Trends in Global Fisheries - PDF Free Download

Trends in Global Fisheries Likely Causes & Possible Solutions Rainer Froese IFM-GEOMAR Kiel, Germany Presentation at the WTO Forum in Geneva 17 September 2010

I gratefully acknowledge permission to use slides from Daniel Pauly, Boris Worm, Ram Myers, and Villy Christensen

The Status of Global Fisheries

150 Years of Newfoundland Cod Fishery

A typical Fishery.. 100 Fully exploited Percent 50 Developing Overfished Undeveloped Collapsed or closed 10 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Years Froese and Kesner-Reyes, ICES 2002

Trends in Global Fisheries 100% 26% 5.1 years 22% 4.1 years Collapsed Percent of World Fisheries 80% 60% 40% 20% Undeveloped 31% 5.0 years Overfished Fully exploited Developing 38% 4.3 years 0% 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996? Years Froese and Kesner-Reyes, ICES 2002

Out of Current Stocks in 2048? Worm et al., Science 2006 Stocks (%) 2048?

Reality Check Catch in 2008 100% 90% r 2 =0.975 80% 2110 70% Percentage 60% 50% 40% C OF FE D U 30% 20% 10% 0% 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Years Froese et al. 2008, Marine Policy

Out of New Stocks in 2020 45 40 35 y = 24.27-0.4761 x r 2 = 0.4780 Number of new stocks 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Year Froese et al. 2008, Marine Policy

(t/km 2 ) Biomass of Table Fish in 1900 Christensen et al. 2003

and in 2000. Christensen et al. 2003

Catch per 100 Hooks 1952-1980 Swordfish Blue Marlin Bluefin Tuna Dolphinfish

Source: Myers and Worm 2003. Nature 423: 280-283

The Failure of Management by Governments Trends from Working Group reports by fisheries scientists in government agencies (NMFS, DFO, DIFMAR, IFREMER, etc.), compiled by R. A. Myers.

The Failure of Regional Fishing Organizations With thanks to Ram Myers and Boris Worm Recently confirmed by: Cullis-Suzuki & Pauly 2010. Failing the high seas: a global evaluation of regional fisheries management organizations. In press with Marine Policy

If Corrected for Over-Reporting, Global Catches are Declining Since 1988 (a) 90 El Niño events 85 80 Global catch (t 10 6 ) 75 70 65 60 55 El Niño event Uncorrected Corrected Corrected, no anchoveta 50 45 40 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Watson and Pauly (Nature), 2001.

In Summary Global fisheries have drastically reduced the size of their target stocks, typically by 90% since 1950 Global catches are declining since the late 1980s; this decline is masked by misreporting to FAO

Legal Considerations

Is Overfishing Legal? The Law of the Sea defines the biomass that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (B msy ) as reference point Stocks that are smaller than B msy need to be rebuilt Harvest levels that reduce the stock below B msy are incompatible with the Law of the Sea

Cod, Eastern Baltic 1000 900 B MSY SSB and Landings (1000 t) 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 MSY 0 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Year Froese & Proelß Fish & Fisheries 2010

Ecosystem Impacts of Fisheries

Impact on the Sea Floor before after Photos: Dr. K. Sainsbury, CSIRO

Area in NZ accessed by Scallop Trawlers Before

Area in NZ accessed by Scallop Trawlers Immediately after first trawling

Area in NZ accessed by Scallop Trawlers Three years later (Dayton 1998)

Tracks of Trawls courtesy F. Grassle

Shrimp Trawlers from Space QuickBird satellite on 20 February 2003, off the coast of Jiangsu province near the mouth of the Yangtze River;

And More Trawling for Shrimps

Not only in China, also in Texas Here: shrimp trawlers off the Texas Coast, Gulf of Mexico Photo courtesy of Dr. Kyle van Houten (Duke

Main Causes for Overfishing Greed Mismanagement Subsidies

Fisheries Management Basics Catch in kg and Value/Cost in 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 MEY MSY Economic overfishing Growth overfishing 0 20 40 60 80 100 Fishing Effort (hours) Cost of fishing F pa? Recruitment overfishing F lim

EU Fisheries Management Catch in kg and Value/Cost in 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 MEY MSY 0 20 40 60 80 100 Fishing Effort (hours) Cost of fishing EU 2008: 88% of stocks MEY and MSY overfished Subsidies? F pa? 68% EU stocks beyond F pa F lim

Possible Solutions

Solution: Phase out Subsidies 60 Subsidy amounts (USD billion) 50 40 30 20 10 Fuel All except fuel 0 FAO (1992) This study Milazzo (1998) Khan et al. (2006)

Removing Subsidies Rebuilds Stocks and Increases Catches in the Mid-term 8000 MSY MEY Cost of fishing Catch in kg and Value/Cost in 6000 4000 2000 F pa F lim 0? 0 20 40 60 80 100 Fishing Effort (hours)

Rebuilding Stocks Pays Off A recent study (Froese et al. in review) shows that European fisheries can produce 60% higher catches if they were managed properly and precautionary (at 0.9 MSY)

0.9 MSY Harvest Control Rule 1.6 1.4 B MSY 1.3 B MSY Move stocks here. Landings may then be 60% higher 1.2 Landings / MSY 1 0.8 0.6 MSY 0.9 MSY 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 Biomass / B MSY Froese et al., submitted

Conclusions Fish stocks are declining worldwide Overfishing is drastically changing the marine ecosystems Overfishing is driven by mismanagement and subsidies Fisheries can produce more food, livelihood, profit and taxes if done properly

Thank You Rainer Froese IFM-GEOMAR Kiel, Germany Presentation at the WTO Forum in Geneva 17 September 2010