Oceans without Fish

Bluefin Tuna on the High Seas

When I was in college in the 1970s, it was unthinkable that the oceans could be defeated by mankind—polluted and emptied of fish within our lifetimes. The oceans are massive, covering over 70% of the planet’s surface and containing 97% of its water. They are so powerful they sit atop all the factors that influence climate and weather patterns, and its coastal surf manifests such awesome power that it is both feared and loved as a summer playground.

More than half of the world’s oceans are over 9800’ deep. The Mariana Trench is over 6 miles deep. Although less than 10% of the ocean has been explored, over 230,000 marine species are known to inhabit it. Whether we live on a beach in Provincetown, Rhode Island or on a mountainside near Denver, Colorado, the health of the oceans affects the quality of our lives—whether we eat seafood or not.

Earth’s oceans are in rapid decline. Oceans still have plenty of water, because the amount of water contained in the planet’s ecosystem is constant; it just moves from place to place; from liquid state to gaseous state or solid ice and back again. The decline is measured in the negative effects of pollution that make it uninhabitable to marine life, and the loss of that marine life—particularly fish, which is the primary source of animal protein for over a billion people.  

Scientists have established that the planet’s fish catch peaked in 1988; and each year since the catch has declined. Fully one-third of the ocean’s fisheries are in various stages of collapse. Is it possible that 90% of the

Atlantic cod

“big fish” (bluefin tuna, king mackerel, marlin, swordfish, and sharks) are gone as the Census on Marine Life http://www.coml.org/ says?  Studies show they are being fished or killed much faster than they can reproduce.

How can this happen?

Due to the amount of money to be made selling certain types of fish as seafood and sushi globally, many companies who fund and hire fleets of fishing boats are primarily concerned with making money and beating their competition without regard for the environment or future fish populations. After all but destroying near-shore fisheries that helped sustain the first 10,000 years of human civilization, industrial trawlers have moved into deep ocean waters where regulation is sketchy and difficult to enforce.

• Many governments give their fleets large subsidies that allow them to fish longer, harder and farther away than would be otherwise possible. The impact of these subsidies is so great that eliminating them is perhaps the single greatest action that can be taken to protect the world’s oceans.

• Governments regulate how many fish fisherman may catch in some areas of the world, but not everywhere. Fishermen simply move to unregulated areas where they can use methods that net huge quantities of fish, but destroy the ecosystem. Even worse, fishing methods like blast fishing, gill nets and certain other fish traps destroy other organisms that larger species feed on.

• Industrial fishing technology has been revolutionized, allowing fisherman to know the migrating patterns of fish, track them underwater by radar and create nets and traps sometimes large enough to hold a dozen jumbo jets. The “fishing boats” are mammoth floating factories that are not only trawlers but have on-board processing plants and frozen storage facilities. Restricting abuse of the technology and

  

  Super trawler Atlantic Dawn

  enforcing laws on the open ocean is nearly impossible in many areas of the globe. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that there are about 45,000 industrial trawlers on the high seas. Although only one per cent of the world’s fishing fleet, employing two per cent of the world’s commercial fishermen, they land 50% of the world’s fish. Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute told the Washington Post “What they’re doing out there is more like mining than fishing.”

• Bycatch from technology run amok escalates depletion of the fisheries exponentially. Bycatch is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while catching certain target species and target sizes of fish, crabs etc.  Bycatch of non-target species leads to loss of biological diversity and changes in ecosystem stability. Bycatch especially in mixed fisheries that target several stocks is perhaps one of the greatest fisheries management challenges because non-target species are often decimated, but are discarded. Catching undersized fish can also be a tragic and senseless problem. For example, even when the depleted North Sea cod stock manages to produce abundant offspring, the majority is discarded at a very early age and only a small percentage of the cod manage to reach maturity to produce more offspring. Bycatch problems extend to marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds and sharks.

• Ocean acidification caused by climate change takes a significant toll on marine species. Massive amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted into the air by the burning of fossil fuels. When absorbed by water, CO2 forms carbonic acid, and the accumulation of this acid is lowering the pH of the world’s oceans from 8.2 before the Industrial Age to 8.1 now. While that doesn’t sound like much of a drop, this lower alkalinity of seawater has already made it more difficult for certain shellfish and coral reefs to build and maintain their shells and structures.

• Algae thrive in warmer, more acidic water. Fed by nitrates from fertilizer washed off farm fields, city lawns and poorly treated sewage, algae populations explode. First they form a thick green slimy mass on top of the water that blocks light from reaching any plants below. Then when it decomposes it sucks all the oxygen out of the water, and sometimes releases toxins into it. That results in enormous dead zones, where nothing lives, at the mouths of most of the world’s rivers. There are more than 400 known dead zones currently-- the largest, off the mouth of the Mississippi, is as big as Connecticut. 

What can be done?

It is difficult to imagine how we as individuals can address the issues that deplete our fisheries, but one truth stands above all others.  Every contribution, every action, every example helps the cause as more and more people embrace healthy practices and demand the same from their fish vendors, restaurants, politicians. We also possess the knowledge and the means to turn the tide if we have the will to do so.

 Mediterranean Tuna almost extinct

There is no need, nor would it be practical to stop eating fish as a first step. Many of the solutions listed below are lifted shamelessly from Oceana, a leader in ocean conservation. http://oceana.org/en

Buy only sustainably-caught fish from responsibly managed fisheries. Do not be shy. Ask your waiter and your fishmonger where their fish was caught.

Moderate your serving size of fish. Five ounces of protein served with a bounty of fruit and vegetable is a far healthier way to eat.

Eliminate fisheries subsidies. According to Oceana, an ocean conservation group, eliminating fishing subsidies is “one of the greatest actions that can be taken to protect the world’s oceans.” These government subsidies make it not only affordable to undertake industrial fishing farther and farther from land, but make it lucrative to fishing industrialists at the expense of almost everyone else.

Canned to extinction?

Set science-based catch limits on commercial fishing fleets. Unsustainable quotas that satisfy the fishing industry do not take the pressure off fisheries so they can recover.

Reduce the size of the world’s fishing fleet. Between eliminating subsidies and limiting the size of the catch, those who own the fleet would be forced to rationalize their operations.

Penalize discarded bycatch with “cap, count and control laws.” Each fishing boat should be required to count bycatch as part of its total catch. Quotas on the catch’s total weight and species should be implemented providing a cap which would be the basis for charging for the size of the bycatch.

Eliminate destructive fishing practices. Ban drift nets, bottom trawling across the ocean floor and fishing in spawning and migration zones. Require the use of devices designed to exclude bycatch such as the turtle

Small boat, large net!

excluder device used by American shrimp trawlers in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Create and maintain marine reserves. Marine reserves provide zones for species recovery, a safe haven protected from industrial and commercial exploitation.

Protect specific species and enforce the laws. We regulate or outlaw trade in ivory and furs so we should be able to protect endangered fish and marine species in the same way. A federal law prohibits trade in krill which is a critical food source for blue whales and other marine life. Protections should be extended for the big fish whose numbers are 90% lower than they were in the 1950s— bluefin tuna, swordfish, marlin, king mackerel and sharks.

Prohibit the use of fish as a feed for farm animals. According to Oceana, “a recent study showed that the world’s farmed pigs and chicken consume twice the amount of seafood in one year that the Japanese people consume as a nation and six times the amount we Americans eat.” Fish is not a natural food for either pigs or chickens.

Reform aquaculture. Build smarter fish farms that are well managed, built on a smaller scale, raising only highly efficient fish in terms of reproduction and feed. Consider tilapia or other fresh water fish who feed on algae, plankton or animal waste instead of other fish.

It is time to act. Choose the solutions with which you are most comfortable and sally forth. You can and must participate in this story of survival.

Good Reading

For Cod and Country by Barton Seaver, Sterling Epicure publisher. Learn and be inspired by simple, delicious sustainable cooking.

Hooked—Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish by G. Bruce Knecht, Rodale Press. Learn how marketing transformed the Patagonian toothfish into Chilean Sea Bass reshaping the specie’s destiny.

Oceana by Ted Danson, Rodale Press. Yes, the Ted Danson from Cheers has devoted himself to ocean conservation for almost three decades.

Tuna by Richard Ellis, Alfred A. Knopf publisher. Learn about “tuna ranches” and how this fish has become a commodity and an endangered species.