Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/437144
12 THERE is an old saying that goes something like: "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and… "…he may eventually over-exploit the local food resources, with the result that both he and the rest of his community might starve." OK, perhaps the original saying was slightly different. Nonetheless, conservationists the world over have for some time been raising the alarm with regard to the 'un- sustainability' of the global fish- ing industry. The issues are many and complex: sticking only to the Mediterranean, there are serious concerns regarding the size of the fishing fleet capacity, as well as re- cent technological improvements [for instance, purse-seine nets for tuna] which now permit much larger hauls than ever before. Individual practices such as bot- tom-trawling, shark-finning and others have also contributed to an ongoing depletion of global fish stocks. But constant efforts to get the authorities to set more strin- gent limits on fisheries have to date been countered by an efficient and well-financed industry lobby, with the result that quotas (among other restrictions) have consistently been set at a higher level than recom- mended by scientists. Malta may not be a 'net contribu- tor' (excuse pun) to this state of af- fairs, given the modest size of our own fishing fleet and our almost negligible annual catch figures. Yet local fisheries also play an impor- tant role in the industry. Aquac- ulture is a growing business that thrives not only on breeding fish (mostly sea-bream and sea-bass) for local consumption, but also trading in the catch of other countries for re-export, especially with regard to the most prized fish of them all: Atlantic Bluefin tuna (tonn), which fetches phenomenal prices espe- cially on the Japanese market. Last year, a single specimen was sold for 155.4 million yen (€1.38 million). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Bluefin tuna has been described as a fish that is "too valuable to save". There are, in fact, serious con- cerns regarding the sustainability of both this trade, and those involv- ing other vulnerable species such as swordfish. Despite showing recent signs of recovery, the Bluefin tuna is still classed as 'critically endan- gered' on the IUCN red list. And to exacerbate matters, the Atlantic Bluefin tuna is known to spawn in the Mediterranean… precisely dur- ing the local fishing season. For all this, the international tuna trade regulator, known as ICCAT, has just taken the decision to raise in- ternational quotas by 20% over the next three years: a move described as 'short-sighted' and 'premature' by conservation agencies such as the World Wildlife Fund. Here in Malta, similar objections have been raised by Fish4Tomor- row: a local lobby group aimed at raising awareness on this issue. JD Farrugia, an environment management planner and part of the group's core team, echoes such misgivings with regard to the recent decision to raise quotas by 20%. "Everything that has happened over the past few weeks – with people like [animal rights par- liamentary secretary] Roderick Galdes calling for a substantial increase in quotas, and the actual quota increase announced a few days ago – it's all based on a report by ICCAT's standing committee on research and statistics," he tells me when we meet for a coffee at the University, where he works within the Institute of Earth systems. "According to the report, the stocks have shown signs of recov- ery. But there are significant gaps in the data. There doesn't seem to be a lot of data on illegal and un- reported fishing, for instance, al- though the situation is believed to have improved a lot since the re- covery plan…" Before proceeding, let us talk a little bit about why this issue is so important. For some years now we have been talking about the pos- sibility of a tuna stocks collapse. What does this mean, and what would be the consequences if it ac- tually happens? "Well, let's put it this way: I'm not a fan of doom and gloom cam- paigning, but the situation isn't too great. About 80% of the world's fish stocks are overfished, and that number goes up to 90% in the Mediterranean. Species like Bluefin tuna, swordfish, and dusky grouper (cerna) are all on the IUCN red list. If fish stocks collapse, especially in the case of top predators like tuna, we'll have created an imbalance in the food chain which will have rip- ple effects throughout. All fish and marine animals will be affected, as well as the ocean ecosystem as a whole. Some scientists argue that recent jellyfish blooms might be partly due to overfishing, for ex- ample…" Tuna is particularly susceptible, he adds, in part because of the pe- culiarities of its life-cycle. "Tuna is an apex predator, which means it takes long – about four to five years, depending on the area – to reach maturity. We're catching it in the Mediterranean, where it comes to spawn. And we're catch- ing it using methods such as large purse-seine operations, which are not necessarily very selective." Taken together, these factors indicate that the species is being caught at a faster rate that it can actually reproduce: and projected in the long-term, the implications are that a point may one day be reached when the stocks will 'col- lapse': i.e., can no longer replenish themselves. Paradoxically, the people who have most cause for concern at this prospect are also at the forefront of the demands to raise quotas. "Unless the situation improves, it's not just the environment that will suffer. The fishing industry is dependent on the health of the fish stocks, so this could be bad for the economy and the fishers... especially small scale ones. Last I checked, the exportation of blue- fin tuna contributes 1% of Malta's GDP, so I really can't see how we're not being more cautious about this limited resource. Food security comes into the picture as well. Fish are a big part of the global diet, and many communities depend on fish quite heavily. With the UN climate talks happening in Lima at the mo- ment, scientists have reported that the meat industry is responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions. Fishing, especially small scale and sustainable fishing, does not have this same problem." Yet to give both sides of the ar- gument their due, when Roderick Galdes called for quotas to be set to their original levels, he cited a report – the same ICCAT report alluded to earlier – as proof that the conservation threat to Bluefin tuna had been allayed. Farrugia has studied this report in quite extensive detail. Is there anything in it that might justify this claim? Is it true, for instance, that the ICCAT report confirms the success of the 2008 recovery plan… and therefore, that the cri- sis is over? "I don't think you can reach ex- actly that conclusion on the ba- sis of the report, no. There are too many question marks. For instance, at one point it actually mentions that there are concerns about the size of the fishing fleet capacity; and that this, on its own, could be enough to take the spe- cies back to endangered status. The Mediterranean fishing capac- ity has remained the same, if not increased, since the 2008 recovery plan. Also, you have countries like Spain and Japan which are refusing to give certain types of information to ICCAT." Another problem concerns the data collection methods. "This emerges from the report it- self: all the data was collected from the fisheries themselves… it even states that there is need for data from other sources, because the in- formation is based on catch figures which have decreased drastically since the management plan was put into effect in 2008. Until that point, IUU [illegal and unreported] fishing was believed to account for around double the legal quotas. This means that if the quotas were set at 28,000 tonnes in 2007, in re- ality something like 50,000 tonnes would have been caught…" All this raises the question of why the local fisheries industry (and the government which represents its interests) is so hell-bent on increas- ing tuna quotas, when so much of its own livelihood depends on the sustainability of the species. At the risk of asking the obvious: is it re- ally all just about money? Could it really be that we are so short- sighted that we would exhaust a resource for the short-term gain of a few individual companies? "I would say financial considera- tions are most likely behind this decision. But this report gives them a certain level of scientific justifi- cation: albeit not entirely convinc- ing for many people, including ourselves and other NGOs such as WWF. At the end of the section on Bluefin tuna caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the commit- tee suggests that the current quota levels are either maintained, or in- creased moderately and gradually. ICCAT has obviously latched onto the 'moderate and gradual' part, and gone for a 20% annual increase over the next three years. So we're going up from 13,500 tonnes to 19,500 in 2016." Another problem with the report is that it does not represent con- sensus on the issue. Internally, the committee that drew it up was di- vided on a number of points. "There was disagreement in the committee about whether the quota should be maintained, or moderately raised: in fact the com- mittee recommended a choice be- tween either. Also, they couldn't reach a conclusion regarding the upper limit the quotas should be increased by. Uncertainty and lack of agreement permeates the entire report, which makes it very unreli- able." Meanwhile there are other envi- ronmental concerns surrounding both the tuna trade and aquaculture in general. Some of these are visible to the naked eye… or at least, to the goggled eyes of scuba divers who report that the seabed beneath and around fish farms tend to be bar- ren and lifeless. Yet ironically, the whole idea behind aquaculture is to alleviate the strain of overfishing on Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2014 Now you 'seafood', OVERFISHING I'm not a fan of doom and gloom campaigning, but the situation isn't too great. About 80% of the world's fish stocks are overfished, and that number goes up to 90% in the Mediterranean LIMITED RESOURCE Last I checked, the exportation of Bluefin tuna contributes 1% of Malta's GDP so I really can't see how we're not being more cautious about this limited resource