The term ‘destructive fishing’ seems plenty self-explanatory—any fishing that’s destructive to either a fish species or the environment in which they live.
But the term has been used inconsistently and no globally agreed definition exists. But recently and for the first time ever, a group of researchers has put together a framework of what constitutes destructive fishing globally.
The stated goal is to provide a greater understanding of destructive fishing, monitor it and outline evidence to determine if it is taking place.
More than 80 people from 36 countries—including from non-governmental organizations, academia, government fisheries management and the fishing industry—have identified areas of consensus regarding what destructive fishing is and is not, and suggested ways to monitor it.
The process and findings have been detailed in an article on globalseafood.org, the website of the Global Seafood Alliance, a global non-governmental organization dedicated to advocacy, education and leadership for promoting responsible seafood practices.
According to the article, the research group’s consultations led to a new working definition of destructive fishing, which was unveiled in March: “Destructive fishing is any fishing practice that causes irrecoverable habitat degradation, or which causes significant adverse environmental impacts, results in long-term declines in target or nontarget species beyond biologically safe limits and has negative livelihood impacts.”
Destructive fishing could be destructive to not just a species or ecosystem, but also to society, the research group has said.
With the new working definition and framework, the research team said it hopes that international policy discussions will be built upon, supporting countries to prohibit destructive fishing practices.
“The new framework helps countries and industry determine whether destructive fishing is happening in their regions of interest, guiding them through available indicators and which ones may be best for local analysis,” the globaseafood.org article explains, adding that it’s organized around two broad types of impact that fishing can have, with seven elements to measure to assess these impacts.
The evidence that could be used to determine if destructive fishing is occurring is drawn from and built upon targets, frameworks and indicators that are currently used by the fishing industry and governments.
“No two fishing practices or fisheries are the same, and we needed to ensure that the framework would encompass many different things but could be tailored to a national or local context as needed,” Hannah Richardson, technical specialist, destructive fisheries with nature conservation charity Fauna & Flora, said.
“It also aims to look at more legal or legitimate gear that could be destructive or damaging and understand their impact,” she added. “Some may be more inherently destructive than others depending on context, but this study identified that it is largely the impact of a practice that makes it destructive. At what point does something become destructive, and what is an acceptable amount of damage before something becomes destructive? These are areas we want to address.”
The working definition of destructive fishing and the new framework are both likely to be foundations for future constructive efforts to bring about improvements. The project team is aiming to pilot approaches to measure the prevalence and magnitude of destructive fishing and work with policymakers and governments to improve their ocean policy frameworks.
“Any fishery can be destructive if it’s done poorly,” Charles Heaphy, the fishery resources manager with New Zealand seafood firm Sealord Group Ltd. was quoted as saying in the article.
“Perhaps fishing occurs in habitats for juvenile production or spawning,” he remarked. “Or something else may be going on, indicated by a fishery’s productivity not matching the stock assessments and science. A fishery could be doing something that isn’t IUU fishing or overfishing but could be interpreted as destructive.”
“Having looked at a fishery under this framework,” he said, “regulators, operators or third parties can suggest ways to monitor and improve.”
The full article is available to read at https://tinyurl.com/4evstczn.
Managing Editor Mark Nero can be reached by phone at (619) 313-4351 or via email at mark@maritimepublishing.com.