Press Release from The Co-operative in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society
30 per cent of the seas around the UK must become no take Marine Reserves by 2020 if the marine environment is to recover from decades of overfishing and habitat destruction.
That is the view of The Co-operative, which is launching its ‘Marine Reserves Now’ campaign in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) on Monday 8th December, 2008.
This follows the announcement of a UK Marine Bill in the Queen’s Speech on 3rd December. When the Bill becomes law it will place a statutory duty on Ministers to create Marine Conservation Zones but as yet it doesn’t specify a timetable for their introduction, or indicate what a network of Marine Conservation Zones would look like, or what level of protection they would receive.
That is why The Co-operative, which earlier this year introduced a revitalised responsible fish sourcing policy and pledged to help support a sustainable UK fishing industry by funding new UK fisheries through the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification process, is mobilising its customers and three million members to put pressure on Government to strengthen the Marine Bill.
Additionally, it is calling for a policy commitment for 30 per cent of UK waters to be designated as Highly Protected Marine Reserves by 2020, with intermediate targets of 10 per cent by 2012 and 15 per cent by 2015. In support of this, The Co-operative is funding an MCS study to pinpoint high value sites for possible inclusion within marine reserves.
“The need for an extensive network of marine reserves around the UK is an uncomfortable truth,” explained Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals and Sustainability at the Co-operative.
“In UK waters there are 22 species of wildlife considered to be facing the threat of global extinction. Once common species such as Common Skate and Atlantic Halibut are now listed as critically endangered and only eight of the 47 fish stocks found around the British Isles remain in a healthy state. Most worryingly, the rate of biodiversity loss is accelerating, highlighting the need for quick and decisive science led action.”
Dr Jean-luc Solandt, Biodiversity Policy Officer from MCS said, “We have dithered while Rome burns. Marine reserves are a cost-effective way to achieve benefits for wildlife and the fish species that rely on habitats being protected for the long term. It makes social, economic and ecological sense. We must no longer fear these simple and cheap methods to recover our seas and embrace their proven value for marine management”.
Additional Notes Supplied With This Press Release
1. The Co-operative membership, customers and the general public will be encouraged to e-mail their MP and the Fisheries Minister Huw Irranca-Davies in support of marine reserves via www.marinereservesnow.org.uk
2. Atlantic Cod was once hugely abundant in UK waters, however, it has now been hunted so far beyond safe biological limits that it is now considered ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The biomass of Cod in the North Sea has fallen from over 250,000 tons in 1970 to just 37,000 tons in 2007. Common Skate, Atlantic Halibut and Angel Shark were once extremely common in waters around the UK. According to the IUCN they are all now ‘critically endangered’. This decline in biodiversity in UK waters was highlighted by MCS in its ‘Silent Seas’ report published in October 2008. It documented the damaging effects of over-fishing, coastal pollution and inadequate habitat protection and warned that without radical mitigation, including Marine Bills, UK seas could suffer ecological disaster.
3. The 22 species of wildlife in British waters considered to be facing the threat of global extinction include: (critically endangered:) common skate, angel shark, sturgeon, leatherback turtle, balearic shearwater, (endangered:) atlantic halibut, white skate, sei whale, fin whale, north atlantic right whale, blue whale, loggerhead turtle, (vulnerable:) basking shark, atlantic cod, tope, deepwater spiny dogfish, spurdog, porbeagle, haddock, humpback whale, sperm whale and harbour porpoise. www.iucn.org
4. UK behind rest of the world in designating Highly Protected Marine Reserves 33% of the Australian Great Barrier Reef has been designated as a Highly Protected Marine Reserves; New Zealand has 32 marine reserves; the USA recently designated the largest Marine Reserve in the world covering an area of over 341,362km2 near Hawaii; the Philippines has local laws requiring each community (equivalent to each English parish) to set up Marine Reserves. With so much international action and political commitment to use this effective tool to preserve ecosystems, the UK only has two tiny highly protected marine reserves off Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel and Lamlash Bay in Scotland, representing less than 0.0008% of our waters.
5. In its 2004 report ‘Turning the Tide: addressing the impacts of fisheries on the marine environment’, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution recommended that 30% of UK waters be protected. The report stated, “The UK government should develop selection criteria for establishing a network of marine protected areas so that, within five years, a large-scale, ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas is implemented within UK waters. This should lead to 30% of the UK’s exclusive economic zone being established as marine reserves closed to commercial fishing.”
6. The UK Government has international commitments to set up marine reserves by 2012, including as a signatory to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development to “establish marine protected areas consistent with international law and based on scientific information, including representative networks, by 2012.”
7. Over 124 scientific studies have been compiled regarding the overall affect of marine reserves on ocean wildlife diversity and biomass. On average diversity increased by 21% and the biomass (weight) of marine species increased by 446% inside marine reserves (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Study of the Oceans (2008) – the science of marine reserves. www.pisco.org)
8. The Co-operative Group is mindful of the complex challenges the responsible sourcing of wild captured fish represents, including over-fishing, illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing and fishing methods which are destructive to the sea bed and marine habitats. In view of this the Co-operative operates a strict policy to monitor and control its fish supplies. The Co-operative’s Responsible Fish Sourcing Policy checklist ensures that no fish is stocked which is listed
as ‘critically endangered’ or ‘endangered’ by the IUCN, or as a ‘fish to avoid’ by the Marine Conservation Society. For more information go to: http://www.co-operative.coop/food/food/Our-food-range/Own-brand-fish/
9. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is the UK charity dedicated to the protection of our seas, shores and wildlife. MCS campaigns for clean seas and beaches, sustainable fisheries, protection of marine life and their habitats, and the sensitive use of our marine resources for future generations. Through education, community involvement and collaboration, MCS raises awareness of the many threats that face our seas and promotes individual, industry and government action to protect the marine environment. MCS provides information and guidance on many aspects of marine conservation and produces the annual Good Beach Guide (www.goodbeachguide.co.uk), the Good Fish Guide and www.fishonline.org on sustainable seafood, as well as promoting public participation in volunteer projects and surveys such as Beachwatch, Adopt-a-Beach and Basking Shark Watch. See www.mcsuk.org
