World fish stocks looted

Forest and Bird, Issue 273, 1 August 1994, Page 8

World fish stocks looted

URGENT ACTION is needed by the international community to save the world’s deepsea fish stocks, according to a recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The issues at stake include not just saving the fish themselves, but also the communities whose major income comes from fishing, the national industries which are threatened and the avoidance of international "fish wars". In Canada, concern that the deep-water fish stocks were at historically low levels has caused the closure of four cod fisheries and dramatic cuts in the quotas of four additional fisheries. This follows the closure of the Newfoundland fishery in 1992, making a total of 45,000 fishers and plant workers along the Atlantic coast of Canada redundant.

Canada is not alone in losing its fish; the FAO says most of the world’s well-known marine fish stocks are being exploited far beyond the levels of sustainability. The global fishing industry has become increasingly unprofitable as fish catches fall from their 1989 peak. The industry has over one million medium to large boats and according to FAO the costs are over $124 billion, with revenues of only $70 billion in 1990. Most of the shortfall is made up by state subsidies.