Shrimp trawler. Photo by Stephanie Lee, Flickr.
Fisheries scientists and marine biologists working in all corners of the world, from Canada to Australia, from Malaysia to Nigeria, and from Brazil to Monaco, are once again making a call to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to approve additional regulations that eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies.
Fishermen in Digha, India. Photo by Krishnendu Biswas, Pexels.
A few big players in the Indian Ocean Rim are disproportionately accessing the region’s fisheries resources through harmful subsidies while limiting the access to those resources of small-scale fleets from nutrient-insecure countries.
Fishing boats in Brixham harbour, UK. Photo by Dave_S, Flickr.
The United Kingdom has a unique opportunity to start rebuilding its fish stocks by taking advantage of the slowdown in commercial fishing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing Brexit negotiations that should lead to new policy and legislation.
A new paper by researchers with the University of Southampton, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia presents a science-based pathway for decision-makers to develop a holistic approach in fisheries management by harnessing the present moment in which threatened stocks are seeing fishing pressure reduced to levels not seen since World War II.
Menhaden fisheries in Louisiana, USA. Photo by Louisiana Sea Grant College Program Louisiana State University, Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
Fishing companies operating worldwide are missing between $51 billion and $83 billion in unrealized net economic benefits every year due to the overexploitation and underperformance of fish stocks. For these fishing companies, that means they are spending too much and getting fewer fish, revenues and profits than they could.
By combining fisheries data from the Sea Around Us initiative at UBC with country-level data on modern slavery, the researchers found that countries whose fleets rely heavily on government subsidies, fish far away from home ports, and fail to comprehensively report their actual catch, tend to fish beyond sustainable limits and are at higher risk of labour abuses.