Fishy Business

As forests burn and trees are felled in the pursuit of progress, habitats are lost and endangered species teeter on the brink of extinction. The environmental lobby flexes its muscles and prepares to battle on behalf of the earth. And rightly so. Over the last two decades the accomplishments are considerable, with environmental issues rising in political status from minor irritation, to the very top of the agenda.

But it is harder to care when the habitat destruction occurs in dark deep places where the endangered inhabitants are worms, crawling spiny animals and obscure beasts with a zero cuddliness rating. The fact is that out of sight is out of mind, and this is the great problem facing marine conservationists. The damage to the marine environment through over fishing and pollution has been huge – vandalism on a disastrous scale.

The problems

Over-fishing is the most well known problem, with loss of stocks and management arguments over quotas raging across Europe. The scarcity of some traditional fish has prompted fishermen to target new species, like deep-sea orange roughly. These slow growing, deep dwelling fish can now be reached because of developments in net technology. Unfortunately so little is known about them that no management strategies are in place to protect them, and they could be lost before their biology is understood.

By-catches in mid-water nets, of non-related species including seals, porpoises, dolphins and seabirds occur commonly, but are difficult, if not impossible to monitor properly. A much less publicised, but probably more serious problem in the long term, are the impacts on the seabed caused by modern trawling fishing gear. Beam-trawlers drag a series of chains along the seabed to disturb bottom dwelling fish, which are then caught in a following net. The upper sediment of the sea floor supports a rich community of organisms, few of which have any commercial significance, but are important in the marine food web. Studies have shown that one passage of a beam trawl can reduce the number of these animals by half, and the number of species by one third. Incredibly most areas of the North Sea fishing grounds are fished at least four times a year, in some areas, in the most productive grounds, this figure doubles. The long term effects of this are unknown, but conservationists fear the worst.

Political Pressure

The UK World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) recently published its Marine Health Check report into the state of the seas surrounding the UK and it is a fairly damming assessment. Following the EU’s acknowledgement that North Sea cod are approaching the status of endangered species last December, WWF are spearheading an Oceans Recovery Campaign and proposing an Oceans Act to draw together the legislation needed to protect and manage the marine environment. This urges more responsible fisheries management and the creation of fishing free zones.

Until then does the discerning consumer have an option? Opting to buy only locally caught fish perhaps. It is a difficult issue, as at the moment there is no recognised eco-standard for fish. Are there alternatives? Initially fish farming promised so much, and it will soon be feeding more people in the world than cattle farming. Production is rising by 11% annually, while growth in beef farming is static. But as fish farming intensified, it became nothing more than battery farming in the sea with all the environmental and disease problems of its land equivalents.

Recently however, in the same way that a few brave farmers on land pioneered the way in organic agriculture, so too are a number of farmers in aqua culture. The organic standard, which is not yet recognised across Europe was agreed between a number of producer groups and the Soil Association. It ensures the methods used maintain high standards of fish husbandry, no antibiotics or chemical treatments are used and the farms are sited offshore where their environmental impact is a tiny fraction of inshore farms. OOTW gives them our full support, and will continue to stock further certified fish products as they become available.

So while marine fisheries puts its house in order, lets support the organic revolution starting in the water. Who knows, the power of the consumer may yet save our seas.