Sustaining global capture fisheries production

Ray HilbornSchool of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

Overview of the talk

> Status of fish stocks> Understanding sustainability> Impacts of bottom trawling> Forage fish impacts> CFOOD e-media

The end of the line

All fish gone by 2048

Science 2006

2,445 Citations

Source: Time magazine, November 2006

NCEAS working group: Finding common ground in marine conservation and management

The RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Databasewww.ramlegacy.org

Coverage in RAM Legacy40% of world catch

Regional trends in biomass

Source: Global Assessment Database (ramlegacy.org)

Regional trends in exploitation rate

Source: Global Assessment Database (ramlegacy.org)

Yield lost by overfishing (red) and underfishing (yellow)

Science 2012

Assessed stocks stabilize, others decline

Source: Costello et al. (2012) Science 338: 517-520

~35%

~65% +

Large stocks in good shape

Average Catch in MT

1,000,000100,00010,0001,000100101

U.S. definition of overfished

Defining sustainability

“Sustainability Science”William Clark editor of Sustainability Science for PNAS

Our approach is grounded in a definition of sustainable development that focuses on the well being of people over the long run. In particular, it argues that the development of a social-environmental system is sustained over a period of time if over that period appropriately inclusive measures of well-being do not decline

The three pillars of sustainable development IUCN Adams 2006

Elements of sustainability

• Continued ability of the ecosystem to produce what we want

• Acceptable levels of environmental impact– Whose choice– Compared to what

• Social well being– Maintenance of fishing communities– Equity in income, gender– Human rights

• Economic performance

Ah ha: sustainability is a state, abundant is sustainable, overfished is not

Less by-catch but higher carbon footprint

More by-catch but lower carbon footprint

Sustainability is a process

• The worst way to measure sustainability is B/BMSY

• Better is F/FMSY• The best is to evaluate the management

system– Monitor abundance changes– Adjust exploitation rate in relation to abundance– Effectively enforce regulations

A survey of fisheries governanceMike Melnychuk and Ray Hilborn

• 46 questions for 400 stocks• Four areas: research, management, enforcement,

socioeconomics … as examples-------------------------------------------------------------

• Stock size and/or fishing mortality rate are reliably estimated

• Fishery management plan exists and strategies or tactics designed to meet objectives are specified

• Dockside monitoring and enforcement measures are sufficient for the fishery management system to effectively regulate fishing pressure

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Research

Management

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Socioeconomics

Fisheries governance

Evaluation of best practices for impacts of bottom trawling on

benthic marine ecosystemsA progress report

An independent assessment of the science of benthic impacts

• A scientific team of international experts to– Determine the footprint of bottom trawling in different areas

• How much area?• What kind of habitat?• What trend in trawl footprint?

– Determine the impact of trawling on different benthic organisms• By gear type, habitat type, type of organism

– Determine the indirect impact of bottom trawling on target species

– Evaluate a range of possible best practices• Impact on catch• Impact on benthic organisms

The Study Group

Collecting the data

- Vessel Monitoring System- Logbook data- Effort timeseries

Trends in effort

High resolution mapping of trawling global footprint

High resolution mapping of trawling global footprint

High resolution mapping of trawling global footprint

High resolution mapping of trawling global footprint

Frequency of trawl coverage

Global footprint of trawling

Forage fish impacts on predatorsprimarily marine birds and mammals

• Global policy conversation dominated by LENFEST report

• Many weaknesses in this report • A 2 year project to review what is known

about impacts• Design management strategies

Impacts of MPAs on fisheries yields

• Working group organized in conjunction with FAO

• We have had one meeting -- looking for a major supporter to continue the activity

CFOOD e-media www.cfooduw.org

• Web site to provide independent science• Track false claims in media• Twitter and Facebook feeds

The competing narratives

• Fishing continues to expand and empty the ocean … large areas of the ocean must be closed and many kinds of fishing banned

• Fishing provides a sustainable high quality food, and if properly managed protects the oceans and supports people

Conclusions

• Where fisheries are being actively managed sustainability and rebuilding are the outcome

• Many important fishing countries do not actively manage their fisheries

• All fishing has impacts but good science suggests fishing impacts are low compared to alternative foods, and can be further reduced

Thanks to• NCEAS working group team – Especially Dan Ricard,

Julia Baum, Coilin Minto, Olaf Jensen Trevor Branch and Boris Worm

• UCSB Dan Ovando and Chris Costello

These stocks constitute 90% of global catch reported to FAO

Pauly’s “status of fisheries” from catch data

From Pauly 2007

FAO has a very different trend

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Environmental impacts

Measured in LCAs• Energy consumption• Greenhouse gasses• Eutrophication• Acidification• Land Use

Other Impacts• Freshwater consumption• Pesticides• Antibiotics• Soil Erosion

Energy Consumed

Greenhouse gases

Eutrophication potential

Summary of environmental impacts