Leading Experts Confirm Immediate International Action Is Needed to Save World's Fisheries

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Leading Experts Confirm

Immediate International Action Is Needed to Save World's Fisheries

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Leading Experts Confirm

Immediate International Action Is Needed to Save World's Fisheries

MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON, May. 14 -/E-Wire/-- An international body of world-renowned marine conservation experts today released an Ocean Action Statement for Fisheries Conservation. The Statement, signed by almost 50 Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation, calls for governments around the world to take specific actions immediately to help restore sustainable fisheries.

The urgency of the situation is confirmed by a study published today in Nature (May 15, 2003), saying that 90% of all the oceans' large fishâincluding tuna, marlin, swordfish, sharks, cod, halibut, flounder, and skatesâhave been taken from the sea since the early 1990s.

Ellen Pikitch, Director of Ocean Strategy for the Wildlife Conservation Society (USA) and a signatory of the Pew Fellows Fisheries Statement, says, "This study confirms that there is no time left to quibble about whether the glass is half empty or half full. For the large fishes of the world's oceans, the glass is nearly completely drained. We have no time to waste if we are to have any chance of saving the oceans' wildlife."

Ransom Myers, a lead author of the study and a world-renowned fisheries biologist based at Dalhousie University in Canada, says, "This isn't about just about one species. The sustainability of fisheries is being severely compromised worldwide." Coauthor Boris Worm adds, "The impact we have on ocean ecosystems has been vastly underestimated." The Nature study adds to a tidal wave of evidence that the world's fisheries are in severe decline. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, fishing in most areas of the world exceeds the ability of the fish to regenerate.

The Pew Fellows Fisheries Statement calls for action in response to the crisis situation, along four lines:

--- Engaging institutions and stakeholders in policy-making and fisheries management,

--- Managing and evaluating fisheries to promote sustainable fishing,

--- Protecting and sustaining ecosystems in which fish live, and

--- Preventing further ecological harm by careful use of technology.

In their Action Statement, Pew Fellows identify two core problems facing fishery management around the world: (1) a wide array of institutions and policies that provide perverse incentives to overfish, and (2) the lack of alternatives for people plagued by poverty. In order to overcome the fisheries crisis, governments must address these problems by employing a precautionary approach and a fully participatory process. According to Pew Fellow Carl Safina, "Fishing has changed the oceans more than any other human activity. And most ordinary people directly affect the oceans by eating seafood. Solutions will have to come from increased democratization, spreading decision-making across communities, and involving scientists, economists, and conservationists in addition to fishing industry representatives."

Pew Fellow and Statement signatory Juan Carlos Castilla points out, "Particularly in developing countries, the future for marine conservation has to be tightly linked to the rational management of marine resources and needs to incorporate users. Different societies, groups, nationalities have different perceptions of 'nature,' and idiosyncrasy needs to be highly respected."

The urgent need to restore depleted marine populations and maintain sustainable fisheries was endorsed by the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in August 2002, which brought together more than 20,000 participants from 192 countries, including many heads of state and other high-level officials. The WSSD called on the global community to restore world fisheries stocks to levels that can provide maximum sustainable yield by 2015.

The Pew Fellows developed their Statement as a road map for putting into practice the broad policy agreements that came out of the Summit. These renewed commitments complement numerous prior international agreements, including the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing and the FAO statement on a precautionary approach to fisheries management. All of these accords provide the context for the actions the Pew Fellows stress in the Fisheries Statement.

The signers of the Pew Fellows Statement include leading lights such as Juan Carlos Castilla, Ph.D., Professor of Marine Ecology at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, and a Foreign Associate to the National Academy of Sciences; Stephen Hall, Ph.D., Director of the Australian Institute of Marine Science; Carl Safina, Ph.D., President of the Blue Ocean Institute (USA) and award-winning author; and Amanda Vincent, Ph.D., Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation at The University of British Columbia (Canada) and director of Project Seahorse. The complete list of signatories and their affiliations follows this press release.

The Pew Marine Conservation Fellowships are the world's most prestigious awards honoring and investing in applied ocean conservation science and outreach. Five Pew Fellows are selected annually and receive $150,000 each to carry out innovative, interdisciplinary projects addressing challenges facing our marine environment around the world. The many prominent signers of the Pew Fellows' Ocean Action Statement represent six of the world's continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America). Vincent says, "Pew Fellows have tremendous expertise that government leaders can call upon to arrest the loss of livelihoods and of biodiversity in the marine environment. We are very willing to respond to questions or concerns, and to offer more input about how to implement these actions."

Pew Fellows to Contact:

Juan Carlos Castilla, Ph.D. Professor of Marine Ecology Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile Santiago, Chile 56.2.341.8382 [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Stephen Hall, Ph.D. Director, Australian Institute of Marine Science Townsville MC, Queensland 4810 Australia 61.7.4753.4490 [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Ellen Pikitch, Ph.D. Director, Ocean Strategy Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx, NY 10460 USA [REDACTED-PHONE] [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Carl Safina, Ph.D. President, Blue Ocean Institute Amagansett, NY 11930 USA [REDACTED-PHONE] [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Amanda Vincent, Ph.D. Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation Director, Project Seahorse The University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada [REDACTED-PHONE] [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Attachments: Pew Fellows Fisheries Action Statement

Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation www.pewmarine.org

Ransom Myers, Ph.D., Dalhousie University http://fish.dal.ca For media contacts: http://.press.nature.com

Pew Marine Conservation Fellows' Action Statement for Fisheries Conservation

The urgent need to restore depleted marine populations and maintain sustainable fisheries was endorsed by the World Summit for Sustainable Development in August 2002. These renewed commitments complement numerous prior international agreements, including the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing and the FAO statement on a precautionary approach to fisheries management. All of these accords provide the context for the actions we stress below.

Two core problems face fishery management around the world: (1) a wide array of institutions and policies that provide perverse incentives to overfish and (2) the lack of alternatives for people plagued by poverty. National governments will need to address these core problems, employing a precautionary approach and a fully participatory process while implementing the following seventeen priority actions.

Engaging institutions and stakeholders

1. Secure the participation in policy-making and management of all interested parties, including fishers, managers, traders, consumers, scientists, and public interest groups.

2. Establish institutions and forms of governance that provide effective incentives for fishery participants to conserve fishery resources.

3. Ensure that all fishing activities within national waters are conducted under an allocation system that provides tenure to identifiable groups of domestic fishers, in a fair manner.

4. Empower consumers to use marine resources sustainably by strengthening and implementing verifiable third-party certification systems for sustainably produced marine products.

Managing and evaluating fisheries

5. Eliminate subsidies that contribute to the expansion of fishing effort beyond sustainable levels.

6. Assist in the development of environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable alternative and supplementary income opportunities for fishers, such that fishing effort in unsustainable fisheries is reduced.

7. Maximize any fishery's economic and social benefits to society within limits of environmental sustainability.

8. Manage offshore fishing rights to provide equitable benefits within the country.

9. Set performance objectives and publish regular evaluations of progress towards achieving actions listed in this statement.

Conserving ecosystems

10. Ensure development and use of fishing gear and practices that prevent harm to habitats and non-target species.

11. Develop and enforce laws banning fisheries practices and gears that are deleterious to habitats and non-target fauna and flora.

12. Establish national and regional networks of no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) to sustain and enhance fisheries and protect habitats, as a contribution towards global networks of MPAs.

13. Monitor for early detection of ecosystem degradation, then plan and implement responses to halt this degradation.

Addressing technological interventions

14. Design and enforce standards for sustainable aquaculture that ensure economic viability (independent of perverse incentives) and prevent ecological harm.

15. Establish and enforce standards to prevent the escape of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from production operations and subsequent introduction to coastal and offshore environments.

16. Exercise the greatest caution and scientific judgement before contemplating any intentional production or release of GMOs in the marine environment. Almost all such practices will be counterproductive to broader conservation efforts.

17. Advance and expand our understanding of the state of the oceans and ocean resources, creating and employing new technologies where necessary and environmentally acceptable.

Signatories to Ocean Fisheries Action Statement

Alex Aguilar, Professor, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Angel Alcala, Director, Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management, Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines

Roberto Enriquez Andrade, Professor, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California/Pronatura, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Paul Auster, Science Director, National Undersea Research Center, Groton, Connecticut, USA

John Avise, Professor of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Giovanni Bearzi, President, Tethys Research Institute, Venezia (Venice), Italy

Dee Boersma, Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

JoAnn Burkholder, Professor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Rodrigo Bustamante, Researcher, Marine Research & Charles Darwin Research Station, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Cleveland, Queensland, Australia

James Carlton, Director, Williams CollegeâMystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut, USA

Juan Carlos Castilla, Professor of Marine Ecology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Anthony Charles, Professor, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

David Cline, Chair, Kodiak Brown Bear Trust, Ankorage, Alaska, USA Benjamin Cuker, Professor of Marine Science, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, USA

Paul Dayton, Oceanography Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA

Karen Eckert, Executive Director, Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, San Diego, California, USA

James Estes, Research Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Rod Fujita, Marine Ecologist, Environmental Defense, Oakland, California, USA

Edgardo Gomez, Professor, Marine Science Institute, Quezon City, Philippines

Thomas Goreau, President, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Stephen Hall, Director, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Jean Harris, Ecological Advice Coordinator, Coast Region, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Burr Heneman, Director, Ocean Policy Program, Commonweal, Bolinas, California, USA

Anne Kapuscinski, Director, Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Les Kaufman, Associate Professor, Boston University Marine Program, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Helene Marsh, Professor of Environmental Science, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Tim McClanahan, Conservation Zoologist, Coordinator of Coral Reef Programs, The Wildlife Conservation Society, Mombasa, Kenya

Judith McDowell, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

Laurence Mee, Professor of Marine and Coastal Policy, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom

Derek Muir, Research Scientist, National Water Research Institute, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Elliott Norse, President, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Redmond, Washington, USA

Jose Orensanz, Research Scientist, Centro Nacional Patagonico, Chubut, Argentina

Erdal Ozhan, Professor, Director and Chair, MEDCOASTâMiddle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Stephen Palumbi, Professor of Marine Sciences, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California, USA

Ellen Pikitch, Director of Ocean Strategy, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA

James Powell, Director for Aquatic Conservation, Wildlife Trust, Sarasota, Florida, USA

Robert Repetto, Senior Advisor, Stratus Environmental Consulting, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Alison Rieser, Professor, University of Maine School of Law, Portland, Maine, USA

Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation, University of York, York, United Kingdom

Carl Safina, President, Blue Ocean Institute, Amagansett, New York, USA Peter Shelley, Vice President, Conservation Law Foundation, Rockland, Maine, USA

Robert Steneck, Professor, University of Maine School of Law, Walpole, Maine, USA

Gregory Stone, Vice President for Global Marine Programs, New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Wayne Trivelpiece, Director, Antarctic Seabird Research, La Jolla, California, USA

Amanda Vincent, Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation Director, Project Seahorse, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Les Watling, Professor of Oceanography, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, Maine, USA

Alan White, Director, Chief of Party, Tetra Tech EM Inc., Cebu City, Philippines

Norbert Wu, Photographer and Cinematographer, Norbert Wu Productions, Pacific Grove, California,

Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation

http://www.pewmarine.org

http://www.fish.dal.ca

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