All boats come up on a rising tide

Nearly a billion people worldwide depend on fish as their primary source of protein, and there are millions more who live in coastal communities which count on fishing for all or part of their income. The threat to the health and welfare of these people is brought into stark perspective that the world's fisheries are close to irreversible collapse.

Consider that many fish populations are significantly depleted and scientists project the permanent collapse of all commercial species within the next 50 years if significant action is not taken to reverse overfishing. Government subsidies to the fishing sector, totaling approximately $20 billion annually, represent one of the principal forces behind the overfishing crisis. These harmful subsidies push fishing fleets to fish longer, harder and farther away than would otherwise be possible.

Ocean Conservation Yacht Club founding member, Charles Martin-Shields, continues to ponder the many factors that contribute to unrest in the world and brings to us this commentary:

"I recently wrote a short piece on piracy, a problem that has been in the news more and more lately.  I particularly focused on the Gulf of Aden and Somalia and wanted to look in detail a little more at one of the major problems that factors into piracy: over-fishing subsidies.  For those who haven’t kept tabs on the Doha Trade Round over the last four years, a major issue has been the subsidies that reward destructive over-fishing.
   

I thought about this more as I was reading a BBC piece on piracy where a pirate said that he started participating in attacks to protect their fishing grounds from foreign vessels.  This morphed over time into the far more organized ‘pirate industry’ we see now, as fishing became obsolete as a means of earning a living.  While it’s overly simplistic to say that over-fishing is the cause of piracy in the region, it is certainly a factor.
   

Over fishing is not just a problem related to piracy either.  Over the years the European Union, Japan, and Korea have strongly supported the protection of these subsidies.  In a National Business Review article from February this year, trade writer Mark Peart outlined the major issues with the continuation of over-fishing subsidies.  The article featured Oceana’s Courtney Sakai who pointed out how critical the situation has become, noting that these subsidies have us on “…the brink of permanently destroying a critical resource.”
   

Aside from making sure we support the U.S. and New Zealand governments’ opposition to the continuation of destructive subsidies, we can also look at where subsidies can make a positive difference.  Subsidizing sustainable fisheries management, and helping fishermen invest in cleaner vessels can be economically positive, since we will be increasing the health of one of our critical food resources.  These policy options are applicable to local policy-making in cities and counties that rely on clean water and healthy fish stocks for their commercial viability. 
Whether at the international trade level or in small towns next to waterways, healthy fisheries provide livelihoods, food and a connection to nature.  Protecting fish populations and rewarding good fisheries practices is something we as sailors should be continually striving to do.

Note: The ban on over-fishing subsidies will not become binding until there is a final vote on the complete Doha Round agreement of the World Trade Organization; currently the talks are stalled over agricultural subsidies, and are not slated to be signed until Summer 2009. 

Charles is exactly right.  The world's fisheries are in trouble!  And the result impacts us on social and environmental levels.

 The oceans are facing collapse due to overfishing. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 75 percent of the world's fisheries are now either overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted or recovering from overexploitation.

No matter which category is considered, there is no good news. In fact, a study published in the scientific journal Nature in 2003 concluded that 90 percent of the "big" fish - tuna, swordfish, and marlin - are already gone. In a 2006 study, leading scientists found that 29 percent of all global commercial fisheries have collapsed due to overfishing, pollution, or habitat loss. Even more alarming, those same scientists projected the collapse of all commercial fish species by 2048 if current trends are not reversed. Learn More>>

Government subsidies threaten already vulnerable fisheries

Governments underwrite their nations' foraging fishing fleets to the tune of $30 billion to $34 billion a year. At least $20 billion directly supports fishing operations that would otherwise be borne by the industry. And the results are devastating. As noted 90 percent of all the "big fish"-tuna, marlin and swordfish-have disappeared. Furthermore, fuel subsidies allow high seas trawling fleets (operations that would not even be economical without the support of these subsidies) to mine for slow-growing marine species. The fishing methods employed also destroy centuries old deep sea corals and scrape sponges from the seafloor, which are crushed in the process.

The bottom line is that these subsidies distort free market forces and have produced a global fishing armada that is up to 250 percent larger than required to fish at sustainable levels.

Perhaps even more disturbing, however, is the fact that these harmful fisheries subsidies are one of the primary drivers of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, also known as "pirate" fishing. The pirate fishing industry pulls $4 billion to $9 billion in fish out of the water every year, dealing a severe blow to developing nations highly dependent upon fish as a major source of income and protein. For example, in 2005 and 2006, Oceana documented numerous boats in the Mediterranean using illegal driftnets. Many of these operators were recipients of an EU program providing €200 million ($240 million at the time) to convert to legal nets.

Indeed, eliminating harmful fisheries subsidies is the biggest single action that could be taken to protect the world's fisheries and the communities that depend upon them. Learn more>>

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The WTO Has a Chance to Help Save the Oceans

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has the unique opportunity to help remedy global overfishing by reducing destructive worldwide fisheries subsidies. This round marks the first time that conservation concerns, in addition to commerce priorities, led to the launch of a specific trade negotiation. A successful outcome will help demonstrate that the WTO can play a constructive role in solving environmental problems of global consequence. Failure to reach agreement on subsidies will mean these devastating practices will continue into the forseeable future and likely result in the total collapse of commercial fisheries throughout the world within decades.

In recent months the fisheries subsidies negotiations have made significant progress in a number of ways. In May 2007, the United States presented a comprehensive proposal to the WTO calling for the reduction of subsidies by 50 percent. The proposal was favorably received by WTO delegates and is widely seen as an important contribution toward advancing the negotiations.

The WTO took a tremendous step forward in the negotiations when it produced the first draft agreement on fisheries subsidies in late November 2007. The draft agreement contains a strong prohibition on capacity enhancing subsidies and provides for improved fisheries management.  Delegates are now negotiating the specific points of the text in order to reach an acceptable compromise. Learn more about the WTO>>