How to Help The Fishing Industry? Stop Fishing So Much

Today, June 8, is World Oceans Day, when stakeholders around the world stop to reconsider the value of ocean conservation. This year’s theme is “Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing”—making the case that by protecting the ocean we are ultimately protecting ourselves. One of its core pillars is supporting sustainable seafood, which, in some cases, means not fishing at all. Scientists agree that at least 30% of the world’s oceans should be declared off limits to commercial exploitation in order to protect fish stocks and marine biodiversity. The fishing industry, not surprisingly, has yelped that cordoning off 30% of our seas would translate into a 30% reduction in catch, driving seafood prices higher around the globe. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Not so, according to a new report published in the journal Science Advances. To unpack the issue, researchers looked at fishing hauls before and after the establishment of Mexico’s Revillagigedo National Park, a 57,143 sq.-mile (148,000 sq. km) area surrounding a 4-island archipelago south of Mexico’s Baja California that was set aside as a marine protected area (MPA) in November 2017. Calculating the average daily haul from the 90 industrial fishing vessels that plied the biodiverse waters in the region (approximately the size of Illinois) since 2007, the report found that not only did Mexico’s fishing industry not suffer, but that the catch actually increased by an average ...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change Climate Is Everything healthscienceclimate Londontime Oceans Source Type: news