with

300,000 seabirds and millions of sharks.

 

" The United Nations and Kofi Annan must recognize that in order to save the

endangered leatherbacks, as well as imperiled sharks, seabirds and dolphins, we

must stop these weapons of mass destruction from destroying our oceans, " said Steiner, director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. " There are just

too many hooks adrift in the Pacific to give the leatherback a fighting chance

for survival. "

 

 

 

A leatherback sea turtle hooked by a longliner. (Photo by Roberto Vargas,

courtesy Sea Turtle Restoration Project)

Next week, fisheries managers from around the world will gather in Rome, Italy

for the 25th session of the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization's

Committee on Fisheries meeting. Scientists and environmental organizations are

pressing these officials to place a moratorium on both longlining and

gillnetting in the Pacific, just as the United Nations passed a comprehensive

global ban of driftnet fishing in the early 1990s.

The United States has already taken some steps to protect embattled marine

species by closing the West Coast to longlining altogether and restricting the

Hawaii longlining fleet from fishing for swordfish. After a legal challenge by

the Turtle Island Restoration Network, the National Marine Fisheries Service

applied time and area closures for gillnet fishing fleets off the West Coast.

 

Bottom Trawling Called Worst of All

 

Another damaging fishing method which conservation groups hope to see restricted

is bottom trawling, a common method to catch shrimp, fish, and other bottom

dwelling sea life. Research presented Sunday at the AAAS meeting shows that

despite frequent conflict over fisheries issues, many fishers, conservationists

and academics agree that bottom trawling is the most ecologically damaging

fishing gear.

 

 

 

Trawlers can catch massive net-loads of fish (Photo by Allen Shimada, courtesy

NMFS)

The scientists presented findings that, for the first time, document and rank

the full suite of ecological impacts associated with all commercial fishing

gears used in the United States. Scientists urged managers, fishers and

environmentalists to recognize that how fishing is carried out may be as

important to the future of marine resources as how many fish are caught.

Though scientific data now demonstrates the collapse of fisheries around the

world, many destructive fishing practices are still carried out, largely out of

sight of the public and, hence, out of mind. Almost one quarter of the world's

catch is thrown back into the sea dead or dying each year because the fishing

gear cannot discriminate between target catch and other animals that are

undersized, unmarketable, or not worth the price of bringing to shore.

 

About 2.3 billion pounds of sea life were discarded in the U.S. in 2000 alone,

and thousands of the ocean's most charismatic species - including sea turtles,

marine mammals, sharks and seabirds - are killed each year by fishing nets,

lines and hooks. These deaths have implications for both marine populations and

marine food webs.

 

" Considering the documented decline in global fisheries, this kind of waste is

unacceptable. But because this travesty is unseen by most people, it continues, "

said Dr. Crowder.

 

 

 

Sea floor before a bottom trawler passed through. (Two photos Keith Sainsbury

courtesy Marine Conservation Biology Institute)

Experts agree that bottom trawls are one of the worst offenders, entrapping vast

numbers of non-targeted animals.

" The first time I was on a trawler, I was appalled to see that for every pound

of shrimp caught there were 20 pounds of sharks, rays, crabs, and starfish

killed. The shrimpers called this bycatch 'trawl trash' - I call it

'biodiversity', " noted Elliott Norse of the Marine Conservation Biology

Institute. " Of course I recognize in some trawls it could be only one pound - in

others 100 pounds for every pound of shrimp. "

 

This bycatch is not the only collateral damage associated with fishing. Many

experts agreed that habitat destruction that some fishing gears cause is even

more ecologically damaging than the harm caused by bycatch.

 

" On land we can see how animals rely on structure, how the trees of a forest are

important breeding, feeding, and hiding places - but in the ocean we have to

prove it from afar, " explained James Lindholm of the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). " We now know that structures on the seafloor

are critical for the future of cod, rockfish, and other commercially important

species. But it's only in the last 15 years that we've had the technology to see

these habitats, to see that the seafloor is not just an endless flat expanse,

and to begin to understand how we are altering deep sea marine habitats - and

fisheries - across the globe. "

 

 

 

Same section of sea floor after being trawled

In many cases, fishing is destroying undersea habitats before scientists even

have a chance to study them.

" The way we fish is like hanging a huge net dragged from an blimp across a

forest, knocking down the trees and scooping up the plants and animals, and then

throwing away everything except the deer, " says Norse.

 

The destruction of deep sea, coldwater corals off the east and west coasts of

the U.S. is one example. Hundreds or thousands of years old, these living corals

can be destroyed with a single pass of a bottom trawl, and may take decades to

recover, if they ever do.

 

" The damage to our ocean floors is more extensive and perhaps even worse than

tropical deforestation, " Norse said. " We must bring these issues to the

forefront of fisheries management before it is too late. "

 

Gear Changes Could Save Species

 

New work presented by Lance Morgan of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute

synthesized data on the ecological impacts of the 10 major commercial fishing

gears used in the United States and provides an expert ranking for each gear

type. The overall ecological impacts associated with bottom trawls, bottom

gillnets, dredges and midwater or drift gillnets ranked relatively high, with

bottom trawling topping the list as the most ecologically harmful gear type.

 

 

 

An olive ridley sea turtle hooked by a longliner. (Photo by Thomas Gorgas,

courtesy Sea Turtle Restoration Project)

The impacts from hook and line fishing, purse seines and midwater trawls ranked

relatively low on the scale, though these methods are also known to snag

unintended species including dolphins, sea turtles and seabirds.

" This is the first study to synthesize the science on these issues, but also to

use social science methods to incorporate expert judgments. It gives managers a

place to start in their deliberations concerning the relative levels of bycatch

and habitat impacts from different fishing methods, " said coauthor Ratana

Chuenpagdee of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

 

" When you present knowledgeable experts - fishermen, conservationists, and

academics - with science based information about gear impacts, and ask them to

compare these collateral damages without knowing the names of the gear involved,

they give surprisingly consistent answers, " Chuenpagdee added. " It's unusual to

find such uniform agreement about anything, much less fishing practices. But

when you take out personal bias linked to particular gears, there is surprising

consensus across these different communities. "

 

The authors hope that their findings will stimulate local, regional, national

and international conversations about how to reduce the collateral impacts of

fishing.

 

 

 

A longliner crew cuts off the pectoral fin of a shark. The fins can be sold to

Asian markets for use in shark fin soup; often the rest of the shark is

discarded. (Photo by Roberto Vargas, courtesy Sea Turtle Restoration Project)

" Too often this problem has been overlooked or ignored because of the lack of

comparative measures. Our results indicate that there is more common starting

ground on these issues than people have thought, " said Chuenpagdee.

The scientists stressed that in many cases, there are ways to reduce the impacts

of fishing, but noted that change will require political will and action. They

suggest that managers and fishers consider " shifting gears " - phasing out or

modifying destructive gears, and moving fisheries toward more environmentally

friendly options.

 

Gear innovations, such as turtle exclude devices (TEDs) and streamers on

longlines to scare away seabirds, have reduced bycatch in some fisheries, but

propagation of these " gear fixes, " through the global fishery has been slow, and

in some cases governments have failed to fully implement or enforce the use of

even proven technologies.

 

 

 

A leatherback sea turtle swimming underwater. (Photo by Scott Eckert, courtesy

Sea Turtle Restoration Project)

" Often the best solutions stem from fishermen themselves, but without political

or financial incentive to promote development and use of 'gear fixes' or new

operating procedures, destructive practices will continue, " said Morgan.

Spatial management, where the use of certain gears is prohibited in sensitive

habitats or popular breeding or feeding grounds of at risk species, is another

option. But in the end, some gears may have to go.

 

" We need to think about restructuring fisheries around not using trawlers.

Trawling has to be curtailed and phased out as a way of interacting with the

environment - it is just too destructive, " argued Daniel Pauly, University of

British Columbia, a fisheries biologist. " As a society, we make these types of

judgments all the time - we don't have to do everything that we can do, in fact

we have rules of restraint to prevent damage - we don't allow people to drive

over the speed limit just to get somewhere faster, we don't allow machine guns

to hunt deer, and we need not allow wasteful destruction of our marine

resources. "

 

Several U.S. states, including California, Alaska, Florida and Virginia, already

have regulations limiting the use of bottom trawls. The scientists hope that

this innovative approach to evaluating fishing gears and incorporating judgments

by various interest groups will be applied in all areas, catalyzing new

attention and action to reduce the bycatch and habitat destruction across

fishing gear types.

 

 

 

A nesting leatherback sea turtle - one of just 5,000 believed to still be

nesting along the Pacific Ocean. (Photo by Herda Pamela Hutabarat, courtesy Sea

Turtle Restoration Project)

" I eat fish that commercial fishers catch, I favor a strong fishing industry.

But I also know that the way people fish is destructive and undermines the

future of fisheries and fishermen alike, " said Norse.

" If we are going to have fish and sea turtles and seabirds and marine mammals in

the future, we have to fish in way that dramatically reduces the collateral

impact of commercial fishing operations. With all the knowledge and creativity

of fishermen and scientists, we can fish better. We can, and we must - for the

future of the oceans and the sustainability of fisheries, " Norse concluded.

 

To learn more about different fishing gear types, visit the Monterey Bay

Aquarium website at: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_gear.asp