Overfishing: drivers &
constraints & measures
Surendra Kumar Ahirwal
ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai
• Overfishing is one of the biggest threats to the health of seas and their
inhabitants.
• The results not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also
the social and economic well-being of the coastal communities who
depend on fish for their way of life.
• Increasing fishing efforts over the last 50 years as well as unsustainable
fishing practices are pushing many fish stocks to the point of collapse.
• It occurs when the rate of fish mortality (harvest plus bycatch) exceeds
the natural rate of replacement resulting in a decline of the fish stock
What is “over fishing”?
Removal of organisms from the marine environment by humans
at a rate which cannot be sustained by the local ecosystem and
therefore significantly alters natural ecosystem.
or
Status of global fishery stocks-1974-2017
• The fraction of fish stocks that are within biologically
sustainable levels decreased from 90 percent in 1974 to
65.8 percent in 2017.
• In contrast, the percentage of stocks fished at biologically
unsustainable levels increased, especially in the late 1970s
and 1980s, from 10 percent in 1974 to 34.2 percent in 2017.
• The under fished stocks decreased continuously from 1974 to
2017, whereas the maximally sustainably fished stocks
decreased from 1974 to 1989, and then increased to
59.6 percent in 2017.
There are three recognized types of
overfishing
Growth overfishing:
• Growth overfishing occurs when animals are harvested
at an average size that is smaller than the size that
would produce the maximum yield per recruit.
• The total yield from the fishery is therefore less than it
would be if the fishing mortality rate, or percent of the
stock removed each year, was lower.
• In such a case, less fishing would produce higher
landings.
• Growth overfishing still reduces the potential yield
from a fishery, and thus the economic and other
benefits that could be obtained from the stock.
Recruitment overfishing:
• The rate of fishing above which the recruitment to the exploitable
stock becomes significantly reduced.
• This is characterized by a greatly reduced spawning stock, a
decreasing proportion of older fish in the catch, and generally
very low recruitment year after year.
• Recruitment overfishing means so many adults have been caught
that there are no longer enough young adults to maintain the
population.
• Recruitment overfishing can be brought about by:
• 1) reduction of the spawning stock (which may become so small
as to produce a limited number of eggs and hence of recruits),
and
• 2) coastal environmental degradation, which affects recruitment
through its effects on the size and/or suitability of nursery areas.
Ecosystem Overfishing:
• Occurs when the species composition and dominance of
an ecosystem is significantly modified by fishing, e.g. with
reductions of large, long-lived, demersal predators and
increases of small, short-lived species at lower trophic
levels.
• One characteristic of overfished ecosystems is sequential
depletion of economic stocks.
• The symptoms of ecosystem overfishing include:
reductions in diversity, reductions in aggregate production
of exploitable resources, increased by-catch; greater
variability in abundance of species; greater anthropogenic
habitat modification (Hall, 1999); and, in extreme cases,
change to alternative stable species regimes (Steele, 1998).
How does overfishing
happen?
Unsustainable/
Overcapacity Destructive /IUU
Fishing
Advances in fishing
equipment and
methods
Failure of
Poor governance institutions
&policies
1. Overcapacity
Maximum harvest level that a fleet could produce with given
levels of inputs, such as fuel, fishing gear, ice, bait, engine
power and vessel size, would exceed the desired level of
harvesting.
• The increase in fishing effort results in a reduction in stock
size below that necessary to support MSY in the fishery,
eventually reducing yield to levels that are below MSY.
• Increased incidental catch (i.e. bycatch) of non-target
species and habitat destruction directly results from
excessive fishing effort levels
• In many parts of the world, there are now threatened or
endangered species whose recovery is jeopardized by their
incidental catch in commercial fishing operations (e.g.
marine sea turtles)
• Excessive use of fishing gear in sensitive ecological areas
can also reduce the carrying capacity of the environment
for fish species.
• Lost gear can continue to deplete fishery resources
through “ghost” fishing and reduce the viability of the
entire ecosystem.
• Incomes in many remote, fishing-dependent communities
are tied directly to the abundance of fish stocks, declines
in stock abundance as a result of overcapacity, and
consequently fishing income, will have an impact not only
on the fishers themselves, but other sectors in the local
economy that service the industry directly (e.g. fuel
suppliers, boatyards) or indirectly (e.g. local stores the
provide consumer goods to the fishers and their families)
2. Unsustainable Fishing
• Dynamite fishing is a practice outlawed in most of the world, but is
still used in southeast Asia.
• It involves using explosions to stun or kill large schools of fish for
easy collection.
• destructive fishing practices like blast fishing are one of the biggest
threats to coral reef ecosystems.
• The damage done to coral reefs has an immediate negative effect
on the fish population in the area. From a single blast, it takes a
coral reef about 5-10 years to recover.
•Cyanide fishing is a fishing technique used to gather
fish for aquaria.
•In this process, a cyanide solution is used to stun fish
for easier collection.
•This method can kill fish communities and severely
harm coral reefs.
•The combination of cyanide use and stress of post
capture handling results in mortality of up to
75% of the organisms within less than 48 hours of capt
ure
.
•With such high mortality numbers, a greater number
of fish must be caught in order to supplement post-
catch death.
• Bottom trawling
• Global catch from bottom trawling has been estimated at
over 30 million tons per year, an amount larger than any
other fishing method.
• The problem with bottom trawling is that it is un-selective
in the fish it catches and severely damages marine
ecosystems.
• Many creatures end up mistakenly caught and thrown
overboard dead or dying, including endangered fish and
vulnerable deep-sea corals that can live for hundreds of
years or more.
• Long line fisheries for tuna and swordfish have been
particularly damaging to non-target species. Large sharks,
blue marlin, white marlin and sea turtles are frequently
caught.
3. ILLEGAL FISHING
• Systemic overfishing is only made worse by illegal
catches and trade.
• In fact, some of the worst ocean impacts are caused
by pervasive illegal fishing, which is estimated at up
to 30% of catch or more for high-value species.
• Estimate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU)
fishing nets criminals up to $36.4 billion each year.
• These illegal catches move through opaque supply
chains due to a lack of systems to track fish from
catch to consumer—something called traceability—
and import controls in much of the sector.
4. Subsidies
• Fishing subsidies are estimated to be as high as $35
billion worldwide, of which $20 billion directly
contributes to overfishing.
• According to FAO data, the percentage of stocks fished
at biologically unsustainable levels increased from 10
percent in 1974 to 34.2 percent in 2017.
• In July 2016, UNCTAD, FAO and UNEP joined forces to
propose a roadmap to ending subsidies – a statement
which was supported by more than 90 member States,
four international and regional organizations and more
than 10 global NGOs.
• The United Nations-2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development has called for an end to harmful subsidies.
5. Advances in fishing equipment and
methods
• Most of the problems associated with overfishing have been caused by the
rapid advances in fishing technology.
• The fishing vessels are replaced by huge factory ships which are able to
stay out at sea for weeks at a time.
• These factory boats have all the equipment necessary either to freeze or
tin fish caught by their hunting ships, so that they need to return to base
only when their holds are full.
• With the introduction of the new factory boats, there was a 7% growth in
catches every year during the 1950's and 60's, but since then there has
been little increase in catch size, and at least 20 of the world's most
important fisheries have disappeared in the last 25 years, with many more
suffering so badly from overfishing that they are unlikely to recover.
• As catches have gradually become smaller, so the mesh sizes used in
fishing nets have decreased, allowing smaller and smaller fish to be caught.
• Many of these are too small to be used as food, so they are crushed to be
made into either animal food or fertilizer.
6. Poor governance
• Failure to prevent conflict between countries & sectors
• Lack of national and regional coordination of fisheries
policies
• Failure to provide adequate and appropriate access
rights to legitimate fishing communities & organizations
Developing countries, large numbers of poor people are
dependent on fishing
Difficult to regulate law of overfishing
Smaller scale and recreational fishermen break
regulations such as bag limits and seasonal closures
7. Failure of institutions
& policies
•Policies & laws of many countries are outdated
•They no longer related with actual situations nor
did take account of current approaches being
promoted to prevent overexploitation.
•Also fisheries is widely considered as a sector for
the poor- where breaching of the laws are
tolerable.
•No alternative livelihood options for coastal
communities.
Measures
1. Rights-Based Fishery Management
• Traditional fishery management structures
encourage fishers to catch as much as possible in
the shortest amount of time. But the traditional
structure isn’t the only way that fisheries can be
run.
• Under rights-based fishery management, fishers
are guaranteed a certain portion of the catch, but
also agree to adhere to certain limits — like how
much fish they can catch, and at what times of the
year fishing is permitted.
2. Sustainable Fishing Reforms
• Regulation nets and fishing equipment can
prevent high levels of by-catch, fish and other
sea creatures that aren’t being targeted by
fishers but are picked up by equipment like
trawling nets.
• By-catch have a high mortality rate and are
sometimes destroyed before being returned
to the water. Preventing or discouraging by-
catch will help keep the environments that
fishers work in healthy.
3. Traceability Standards
• Traceability standards require that fish importers and vendors
label sold fish with information about where the fish came from.
• These disclosures help make the supply chains that deliver fish
from catch to market more transparent and help root out illegal
fishing.
4. Declaring Marine Protected Areas
• Declaring certain waters protected and tightly regulating fishing in
those waters is scientifically proven to be one of the most effective
overfishing solutions.
• Expanding the size and reach of these marine reserves is a simple
way to prevent overfishing and restore marine ecosystems.
• Convincing governments to both commit to a full restriction of
fishing and provide the resources necessary to enforce those
restrictions may be more difficult than partial protections.
5. Fishing Subsidy Reform
• Subsidies to the fishing industry can unintentionally increase the
number of fishers on the water
• Ending these subsidies could help reduce the number of unnecessary
fishing fleets on the water
• It may also be possible to simply redirect the subsidies to keep these
fishers employed without continuing to risk overfishing.
• Fishers are highly-trained at navigating the water and managing aquatic
equipment.
• Governments could subsidize fishers who help marine experts collect
data on the health of the water and local fish populations.
6. Protecting Essential Predator Species
• Essential predator species (sharks and tuna) are some
of the most prone to overfishing.
• These species are also highly necessary for the
maintenance of local ecosystems.
• Without predator species, there is a boom of prey
species, leading to overpopulation, algal bloom, and
eventually serious environmental damage.
• Some of these species aren’t commercially valuable but
still make up to 90% of the sharks mistakenly caught by
fishing vessels.
• Tighter regulations against careless trawling can
prevent these mistaken catches and better protect
marine ecosystems.
7. IUCN-1948
• Aims at providing a comprehensive, scientific, and
rigorous examination of conservation status of species.
• Few marine species are presently assessed under the
Red List but efforts are being made to fill the gap,
particularly for key commercial species or particularly
vulnerable species groups.
• The Red List process specifically identifies species or
populations whose viability may be threatened
directly or indirectly by fisheries, and where the need
for conservation measures is particularly urgent.
8. Convention on Biological Diversity
• Aiming at conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and
fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from its genetic
resources.
• Particular relevance to marine fisheries, the conservation
measures outlined in CBD include protected areas, regulation
and management of biological resources, protection,
rehabilitation, and restoration of degraded ecosystems and
habitats.
• Under the framework of the Jakarta Mandate the Programme of
Work on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity as well as the
Programme of Work on Protected Areas provide a basis for
implementing various measures for addressing the conservation
needs, based on the ecosystem approach and the precautionary
approach.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
• Article 61 requires all coastal states to ensure that the maintenance of
living resources in their exclusive economic zones is not endangered
by over-exploitation. The same article addresses the maintenance or
restoration of populations of species above the threatened levels
• Article 62 provides that coastal states: "shall promote the objective of
optimum utilization of the living resources in the exclusive economic
zone without prejudice to Article 61
• Article 65 provides generally for the rights of, inter alia, coastal states to
prohibit, limit, or regulate the exploitation of marine mammals.
United Nations Fish stocks Agreement
• The Agreement is based on the international
co-operation between all States.
• identify and assess existing problems related
to the conservation and management of
straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish
stocks
• consider means of improving fisheries
cooperation among States and formulate
appropriate recommendations
Conclusion
• Imposed restrictions on the construction and replacement
of mechanized vessels to stop over-exploitation.
• There is a need to make periodic estimates on the status of
fishery resources and deploy fishing efforts accordingly.
• Such a marine audit would help ensure the sustainable
development of resources.
• More emphasis on establishment of Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs) may hold the key to conserving and boosting fish
stocks.
• A focus on allocation of fish resources both within and
between nation states is needed to avoid cross-
jurisdictional fight.
• A focus on the entire ecosystem, and not only on individual
stock, is urgently needed to protect all marine resources.
Thank you
