FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010
KLMNO Supply of places to fish is dwindling
Study examines movement of industry over five decades
BY JULIET EILPERIN Global fisheries have expanded
so rapidly over the past half-cen- tury that the world is running out of places to catch wild fish, ac- cording to a study conducted by researchers in Canada, the Unit- ed States and Australia. The findings, published Thurs-
day in the online journal PLoS ONE, are the first to examinehow marine fisheries have expanded over time. Looking at fleets’ movements between 1950 and 2005, the five researchers charted how fishing has been expanding southward into less exploited seas at roughly one degree lati- tude each year to compensate for the fact that humans have deplet- ed fish stocks closer to shore in theNorthernHemisphere. During that same period the
world’s fish catch increased five- fold from 19 million metric tons in 1950 to a peak of 90 million in the late 1980s, before declining to 87 million tons in 2005. It was 79.5 million tons in 2008, accord- ing to the U.N. Food and Agricul- ture Organization, the most re- cent year for which figures are available. Daniel Pauly, a co-author who
serves as principal investigator of the Sea Around Us Project at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre, said the global seafood catch is dropping “be- cause there’s essentially nowhere to go.” The fact that fish catches rose for so many decades “looks like sustainability but it is actual- ly expansion driven. That is frightening, because the account- ing is coming now.” The authors — including lead
author Wilf Swartz, who is a doctoral student at the university, and National Geographic Society ocean fellow Enric Sala — write that this relentless pursuit for seafood has left “only unproduc- tive waters of high seas, and relatively inaccessible waters in the Arctic and Antarctic as the last remaining ‘frontiers.’ ” “The focus should move from
looking for something new to looking at what we have and making the most sustainable use out of it,” Swartz said in an interview. Although the analysis largely
confirms what researchers, activ- ists and policymakers know, it could provide new ammunition to those seeking to curb fishing of some of the world’s most imper- iled species. Last week, for example, negoti-
ators at the International Com- mission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas — which oversees dozens of fish stocks in the Atlan- tic Ocean—imposed newrestric- tions on vulnerable species such as oceanic whitetip and hammer- head sharks. But it stopped short of deep cuts in the annual catch of imperiled bluefin tuna in either the eastern or western Atlantic. “People are beginning to look
at science and understand if we don’t startmanagingthese fisher-
amillion reasons to
EZ SU
Politics & The Nation
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ies properly we’re going to be in trouble, not only because of eco- logical reasons but because they’re important sources of food and income,” said Russell Smith, assistant secretary for interna- tional fisheries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration. But some of the nations that
have traditionally sought out the most seafood, or depend on it as a primary food resource, are resist- ing steep cuts in fishing quotas. MasanoriMiyahara,whohead-
ed Japan’s delegation to ICCAT last month, said his country backed policies that reflected the current state of individual fisher- ies. “We will take leadership in
taking decisions based on science and compliance,” Miyahara said, adding that no scientific evidence suggests the need for a drastic cut in the total catch of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic. By contrast, he added, “The
science on oceanic whitetip [sharks] is very clear. We must stop [taking] the fish.” National Fisheries Institute
spokesman Gavin Gibbons, whose group is the largest sea- food trade organization in the United States, said the global depletion of wild fisheries helps explainwhy farmed fish accounts for about half of the world’s sea- food production. But he noted that it is still important to make distinctions between fish stocks: his group backs a ban on taking bluefin tuna from theMediterra- nean but does not support some groups’ call for a moratorium on fishing in the bluefin tuna’s Gulf ofMexico spawning grounds. “There’s no need to stop com-
mercial fishing in all oceans,” Gibbons said. “You have to man- age what you’re doing effectively.” While 80 percent of the bluefin
tuna caught in the Atlantic ends up in Japan, it has emerged as a hot-button issue in the United States and elsewhere. This week the advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity called on consumers, chefs and restaura- teurs to boycott the fish and places that serve it, including the District’s Sushi Taro restaurant. Farmers & Fishers restaurant in Georgetown also recently offered bluefin tuna on its menu. Sushi Taro did not return a call
for comment Thursday. A repre- sentative of Farmers & Fishers said that bluefin tuna has not been served in the restaurant since that occasion. Dan Simons, managing partner for the Farm- ers & Fishers restaurants, said in an earlier statement that “we’ll be more diligent to ensure mistakes don’t happen with regards to serving sustainable fish to our guests. We have committed to work to serve fish in support of the Ocean Foundation’s guide- lines, and applaud them on their efforts to help protect our oceans.” Catherine Kilduff, one of the
group’s staff attorneys, said: “Bluefin tuna are teetering on the brink of extinction. If regulators won’t protect these magnificent fish, it’s up to consumers and restaurants to eliminate the mar- ket demand, and that means re- fusing to eat, buy or serve this species.”
Replacing wild fish altogether
wouldnot be easy, Gibbons noted. Ray Hilborn, a University of Washington professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, recently es- timated that switching from wild fish to an equivalent amount of animal protein from pigs, cattle and chickens could take land resources equal to 22 times the existing rainforest.
eilperinj@washpost.com
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