Scientist fears fish will vanish by 2050

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The head of the National Marine Aquarium has warned there will be "no fish left in the seas" by 2050 unless practices are reformed immediately.

 

Dr David Gibson claims that huge advances in fishing technology mean we now have the ability to hunt commercial species of fish "to extinction" and that whole food chains are collapsing as a result.

 

His comments came as scientists warned that mackerel could "vanish" from Westcountry shelves within three years because giant foreign trawlers and factory ships are being allowed to strip out the entire stock.

 

Dozens of vessels have moved into the waters around the Faroe Islands and Iceland after the two island states' governments abandoned quota agreements designed to protect stocks.

 

Mackerel are migratory and the shoals being exploited would normally return to British waters sometime in the autumn. But this year there are expected to be far fewer due to enormous foreign ships processing up to 1,500 tonnes of fish a day.

 

Britain's fisheries minister, Richard Benyon, said mackerel would top the agenda when EU fisheries ministers meet this week.

 

Dr Gibson, managing director of the Plymouth-based National Marine Aquarium, spoke out following the EU's outlining of a major shake-up of fishing legislation last Wednesday. For decades the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has divided opinion over the "discards" ruling, which forces fishermen to dump dead fish back into the sea if the catch exceeds tight quota restrictions.

 

EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki announced new plans to abolish the controversial practice and decentralise responsibility to individual countries.

 

Dr Gibson said the new initiative – which would see all fish and marine life caught being landed at port – would "drive the fishing industry to develop highly selective fishing methods or give up on wasteful ones."

 

He said that at present "some highly damaging bottom trawling fisheries" discard 90 per cent of their catch.

 

"The huge advances in fishing technology, and the ever increasing efficiency of fishing gear and boats, means that we now have the ability to hunt commercial species of fish to extinction – something that a few short years ago was inconceivable," said Dr Gibson.

 

"Our best estimates are that unless reform takes place now there will be no fish left in the seas by 2050.

 

"We are seeing whole food chains collapsing and global changes in the stability of the oceans. In some parts of the world they now fish for jellyfish as this is the only thing left to catch."

 

He added: "If we want our children and their children to be able to enjoy our seas and oceans and to know what cod or haddock tastes like in 10, 20 or 30 years from now then we must act now.

 

"We commend the European Union for having the courage to make the difficult decisions to place the conservation of our natural resources above short term financial gain."

 

Dr Gibson's comments have been dismissed as "factually inaccurate" and "alarmist" by fishermen in the Westcountry.

 

Paul Trebilcock, leader of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO), said: "On the fish stocks hake, sole and cod are all under long term management plans and fished sustainably with stocks increasing. Many other stocks in the South West are showing trends of improving and management plans are being developed, we are moving in the right direction and it is not an entirely bleak picture as described.

 

"Therefore this is factually inaccurate, alarmist and on the whole not a helpful context in which to frame the debate."

 

Meanwhile, the CFPO are calling on the EU Commission to increase the annual cod quota after seeing a "significant increase" on the ground and in their catches for the past few years. In June the ICES – the independent international scientific body that advises the Commission on fish stocks and quota levels – said "high discarding" would occur unless the anomaly was addressed.

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/story-1296369...tail/story.html

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How fish are disappearing from British waters – thanks, of course, to the EU