Bottom trawling in the North Sea . Image by Ifremer.
The 4 billion tonnes of marine organisms that global fisheries extracted from the ocean between 1960 and 2018 resulted in the depletion of over 560 million tonnes of essential nutrients vital to ecosystem health, new research has found.
Every year, on November 21st, World Fisheries Day is observed.
Launched in 1997 at a World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers meeting, which led to the creation of the World Fisheries Forum, this day is meant to bring awareness to the urgent need for sustainable fishing practices and measures.
Participants of the EcoScope general meeting at the Balearic Oceanographic Centre of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Palma de Mallorca. Photo by EcoScope.
The Sea Around Us project manager, Dr. Maria ‘Deng’ Palomares, and Advisory Board vice-chair, Athanasios Tsikliras, participated in the 2024 general assembly of the project Ecocentric Management for Sustainable Fisheries and Healthy Marine Ecosystems (EcoScope).
Hoi An fish market in Vietnam. Image by Jean-Marie Hullot, Flickr.
A recent study by researchers at the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean, based at the University of Western Australia, the Changing Ocean Research Unit at the University of British Columbia and the University of Miami, shows that even with strong climate mitigation efforts, maximum catch potential is expected to fall by 58–92 per cent in the Pacific Islands and 65–86 per cent in Southeast Asia by the mid to end of the 21st century. These losses will likely result in fisheries failing to meet key micronutrient requirements in these regions’ coastal populations.