Overfishing is a real problem in our
Earth’s oceans and has been known about for some time. Our use of future
fishery management strategies are key if we are to stop the loss of a great
deal of the biomass and biodiversity of the oceans. Species such as tuna are
really feeling the pressure of having been caught, flaked and pressed into cans
on such an alarmingly high basis.
I have looked into the literature on
overfishing and found the subject of catch shares, and in particular ITQs
(Individual Transferrable Quotas) very interesting.
These allow individuals to fish a
particular portion of the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) of a species and is
measured by biomass and the time period in which catching is permitted.
(The above image shows areas where catch
shares (blue) are being used most extensively: notably Australia, New Zealand
and Canada).
A study looking into the effect of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 sites ITQs as the future of sustainable fishing.
The problem with past regulation is that ‘fishers have always found a way to
by-pass controls’ using means such as building “bigger and more effective
boats” when the catching season is shortened. The paper states that you can prevent
this happening by drawing back such open-access to fish by using catch shares.
The mass of fish caught therefore decreases and that leads to a better quality
of fish stock in the ocean.
Their concerns about IFQs include quota
sizes being given on the basis of past participation making it hard for new
fishers to break into the industry. Also, not all species are covered in the
ITQs and so there may be a “spillover effect” into those other species. And
finally there is, as always, the social aspect of who will enforce the
regulations.
However it is not all doom and gloom, cost
wise at least, because it has been proven that ITQs have a strong economical
benefits. I am hopeful that this will lead to them being implemented in many
other countries around the world: although many big players (USA, Iceland, New
Zealand to name a few) already adopt IDTs this accounts for only 10% of the
Earth’s marine harvest.
The biological success of the ITQs is still
under investigation. I have looked at a 2012 paper that has started to quantify
this and it seems that catch shares are tending to show lower exploitation
rates and an increase biomass in some areas they are being implemented in, such
as New Zealand.
In my opinion this scheme has a long way to
go still if we are to “save our seas” using it, but it does show a lot of
promise. The ITQs and other catch share methods need to be implemented globally
by an independent body and cover all heavily fished species, not just some.
However for the meantime as they are helping the coast and fish stocks of the
countries that implement them rigorously I am fully for the continuation of
their use and hopeful for the future.
Great post. I completely agree that some sort of governance needs to be implemented on a global scale. Otherwise fishing vessels in a restricted area will just sail to unrestricted areas and the problem just gets passed on geographically until all the fishing stocks are depleted.
ReplyDeleteSorry, pressed publish to early. Whilst global implementation is important, I was wondering what you thought of the low confidence levels in the accuracy of TACs? There is so much we don't understand about the ecological interactions in the marine environment. If the TACs are not accurate enough, the devastation of fish stocks will continue. Furthermore it would damage the fishing community's trust in science's ability to govern and cost the industry millions.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I definitely agree with you that much more more needs to be done on the TACs, but how this is going to be done I am not sure. I heard a planetary scientist earlier say that we know more about the surface of Venus than we do about Earth and this is because the oceans, and what lies in and beneath them, are such a mystery to us as they are just so inaccessible. What's more is fish are free to move theoretically around the entire ocean, it's not nearly as easy as counting land animal populations which are more constricted. So yes, I think there is a lot of work needed to be done to make the TACs more credible, I'm just not sure how easy this will be!
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