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Ocean Unite

KEY ISSUES

OVERFISHING

Ortiz Rojas
© Ortiz Rojas

Everyone knows about overfishing – but alarm bells just got even louder. A study reveals that catches are falling 3 times faster than UN estimates – not because we are choosing to catch less fish, but because they simply aren’t there. Over the course of a few decades, rampant fishing activities have led to over 90% of fish stocks being either fished at the maximum sustainable level or overfished. Reckless fishing activities are costing the global economy trillions of dollars, and are robbing our children of jobs and food for the future.

It’s past time to get serious about ending overfishing and we know exactly how to stop it and regenerate Ocean life. It requires establishing more marine reserves, setting precautionary catch limits, stepping up monitoring and enforcement, fighting bycatch and discards, ending illegal fishing and stopping the perverse subsidies that fuel overfishing.

TALKING POINTS

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  • The UN estimates that worldwide, fish provides about 3 billion people with almost 20% of their intake of animal protein, and 4.3 billion people with about 15% of such protein.
  • According to the FAO’s State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture report from 2020 34.2% of fish stocks of the world’s marine fisheries were overfished as of 2017, a trend which appears to be increasing, despite the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4 target to end overfishing by 2020.
  • In addition, 59.6% are fully fished, with only 6.2% of fish stocks assessed as underfished.
  • According to the FAO, just one in three fish caught around the world never makes it to the plate, either being thrown back overboard or rotting before it can be eaten.
  • “Fully exploited” is not necessarily undesirable if it is the result of an effective and precautionary management approach. However, it does indicate that fisheries are producing catches that are close to their maximum sustainable limits. This means that the maximum potential for these fisheries have been reached and a cautious approach to the further development of fisheries management is urgently needed to avoid these fisheries becoming overexploited.
  • While there are controversies in some quarters over the “correct” figures on the status of the world’s fish stocks, the bottom line is that the Ocean is in crisis and business as usual is exhausting its natural capital. It is in all of our long-term interest to support precautionary, ecosystem-based measures that focus on ensuring sustainability for decades to come.
  • A study published in Science Advances suggests that countries have been drastically underreporting the amount of fish that they have been catching. The researchers compared the UN FAO data with estimates of unreported catches from a broad range of sources, and found that between 8 and 14 million metric tonnes of unreported catches are traded each year.
  • This misreporting has masked the fact that overfishing has caused catches to fall globally 3 times faster than estimated by the UN, not due to the fact that countries are fishing less but because they have systematically exhausted fisheries.
  • Fishing not only overexploits natural resources but is also one of the most wasteful human activities in the Ocean. Fish which are not deemed to be of economic value, are damaged, are too small or are restricted by a quota are thrown back into the sea, dead or alive. This is known as discarding.
  • Every year an estimated 11% of global fisheries catch is discarded. This equates to an estimated 9.1 million tonnes which is about half of the estimated annual global discard rate in the late 1980s. Although the decline is encouraging, more needs to be done to prevent this hugely wasteful practice.
  • The global fishing sector is also a highly unequal industry, with a recent study showing that, of the reported US$35.4 billion of global fisheries subsidies doled out in 2018, only 19% went to small-scale fisheries – even though they employ 90% of fishers.
  • The majority of the subsidies that large-scale fisheries receive are in the form of capacity-enhancing subsidies (US$18.3 billion) with fuel subsidies being the highest overall subsidy type (US$7.2 billion).
  • Fuel subsidies are known for their negative impacts on the marine environment and the fisheries economy and perpetuate the use of fuel-inefficient technologies. Fuel subsidies to large-scale fisheries make up around 20% of total global fisheries subsidies (US$7.2 billion), while US$0.6 billion is provided to the small-scale fishing sub-sector.
  • These subsidies essentially help large-scale fisheries stay in business even when operating costs outweigh total revenue gained from fishing and therefore making large-scale fisheries artificially more competitive over the already mostly disadvantaged and politically marginalized small-scale fishing sub-sector.
  • Climate change is predicted to have major impacts on marine fisheries due to a redistribution of marine species. Increases in fishery productivity are predicted in some cases, particularly mid-to-high latitudes, however the negative effects of this will be felt in other areas.
  • Global bycatch amounts to approximately 1 million tonnes per year according to recent estimates.
  • Overcapacity – or too many boats chasing too few fish – of fishing fleets fueled by perverse subsidies significantly adds to overfishing, particularly for fisheries that are economically marginal and require those subsidies to break even or make a profit.
  • Loss of key marine habitats – such as coral reefs and seagrass are also threatening the global fishing industry, according to research conducted in 2018.

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?

  • A 2020 study demonstrated that ending overfishing could make fish stocks more resilient to climate change by leaving more fish in the Ocean, maintaining the structure of marine food webs, avoiding the degradation of marine habitat, and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, through both a reduction in emissions from the fishing sector and higher carbon sequestration.
  • Fish consumption is growing and predicted to rise by 15% by 2030. Without effective fisheries management measures in place, both food security and livelihoods are threatened. To ensure recovery it is essential that development models promote sustaining marine life, in particular the huge financial and environmental benefits that can be gained from long-term protection, rather than short- term extraction.
  • This means a reduction in fishing effort to ensure an increase in productivity and profit as well as to buffer the effects of climate change (http://www.stateoftheocean.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IPSO-2019-Report-Final_web-PDF.pdf), the scrapping of harmful fisheries subsidies that promote overfishing and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, and protection measures to help rebuild fish stocks.
  • An economic analysis in 2018 (Sala et al., 2018) concluded that if subsidies were removed, and adequate labour and human rights were enforced, most High Seas fishing would be too uneconomic to survive.
  • These subsidies can then be redirected to support coastal fishing community projects to ensure sustainability of fisheries, food security and social justice, as well as the establishment of a global network of marine reserves. This will also have many long-lasting benefits including more fish, bigger fish, and more types of fish both within the reserve but also outside due to the “spill-over” effect.
  • Moratoria and bans need to be introduced for highly damaging activities such as bottom-trawling, deep-water gillnets and long-lining that results in very high levels of bycatch of marine animals such as seabirds, sharks and turtles.
  • In 2020 the World Trade Organization (WTO) had been due to finalize an agreement on how to get rid of harmful fisheries subsidies that contribute to overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person meetings were suspended, and the WTO were unable to finish negotiations, meaning the 2020 deadline for Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 has been missed.
  • The WTO must make finalising a global agreement to stop subsidising harmful and IUU fishing a top priority for negotiations in 2021.
  • The Ocean Prosperity Roadmap: Fisheries and Beyond explores how a transition to sustainable resource use – for example, by fishing smarter, not harder – can reduce poverty while increasing economic growth, food production, and fish populations.
  • It’s also high time to eliminate IUU fishing. Learn how here.
  • Fisheries reform can yield triple bottom line gains in terms of greater economic profits, food security, and conservation benefits.
  • Leaving more large fish in the Ocean, like tuna and sharks, could also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the Earth’s atmosphere, highlighting the potential contribution of ending overfishing in the High Seas as a nature-based solution to climate change. Globally, 43.5% of the blue carbon extracted by fisheries in the High Seas comes from areas that would be economically unprofitable without subsidies.

Key numbers from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018

  • Total global fish production in 2018: 179 million tonnes:
    • Share of that from marine capture fisheries: 84.4 million tonnes
    • From freshwater capture fisheries: 12 million tonnes
    • From aquaculture: 82 million tonnes.
  • Amount of production consumed by humans as food: 156 million tonnes.
  • First-sale value of all fisheries and aquaculture production in 2018: US$401 billion:
    • Share of that from aquaculture: US$250 billion.
  • Number of people employed in fisheries and aquaculture: 59.5 million:
    • Percentage of those who are women: 14%
    • Region with the most fishers and fish farmers: Asia (85% of the total).
  • Number of fishing vessels on the planet: 4.56 million:
    • Largest fleet by region: Asia (3.1 million vessels, or 68% of the global fleet).
  • Percent of global fish production that enters international trade: 38%.
  • Value of fish production exports: US$164 billion.
  • Net export revenues for developing countries (US$38 billion) which is higher than revenues from other agricultural commodity exports such as meat, tobacco, rice and sugar.
  • World’s largest fish producer and exporter: China.
  • World’s largest import market of fish and fish products: The European Union (34% of total value), followed by The United States (14%) and Japan (9%).
  • Most unsustainable fisheries: Mediterranean and Black Sea (62.5% overfished stocks), the Southeast Pacific (54.5%), Southwest Atlantic (53.3%).
  • Most sustainable fisheries: Eastern Central Pacific, Western Central Pacific, Northeast Pacific and Southwest Pacific (between 13 and 22% of stocks fished at biologically unstainable levels).

Safiya Sawney is currently the Caribbean Policy Lead for Ocean Unite. Most recently she was the Ocean and Climate Policy Advisor to the Mission of the Republic of Palau to the United Nations representing the President of Palau at the High-Level Panel for the Sustainable Ocean Economy and leading Palau’s engagement at the UN Secretary General’s 2019 Climate Action Summit. Safiya was also the project coordinator for the UN Office of Project Services providing strategic support towards the 2020 Our Oceans Conference.

Formerly, Safiya was the lead policy advisor on a Blue Economy partnership platform between the Governments of the Netherlands and Grenada with support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Safiya has fostered many innovative partnerships to spur action on ocean plastics and environmental awareness for small islands states including partnerships with Parley for the Ocean and Adidas, PangeaSeed, UN Environment, United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and others.

Safiya has provided policy support to Climate Analytics Inc. on Caribbean climate strategies, was the deputy coordinator for the Caribbean team that executed the 2013 Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) Summit in collaboration with Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Unite and The Nature Conservancy and served as technical advisor to Alliance of Small Island Developing States at the UN.

Jon Bassford, CAE, JD, MBA is an association and nonprofit operations professional. Jon has worked for c3 to c7 organizations across many different roles and responsibilities but has carved out an expertise as an efficient and effective operations professional. Through his consulting firm Lateral Solutions, Jon leads several organizations as a part-time operations director as well as client work in college student/campus outreach, organizational development, innovation, and strategy. Jon has truly carved out an expertise helping organizations launch and run internal operations in an efficient and effective manner using digital tools.
 
Across his membership and operational roles, Jon has 15 years of experience leading organizations.

Renee brings nearly a decade of internal operations experience to the Ocean Unite team. Prior to joining the team, Renee worked for eight years at The Pew Charitable Trusts where she began as an administrative assistant supporting their Shark, Tuna, and Whale conservation campaigns as well as the Senior Director of International Ocean Conservation. Particularly adept at identifying operational issues and developing methods to solve them, Renee moved into an operations role working across Pew’s international Ocean conservation projects, then all their environment conservation projects, and later the breadth of Pew’s programmatic work. She has degrees from California State University, San Bernardino, and Temple University in Philadelphia, and recently relocated from Washington, DC, to the California coast. As hard as this team works to protect our magnificent Ocean, Renee is the only person on the team who lives at the beach and relishes in enjoying the beauty of the Ocean every day.

Brittney is Ocean Unite’s digital and social media manager and is a consultant for Communications Inc. Comms Inc. is an agency which works with the not-for-profit sector, with a particular specialism in the ocean and wider environment. They are well known within the international ocean community and enjoy the trust of, and a working relationship with, most of the large international environmental NGOs and coalitions. Recognised for their ability to deliver fast, cost-effective and productive communications and campaigning, they are particularly valued for their strategic contribution based on a sound understanding of the issues, the political landscape within which the issues exist and a creative approach to bringing about change. (www.communicationsinc.co.uk)

One of the principals of Communications Inc., Sophie has nearly 20 years of experience in strategic communications. Comms Inc., is an agency which works with the not for profit sector, with a particular specialism in the ocean and wider environment. They are well known within the international ocean community and enjoy the trust of, and a working relationship with, most of the large international environmental NGOs and coalitions. Recognised for their ability to deliver fast, cost-effective and productive communications and campaigning, they are particularly valued for their strategic contribution based on a sound understanding of the issues, the political landscape within which the issues exist and a creative approach to bringing about change (www.communicationsinc.co.uk).

Nathalie has almost two decades of experience working in environmental advocacy. She worked for over 15 years for Greenpeace International, focusing mainly on biodiversity issues. For many years she worked as Senior Oceans Political Advisor focusing on international ocean governance and marine conservation. More recently she was the deputy director of the Political and Business Unit. She has wide experience of attending and leading delegations at international environmental meetings, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, and ocean-related negotiations at the UN General Assembly. When asked why she feels strongly about protecting the ocean, she says that not only is it home to the weirdest and most wonderful creatures on the planet, tomorrow’s life-saving drugs could be found at the bottom of the sea, not to mention the discovery of an anti-wrinkle cream that actually works!

Karen has over 25 years of experience working for international non-governmental organisations on environmental issues around the world with a particular focus on protecting marine biodiversity and building resilience to climate change. In 2015, Sack established Ocean Unite, co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and former Costa Rican President José María Figueres, to engage leadership voices and the business community to accelerate ocean health and resilience. Ocean Unite is committed to helping secure the strong protection of 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030. It has also developed a groundbreaking partnership with the insurance sector to address ocean risk.

She was senior director for international oceans at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she developed their international oceans program including their ending illegal fishing strategy and initiated and was the managing partner of the Global Ocean Commission. Before that she was head of Greenpeace International’s political and business unit and head of their international oceans programme. In 2004, she was the first person from a non-governmental organization to speak at a regular session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she represented the concerns of over 60 environmental organizations from around the world over the plight of our oceans. Karen is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network. She has master’s degrees in international environmental law and in international political economy.