Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 19 • 3rd November 2006

Scientists Sound Alarm Bells for the Future of World Fisheries

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An international group of ecologists and economists sent a strong warning regarding the impending collapse of the word fisheries if no action is taken to halt the decline. Drawing on the findings of an extensive global study published in the journal Science on 3 November, the researchers concluded that virtually no fish stocks would be left in the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continued.

The four-year study found that about one third of open sea fisheries have already collapsed, a trend exacerbated by broader losses in marine biodiversity. The current rate of decline would not be sustainable in the long run, the authors warned. “Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood,” said Steve Palumbi from Stanford University, one of the scientists involved in the report.

While refraining from singling out specific causes of the decline, the researchers pointed to fishing, pollution, climate change, ocean acidification and destruction of marine habitats as some of the key factors.

On a more positive note, the authors stressed that the impending collapse could still be averted although “with each species that is lost that opportunity diminishes”, according to the study’s lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University. The study highlighted better use of marine protected areas as one possible avenue to safeguard the stocks.

Environmental groups echoed the researchers’ grave concerns. “For centuries people have regarded the ocean as an inexhaustible supply of food. But in recent years human actions have finally pushed oceans to their limit,” said Dr Simon Cripps, Director of WWF’s Global Marine Programme. He urged governments and industry to act quickly before reaching “the point of no return for fisheries and the marine environment”.

Many fishing industry groups greeted the study with scepticism. “It is a doomsday prediction that ignores the reality of what the world is actually trying to do to remove the ills that it describes”, said Bertie Armstrong of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.

“’Only 50 years left’ for sea fish,” BBC, 2 November 2006; “Fishing report ‘ignores reality’,” BBC, 3 November; “WWF urges governments and industry to act urgently on oceans’ crisis,” WWF PRESS RELEASE, 3 November 2006.