Why it's time to implement the fish rescue plan

Janine Mace reports on how a New Zealand fisheries management system is being touted as the answer to dwindling fish stocks worldwide

For years, doctors have been urging us to eat more fish for the sake of our health. But while this may be beneficial for humans, it�s created a situation where global fish stocks are anything but healthy.

Mismanagement, pollution and over-fishing are seeing fish stocks around the world collapse, with some varieties now on the brink of extinction. In 2000, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimated that 70% of the world�s fish stocks were fully exploited, over-fished, depleted or rebuilding from over-fishing. Conservation organisations such as the WWF are calling for swift action to protect what is left, before stocks are depleted to the point of no return.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, saw 189 nations agreeing to a rescue plan to restore fish stocks by 2015. The plan involves calls for the creation of a series of protected marine areas around the world by 2012 and restrictions on fishing to help stocks recover.

Even the European Union is getting worried. Just before Christmas it announced drastic cuts to Britain�s catch quotas under its common fisheries policy (CFP). North Sea cod quotas were cut 45%, haddock catches halved and whiting reduced by nearly two-thirds, with fishing restricted to no more than 15 days each month.

Fishermen were outraged, with fears that more than 30,000 jobs will be lost in Scotland, where 80% of Britain�s white fish fleet is based. The British Government has promised to spend £60m to counter the effects of the cuts, with the bulk of it being spent on decommissioning boats.

But not everyone was against the EU�s reforms, with voices from the other side of the globe hailing it as a welcome start. When the decision was announced, the New Zealand trade negotiations minister, Jim Sutton, called the decision �a step in the right direction�.

And New Zealanders are in a good position to judge, with reforms to their fisheries management system often held up as a blueprint for the rest of the world. Its fishing industry currently employs around 10,000 people and is worth almost NZ$1.5bn annually in exports.

According to Sutton, New Zealand�s fisheries management programme is world-class, emphasising both economic and environmental sustainability. �It�s a system we can recommend to the world,� he says.

Most countries manage their fisheries by controlling inputs such as the number and size of boats, mesh size of nets and so on. But this does not necessarily prevent over-fishing, as it often results in substitution with another input. For example, restricting the number of rock lobster pots can be avoided by using the pots more often.

New Zealand has taken a different approach by controlling outputs to ensure sustainable use of its fisheries resources. It directly limits the total quantity of fish taken, including recreational and customary Maori catch.

Under its system, New Zealand has also broken away from the tradition of control by regulation and adopted an approach based on property rights and economic incentives. It gives commercial fishermen a right to take a defined quota or share of the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for a particular species in a defined area. The quota is the holder�s legal property and can be bought or sold.

New Zealand�s quota management system (QMS) was originally introduced in 1986 and it has been progressively refined ever since. While not the first country to bring in quotas, it is the first to use them on such a broad scale in multi-species fisheries.

There are currently 54 fish or shellfish species in the QMS covering the most commercially valuable species. Initially quotas were issued as a tonnage, but they are now based on a percentage of the TACC for each species.

Each year the Government sets a catch limit for each fish species based on a scientific assessment that this level will maintain it at, or move it towards, a size that can produce the maximum sustainable yield.

Fishing-free zones

In the UK, the WWF is calling for controls to produce a similar sustainable fisheries system. It is pushing for an increase in the number of protected areas to help preserve marine wildlife, as well as the introduction of fishing-free zones to help fish stocks recover.

Banning of fishing in certain areas is a management tool used in Pacific fisheries. New Zealand uses closed areas to protect juvenile fish and local reef species, while closed seasons protect fish stocks for a specific time period, particularly during breeding periods. Other controls include size limits, gear restrictions and marine reserves for scientific study.

But while sustainability is important, money talks. A significant issue in the debate over fisheries management is the high level of subsidies paid to the industry.

In 2000, the FAO estimated that the 22m tonnes of fish and fishery products traded internationally had an export value of US$50bn. According to New Zealand Government figures, fishing subsidies represent between 20% and 25% of this total and are a significant cause of trade distortion.

According to Sutton, the global fisheries industry is hooked on subsidies: �This distorts trade, threatens fish stocks, and impedes the development of poorer nations.�

WWF figures indicate that, between 2000-2006, the EU is funding Europe�s fishing sector to the tune of some e3.7bn. Much of this money is being invested in expanding and modernising fishing capacity (e1.179m), while only e1.062m is being spent decommissioning boats. This is despite the fact that the EU fishing fleet is already 40% over capacity.

To encourage action on the subsidy issue, an informal grouping of World Trade Organisation (WTO) nations, called the Friends of Fish, is seeking to improve WTO rules in the area. The group includes countries such as Argentina, Australia, Iceland, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Thailand and the USA. But a solution to the fishing crisis may be hard to find.

One of the innovations seen as a solution to over-fishing of wild stocks is increased use of aquaculture. Farmed production is one of the fastest growing food production industries in the world, with production doubling in the past decade to around 20m tonnes a year.

In February, however, the WWF warned that the global demand for fish feed is threatening already pressured fish stocks. It predicts the rapid growth of aquaculture could see it using all the world�s fish oil and half its fishmeal by 2010. Globally, annual catches of fish feed stocks currently represent more than one-third of total catches.

The WWF estimates that four kilograms of wild-caught fish are needed to produce one kilogram of farmed fish, with growing demand for fish oil and fishmeal having dramatic consequences on stocks of small pelagic species such as pilchard and blue whiting.

�In its current state, aquaculture is contributing to an increased pressure on already depleting fish stocks,� said Dr Simon Cripps, director of WWF�s Endangered Seas Program. �The ecological consequences of a decline in fish stocks used in fish feed can have devastating effects throughout the marine food chain, from wild stocks of cod, haddock, and other commercial species right on up to dolphins, orcas and marine birds.�

While acknowledging that aquaculture had an important role to play in keeping fish on our dinner tables, Cripps said it �must happen in tandem with sustainable fisheries and sustainable sourcing, rather than its current status as one of the primary contributors to fisheries decline�.

So, it seems there is no easy way out of the current global fishing crisis without some hard decisions and a lot of pain for everyone involved.

Janine Mace is an Australian freelance finance and business journalist.