Nations ignore plea to cut overfishing

The Advertiser (Australia), John Heilprin
Published February 7, 2009

THIRTEEN years after the world rallied to curb overfishing most nations are failing to abide by the UN's ``code of conduct'' for managing fisheries, scientists have found. Norway, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Iceland and Namibia were the only nations to score above a 60 per cent compliance rate, the equivalent of a barely passing ``D'' grade, the marine scientists' research shows. The global fisheries standards were developed in 1995 by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. Though voluntary, the 12-part code is based on rules of international law and some of it has been made into legally binding agreements. It was crafted to include all aspects of the fishing business, including processing and trade in fish products, aquaculture, marine research, and reducing pollution. But the study, published online this week and in the journal Nature , raises troubling questions about how the world's marine fisheries can continue to supply the main source of protein for many on the planet. ``The overall conclusion is really a bit depressing. Even the countries that score at the top of our range are not doing very well,'' said lead author Tony Pitcher of University of British Columbia in Vancouver. ``People have no excuse for not knowing what to do. We know exactly what to do. We've got into a dreadful mess on the oceans, they're severely overfished.'' UN Environment Program spokesman Nick Nuttall said overfishing showed nations' failure to address links between ecology and the needs of tens of millions of people. ``One of the great market failures of modern times is the management of the world's fisheries, and there are examples from almost every fishery across the globe where the fishing effort exceeds the available catch.'' Two years ago, a team of ecologists and economists warned in the journal Science that just about all seafood sources faced collapse by 2048 if overfishing and pollution continued. The lead author, Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said he was shocked at how consistent the trends were based on analysis of 32 controlled experiments, other studies from 48 marine protected areas and global catch data from the FAO's database of all fish and invertebrates worldwide from 1950 to 2003. Professor Pitcher said he was encouraged, however, by the examples set by Namibia and Malaysia, home to some of the best fishing grounds in the world. ``These are countries that buck the trend, that do better than you might expect given the wealth of the country,'' he said. But a study last month in the journal Conservation Biology suggests the problem will not be so easy to fix. It found the wealthiest among 141 Kenyan fishermen were the most willing to do something else when fish stocks collapse. Wildlife Conservation Society zoologist Tim McClanahan of Kenya said that ``poor fishers with few jobs will continue to fish as stocks decline'', contributing to a downward spiral of declining fish populations. He said fellow scientists Joshua Cinner of Australia and Tim Daw of Britain suggested creating wealth or jobs for the poorest fishermen, to give them some alternatives. Professor Pitcher and his team of marine scientists say what is ultimately needed is a mandatory fisheries code, either through a global treaty or by each nation incorporating it into their own laws. ``It's not unrealistic,'' Professor Pitcher said. ``What several countries have done recently - Thailand, Indonesia and Namibia - is to encapsulate most of the important aspects of the code into their own legislation.'' GLOBAL STANDARDS * The global fisheries standards were developed in 1995 by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome. It is a voluntary 12-part code. * Norway, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Iceland and Namibia are the only nations to score above a 60 per cent compliance rate. * Most nations are not abiding by the code. * A new study says the oceans are ``in a dreadful mess''and severely overfished. * A separate study says just about all seafood sources face collapse by 2048 if current trends of overfishing and pollution continue. * Namibia and Malaysia are doing better than expected with their fisheries.