Overfishing in this day and age is fundamentally a political decision. Half of the key fish populations in the seas around the UK were either overfished or critically low last year. This decimation of vital species like cod, mackerel and others, despite all the evidence and policy tools in the hands of UK governments, represents a successive political failure.
This plays out in many ways, from catch limits being agreed beyond scientific advice to fishing quotas consolidated in the hands of a small number of large-scale, industrial operators who hoover up vast quantities of marine life. We are allowing these wealthy corporations to asset-strip our seas. All the while, local low-impact fishers find it ever harder to make a living as fish populations dwindle. And as our seas face the increasingly damaging effects of the climate crisis and rising pollution, resilience is at a low ebb.
Who is fishing being managed for?
In talking about the future of fishing, we might take lessons from farming, in particular the growth of a movement behind ‘regenerative agriculture’, forms of farming rooted in restoring soil and societal health. This takes an inclusive and flexible approach to reducing the use of expensive inputs, working with natural processes and ultimately breaking the dependence of farmers on costly and volatile inputs controlled by large agrochemical companies.
Applying this to fisheries offers the chance to have a discussion about what, and who, fishing is actually for. If little value is being returned to coastal communities, vessel owners are having to travel ever further to make a living, carbon-rich seabed habitats are being damaged, and seabirds have less and less food to eat, what value is fishing actually providing?
The UK Government must manage fish populations for public and environmental good not just for the interests of the sector. For too long, fish have been treated as a commodity to be extracted rather than as integral parts of complex ocean ecosystems. This has devastated wildlife, as well as placing low-impact fishers at a disadvantage. Ending overfishing and building a regenerative approach to fisheries in the UK must start with tackling this inherent unfairness in the system.
Radical regeneration
Before Brexit, politicians repeatedly promised a new era of ‘gold standard’ fisheries management for the UK once we had left the EU. That rhetoric has not translated into action, leaving both conservationists and fishers bitterly disappointed. The 2020 Fisheries Act might once have been touted as the solution, but it lacks time-bound legal duties to end overfishing, and its broad framework structure has hindered the effective, practical changes we so desperately need.
That’s why Oceana UK is calling for a radical new approach to overfishing, which we have laid out in a roadmap for government. We can still turn the situation around and save our seas. But we must act now.
It’s more than time to level the playing field, so that those who fish in harmony with nature are rewarded with a greater share of quotas – rather than those who are driving us towards disaster by gutting our seas.
In practice, this means the government must: establish legally binding, science-led targets to end overfishing by 2025; ban supertrawlers over 100 metres long; safeguard marine protected areas; and make fishing quotas fair. Prioritising the wider public good over industry profit will boost ocean health and coastal economies in tandem.
Such an approach is overwhelmingly popular. Eight out of ten Brits are concerned about the impacts of overfishing on ocean wildlife – like seabirds and dolphins – according to our latest survey. And 78% of the population back our calls for stricter limits on catches in UK seas, in line with what scientists say is sustainable.
The dire state of the UK’s fish populations is the direct result of wrong-headed political choices that put big industry first. Those choices are setting us on the path to an empty ocean. But another future is possible. We can have seas teeming with life, including healthy fish populations thriving alongside seals, dolphins and, indeed, fishing boats.
To support coastal communities and ocean health, the UK Government must adopt new fisheries policy that places science, fairness, resilience, transparency and respect at its core – rather than pollution, destruction, inequity and greed.
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