The global situation

Fish provide more than 2.9 billion people with at least 15 per cent of their average per capita animal protein intake. In many parts of the developing world, fish is the most important source of animal protein. In 2006, capture fisheries (those caught from the wild) and aquaculture supplied the world with about 110 million tonnes of food. Global capture fisheries production reached 92 million tonnes, with an estimated value of US$91.2 billion.

An array of high-tech equipment is now found on-board industrial fishing vessels, making it easier to find the fish. Nets can cover an area equal to multiple city blocks, and lines can be over 100 kilometres in length. These advances in technology, along with massive subsidies, have led to a global over-capacity that is placing great stress on marine resources and the people who depend on them. In addition, illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) pirate fishing is pillaging our oceans, threatening marine biodiversity, fisheries and coastal communities.

Fish species high in the food chain have been traditionally targeted in fisheries – but their very life cycle makes many species vulnerable to over-fishing and slow to recover. As those fisheries decline, species from lower levels in the food chain are increasingly targeted - a phenomenon referred to as “fishing down the food chain”. A continuation of this trend will lead not only to widespread fisheries collapses but also to profound ecosystem degradation.

The use of destructive fishing techniques, such as bottom trawling and dredging, plays a major role in the destruction of seabed and other habitats. These techniques and others, such as long-lining, lead to the “accidental” killing of more than 20 million tonnes of marine life each year, including endangered species such as albatrosses, sharks, fur seals and turtles, as well as non-target fish.

All the oceans of the world, no matter how remote, are now affected by human activities. Ecosystem degradation, associated with fishing activities, is the most widespread and dominant impact. Eighty per cent of the world’s fisheries are in trouble. These fisheries stocks are fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted or recovering from depletion (FAO). We simply cannot continue to harvest fish from wild populations at the present rate.

 

The New Zealand situation

New Zealand’s waters (Exclusive Economic Zone and Territorial Sea) span 4.4 million square kilometres. The EEZ is around 15 times the size of New Zealand’s land mass, and is among the largest in the world.

About 130 species are commercially fished in New Zealand waters, separated into 96 species groupings managed under a quota management system (QMS) introduced in 1986. Approximately 60 species groupings have QMS allowances for customary Maori fishers, with a similar number for recreational fishers.

The most recent allowable commercial take (TACC) is 573,000 tonnes for the year, with an actual catch of 441,000 tonnes. The value of quota holdings of our fisheries is estimated at $3.8 billion. Maori presently have control or influence over more than 30 per cent of our commercial fisheries. Export earnings from seafood (including aquaculture) were more than NZ$1.25 billion in 2007, and the sector was New Zealand’s fifth largest export earner in 2008.

Fishing is one of New Zealand’s most popular recreational activities. It is estimated that at least 20 to 30 per cent of all New Zealanders fish in the sea for personal consumption, with an estimated annual take of 25,000 tonnes.

Catching and eating fish, crayfish and shellfish is part of the New Zealand culture, and Greenpeace wants to see this continue. It is important that recreational fishers stick to the rules and limits. It is also vital to curb the industrial catches that are putting pressure on some of the key recreational species, such as snapper and kingfish.

We often hear that the New Zealand QMS fisheries management system is one of the best in the world, but this simply reflects how bad fishing management is elsewhere. A management system is only as good as the quality of its decisions and how well they are followed. Year after year the industry has taken the Minister of Fisheries to court in attempts to overturn precautionary management decisions – often resulting in catch reductions being overturned.

Industrial interests are dictating the future of our oceans, but it will be all New Zealanders that pay the price in the longer term. The real cost of unsustainable fishing is environmental damage, lost jobs and a risk to our international reputation. In fact, the QMS “success story” is not backed up by the state of many fish stocks nor the environmental damage caused by commercial fishing. For instance, 26 of our fisheries are over-fished or have experienced a substantial decline in stocks, 51 cause habitat damage, and almost all catch non-target fish species. In 42 fisheries significant numbers of seabirds are killed, and in 45 a significant number of marine mammals are killed (Weeber 2007a). Very few commercial fisheries have a management plan which reviews fish stocks and plans ahead for their management.

 

Solutions

There is still time in which to address the crisis facing our oceans, and we all have a part to play. The oceans have the potential to rebound, but only if we take action now and demand truly sustainable fisheries and seafood. New Zealanders have a deep affinity with the sea. Many of our ancestors, including Maori and European, arrived by sea, and they and their descendentswere sustained by its bounty. We all want to ensure that the sea will provide for us in generations to come, but far too often we are left without answers when trying to buy sustainable seafood.

The Greenpeace NZ Red Fish List includes 12 types of fish which consumers should stop buying, and retailers should stop selling unless they can prove that the fish stocks they come from are in a healthy state* and the fish on sale were not caught by destructive techniques. The fish on the Redlist include species that are, by nature, particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation, come from over-fished and depleted stocks or are being fished at such high levels that the stock will soon be over-fished; or the fishing methods used to catch the species are highly destructive to other marine life and/or marine habitats. A global “sustainable seafood movement” is starting to thrive overseas. Consumers, retailers and seafood processors are asking questions and demanding answers. Supermarkets are uniquely placed in the supply chain between the producer and the consumer, forming equally important relationships with both. They have the power to impact not only the buying habits of their customers, but to help shape the industry as a whole. Supermarkets must develop sustainable seafood policies. Greenpeace has developed a model for these, and has offered help to New Zealand supermarkets to implement them. There are four clear steps supermarkets must take to fulfill their responsibilities to New Zealand:

• Stop selling seafood from the Greenpeace Red Fish List which identifies the most unsustainable species.
• Adopt and implement a sustainable seafood policy to ensure all seafood sold is sustainable and legal.
• Inform suppliers of sustainability requirements, helping to transform the seafood industry through market demand.
• Label seafood products so that customers can make informed choices.

Unfortunately, New Zealand supermarkets have a long way to go. Neither of the major retailers - Foodstuffs nor Progressive - has a sustainable seafood policy in place. While supermarkets in Europe and North America are removing New Zealand-caught seafood from sale because of the environmental damage done to those fisheries, these species are still being sold to New Zealanders. Customers should not have to figure out whether the seafood at their local supermarket is sustainable, or if it comes from an over-fished stock or from a fishery that destroys the habitat or kills marine mammals and seabirds – but that is exactly the situation we face at the moment.

New Zealanders can help support seafood sustainability by:

• Contacting local supermarkets and asking them to stop selling red list species, support sustainable options, label seafood products and improve their purchasing policies.
• Asking about the type of seafood offered and how and where it was caught.
• Checking labels - they can help with making informed choices.
• Refusing to buy Redlist seafood to help stocks recover.
• Joining Greenpeace to help protect the world’s oceans.

Most of New Zealand’s seafood is exported, so the actions of consumers in other parts of the world also have an impact on the future of our fisheries. Already, many retailers in Europe and North America have adopted sustainable seafood policies and have taken species like orange roughy off their shelves, sending a clear message to the New Zealand fishing industry to change its ways. This move towards sustainable seafood in many of our key export markets provides New Zealand with a great opportunity – but only if we shift our thinking. Meeting the demands of these international retailers and consumers means developing truly sustainable fisheries, not just mounting a public relations exercise. To restore the health and productivity of our oceans, we need to ensure our seafood industry is truly sustainable. But focusing on fish stocks and fishing methods is not enough. Greenpeace is also campaigning to get large areas of our oceans set aside as part of a global network of fully-protected marine reserves that cover 40 per cent of the world’s oceans, and for the remaining fishing areas to be managed using the precautionary principle and ecosystem approach.

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