The meat industry has been heavily criticized for its cruel methods and wasteful processes, but the fishing industry remains hardly spoken about. Indeed, fishing activities play an important role in the depletion of biodiversity and other damages in the oceans. The loss of marine biodiversity has greatly affected the ocean ecosystem and its ability to withstand disturbances, adapt to climate change and play its role as a global ecological regulator.
As it is illegal in most seas to fish endangered species, one might wonder how the fishing activity can be responsible for the biodiversity loss in our oceans. In fact, it is not legal to intentionally bait protected species, but it is allowed to catch them “by accident”. The catching of nontarget species is known as “bycatch.” If, for example, a sea turtle (a critically endangered animal according to the WWF) ends up in a fisherman’s net, there will be no sanction as it is a bycatch accident, and the fisherman is even allowed to sell it if he wishes to. In 2020, thresher shark (vulnerable species) was captured in a bycatch accident and sold in a supermarket in France.
As reported by WWF, 1.0 to 2.5 trillion fish are caught worldwide every year, around 40% of which are captured involuntarily. Bycatch not only affects protected species, but also fish that are considered not for sale or not profitable enough are thrown back dead in the water. According to the “Fish to 2020” report, shrimp fishing, mostly practiced in Asia, produces the highest rate of nontarget species extraction (estimated around more than 90% by journalist Hugo Clément), and accounts for approximately half the world’s bycatch.
Catching shrimps, among other species, requires the use of an intensive fishing method: bottom trawling. Bottom trawling is a fishing method in which a boat drags a weighted fishnet along the seafloor. This process does not discriminate what it catches, and it is generally used to catch deep-water species. It is a known favoured method by commercial fishing companies because it can catch large quantities of product in one go. To decrease the impact of the bottom trawling method, fishing boats are equipped with a Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) which is designed to specifically exclude marine mammals, turtles, undersized fish, or other organisms. However, the BRDs have not been proven to be as efficient as expected to sufficiently reduce the bycatch level. The bottom trawling method is only allowed in seven countries, due to its disastrous impact on the ocean ecosystem, but is still largely used. One might wonder, can it really be considered a catch by accident when fishermen are still allowed to use such intensive and devastating fishing methods?
The international authorities and organizations have been trying to address the ocean biodiversity loss emergency by imposing stronger fishing regulations and developing new biodiversity strategies. For instance, the European Union has created Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where it is forbidden to fish or to conduct any other human activities. In 2020, the EU released a Biodiversity Strategy, as part of the Green Deal, to strengthen the protection of marine ecosystems. It includes an important extension of the protected areas, elimination of bycatch, and a Nature Restoration Plan. The European Commission specified that the Biodiversity Strategy will require 20 billion euros a year till 2030 to be properly implemented. Yet, no part of the European Budget was allocated for it. The EU has set ambitious objectives when it comes to protecting marine life and its ecosystem but is struggling to reach them.
Comments