Sea angling competition highlights overfishing

Old Man of Hoy, Orkney, Scotland

Nothing in recent times has come close to illustrating the problem of overfishing in UK waters quite so eloquently as this story about a sea angling competition recently held off the coast of Orkney, Scotland.

More than 150 international anglers spent five days competing in the European Sea Angling Championships, and only one haddock was landed.

In the 1970's and early 80's the waters around Orkney teemed with fish. On one trip to the Black Craig, a stone's throw from Stromness harbour, we caught plenty of haddock, cod, coalfish, pollock, mackerel and plaice, all in the space of about two hours. Now that same spot is devoid of fish.

Commercial fishermen knew where the fish were and systematically cleaned out each well-known spot with a couple of trawls, leaving the sea anglers with nothing.

If ever there was a case for marine reserves, it is in this story. We have allowed many of our coastal seas to become deserts, and for that we should collectively hang our heads in shame.

Junk Science?

As the breeding season for UK seabirds is in full swing the fishing industry has got its minions busily diverting the truth away from their destructive practices.

Dr Ian Napier, of the NAFC (North Atlantic Fisheries College), said today: "The immediate cause of the seabird breeding failures is generally believed to be a shortage of food. They have trouble finding sand eels to feed their chicks. Probably what is happening is that there is some change in the ocean which is reducing the availability of food and also increasing warm water, but we don't really know the details of what the cause is." (More details of report).

The inference in this quote is that global warming is to blame for the recent terrible times our seabirds have had breeding. But may I put it to Dr Ian Napier that 'the change' that is happening in the ocean is that commercial fishermen are removing too many food fish from the ocean that these birds need to feed their young.

It is, of course, no coincidence that the NAFC just happen to release this report at the beginning of the seabird breeding season, so when the headlines start reporting, for yet another year, that our seabird chicks are starving to death, the finger of blame will point towards climate change and not the real culprit, which is overfishing, and the greed and stupidity of our fishing industries.

China eyes krill fishery - The beginning of the end?

Krill, the final untapped commercial marine resource is now the target of one of the most populous and destructive countries on earth - China.

China is acutely aware of the massive decline in fish as a source of fishmeal for aquaculture and farming and sees krill as an excellent alternative.

If we are to learn from our disastrous management of our fisheries, and assume the same will happen to krill, stringent safeguards need to be put in place now to protect this keystone species.

See article http://en.mercopress.com/2010/04/23/china-interested-in-krill-fisheries-to-cut-foreign-dependence

Open your eyes to commercial fishing

After stripping the seas of life with impunity for decades, serious questions are now being asked of the industry that makes its living from exploiting marine wildlife.

For too long we've held a highly romanticised view of the fishing industry, one of bountiful seas and hardworking fishermen who risk all to put fish on our plate. Only recently are we starting to get a glimpse of the truth. A high-technology industry run by very wealthy people who are systematically emptying the world's ocean for profit. And that's just the half of it, if we knew the full truth about what goes on out at sea far beyond prying eyes, there would be an outcry.

All commercial fishing is destructive but there are three methods which stick out as particularly damaging - bottom-trawling, purse-seining and long-lining.

Most of us will never get a chance to view these fishing methods first-hand, so here are three short videos which will give you a flavour of what is happening to the world's ocean.

Bottom-trawling

Purse-seining

Long-lining

Highly endangered sharks and sport fishing competitions

Rules are rules, no matter how endangered the species is, according to some American sport fishing competitions.

The scalloped hammerhead shark (pictured) which recently won the biggest shark prize at the 2012 White Marlin Open, is listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Species. Numbers have declined by 98% in the last 30 years, but amazingly still no laws were broken.

This is because, although under review, the scalloped hammerhead shark is still listed by US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as an Authorised species for recreational fishing (see NOAA 2012 Recreational Compliance Guide).

A selfish minority are sticking rigidly to rules set by a ponderously slow governmental organisation, whilst conveniently ignoring international guidelines and the plight of a highly endangered species.

Sport fishing rodeos should have to take into account all the evidence when they set the rules for their competitions, and if it is plainly obvious that a species is in deep trouble, the responsible action would be to disallow that species from the competition.

The media and shark slaughter

Effective shark protection hinges on changing the public perception of sharks, and judging by recent media reports there is still a very long way to go. Some might even say that we haven't moved forward a jot since the bad old days of the 1970's.

Two recent media articles covering the slaughter of a large, female short-fin mako shark (pictured) by leading American news outlets is particularly depressing for shark lovers.

Msnbc.com covered the story with the opening line "A monster of the sea was killed and brought in to Marina del Rey – a shark so heavy that it damaged the brand-new scale at the dock." Full story here.

The LA Times wasn't much better, but seemed reluctant to use the word shark "The fish was so big, it was too heavy for the scales. It was so big, in fact, that it couldn't be hauled aboard the boat and had to be dragged into the dock by the tail." Full story here.

What is most worrying is not just the way these leading news outlets glorify the killing of these increasingly rare animals, but that they can't even be bothered to temper their blood-lust by mentioning that sharks are in dire trouble worldwide.

MSNBC and The LA Times should really know better. It's long overdue for the media to take some responsibility for shark slaughter, after all, how many people may be inspired to kill a shark after reading such sensationalist rubbish? 

Public outcry would prevent the publication of an article like this about the unnecessary killing of a land animal, and it's time for the media to give sharks equal respect. 

Switch the fish, spread the problem

Supermarkets, led by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight and Sainsbury's Switch the Fish campaigns, have recently been encouraging us to eat lesser-known fish species in a bid to make more sustainable choices.

What they haven't told you is that the majority of fish sold in UK supermarkets is already from sustainable sources such as Iceland, the Barents Sea, or from the Baltic.

And that's not the only problem with this well-meaning campaign. The market for fish is now a global business and fish wholesalers are able to find other outlets for threatened species such as cod, haddock and monkfish. If the UK market won't buy the fish someone else will.

By encouraging us to eat unfashionable fish species such as megrim, pouting, gurnard, coley or dab, all that will be achieved is to increase the market for fish. And this is already happening with overall sales of fish at supermarkets hitting record levels. In the weeks after the Fish Fight campaign was launched Marks & Spencer and Waitrose reported increased fish sales of 25% and 15%.

If we are seriously going to tackle the problem of overfishing then people are going to have to eat less fish, fishermen are going to have to catch less fish, and supermarkets will have to sell less fish. Creating a whole new market for previously unpopular species is just spreading the problem not solving it.