“Fausse-pêche.” Discarded fishes from unwanted catch, on Atlantic shores. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care.
The EU has banned discarding caught fish in February 2013. The ban has been phased in gradually, beginning with the North Sea in 2014. By 2019 it will cover all the EU’s fisheries, with some exceptions. Regulatory tools such a seasonal or area closures can help but, alas, cannot completely eliminate the discard problem. Once a fish is caught, it is almost certainly going to die either because it is out of the water or because it was injured in the process… Captions: OECD Observer
Excerpts;
UCSB scientists find that wealthy nations are responsible for almost all of trackable industrial fishing across the global oceans.
Furthermore, vessels registered to wealthy countries were found to be responsible for 78 percent of trackable industrial fishing in the domestic waters of less-wealthy countries, a practice employed when the wealthy countries’ demand for fish exceeds its domestic supply or these wealthy nations otherwise wish to seek out new supplies of fish.
China, Taiwan and Japan top the list of a very small number of wealthy countries whose industrial fishing dominates the high seas, with China and Taiwan together responsible for a little more than half of all the trackable industrial fishing in the shared waters. Meanwhile, China, Taiwan and South Korea were also found to be the top three industrial fishing countries fishing in the domestic waters of less-wealthy nations; their vessels were detected in 45 percent of all non-landlocked nations’ waters…
Read Full Article, UCSB Current (08-01-2018)
Original Study: “Wealthy countries dominate industrial fishing”; Science Mag (08-01-2018)
Official fish trade ‘hugely underestimates’ global catches; Science Daily (10-09-2017)
Conservation of dwindling fish stocks is being severely hampered by poor controls on global trade, according to new research…
Overfishing is as big a threat to humanity as it is to our oceans; Guardian UK (02-16-2016)
As global per-capita fish consumption hits all-time high, UN warns on over harvesting; UN (07-07-2016)
A new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that while growth in aquaculture has helped drive global per capita fish consumption above 20 kilograms a year for the first time, almost a third of commercial fish stocks are now overharvested at biologically unsustainable levels…
Chinese Foreign Fisheries Catch 12 Times More Than Reported, Study Shows; Science Daily (04-03-2013)
Nearly Half of U.S. Seafood Supply is Wasted, Study Shows, Science Daily (09-25-2015)
As much as 47 percent of the edible US seafood supply is lost each year, mainly from consumer waste, new research suggests…
Food Chain Collapse Predicted in World’s Oceans; Discovery News (10-12-2015)
The World’s Tuna and Mackerel Populations Are in a “Catastrophic” Decline, Quartz (09-17-2015)
EU proposes total commercial fishing ban on Atlantic sea bass; Guardian UK (10-27-2016)
African Fisheries Plundered by Foreign Fleets; IPS News (07-02-2016)
