Q: I sometimes discuss with my family whether eating fish is a harm to the environment (I think it is), but we don’t know much about it. Anything to help decide this debate?
A: On this argument, I’m sorry to say, there is no winner. “The simplistic message that all fishing is bad is missing a lot of the nuance,” says Dr Deirdre Brophy, leader of the Marine and Freshwater Research Centre at Atlantic Technological University’s Galway campus.
“Like any other form of food production, fishing can have negative impacts on the environment,” Brophy explains. “But if fishing is properly managed, we can minimise the negative impacts and insure it’s sustainable.”
Proper fisheries management requires scientific research, law and enforcement, and national and international diplomacy, regulation and coordination. Fishing is an important food source for many, Brophy adds, providing a livelihood for a lot of people, and is important for coastal communities.
From the scientific perspective, Brophy highlights three crucial areas for research and monitoring: the dynamics of fish populations and the effects of fishing on habitats and the ecosystem as a whole. Looking to fish populations, “Scientists need to be able to monitor the size of the stock, the rate at which fish are reproducing and replacing what is removed by fishing, and the level of fishing pressure,” all of this information is used to approximate maximum sustainable yields.
“We also need to consider how fishing affects seabed habitats and have good knowledge of marine biodiversity and how it’s distributed,” she adds. This knowledge can be used to shape decisions about where we fish, how we fish and where we place protected areas.
The third factor to consider is how fishing affects the ecosystem as a whole, says Brophy.
“The fish we catch are predators and prey for other organisms, so we need information about their role in the ecosystem.”
PROPER MANAGEMENT
All of this is important because the more data we have, the better. Studies have shown that management works – “in an international review of fisheries all over the world, where there was good management and enforcement, the population increases.”
Brophy points to bluefin tuna as an example. A commercially valuable, migratory fish which grows to over two metres in length, it’s highly sought-after in Japan. From overfishing in the 1980s and ‘90s, “the populations were over-exploited,” says Brophy, getting so low that it was classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as an endangered species around 2007.
ICAT, an intergovernmental organisation responsible for tuna management and conservation, put a 15-year recovery plan in place and by 2015 the endangered status was lifted; it was recently reclassified as of “least concern.” The Japanese long-line fishery for bluefin tuna even received MSC certification, a very high-standard seal of approval for the sustainability of a fishery.
OVERFISHING
A counter example is the case of mackerel, where fishing quotas have yet to be set because of a breakdown in international agreement. Mackerel is migratory, fished in waters off of several countries, including Denmark, the UK, Russia and Ireland. When mackerel’s “distribution” changed, fish migrating over to colder Icelandic waters, international quota agreements broke down and now it’s fished above quota because there is no agreement, so all mackerel fisheries have lost their MSC certification.
The public can access information about the health of fish stocks through the Marine Institute of Ireland’s annually published “stock book,” which includes a summary of all the scientific advice available and what’s being currently fished to its limit. “It shows the huge amount of work going on to monitor stocks and get good scientific advice to support management,” says Brophy.
Salmon, a fish that migrates between fresh and salt water, is also a complex case.
“At the moment, there has been quite a drastic decline in the number of fish returning to rivers,” says Dr Philip McGinnity, Research Professor at the Environmental Research Institute at UCC. There are 144 identified salmon rivers in Ireland, he explains, most of them currently under stress. “Much is attributed to what man is doing, to climate change, and much to natural cycles in ocean and fresh water.”
McGinnity highlights the competition for water, “this scarce, finite resource,” used for homes, recreation, power, energy, agriculture, aquaculture and as a habitat for fish like salmon.
Recent changes in European legislation aim to improve the sustainability of fishing, Brophy says, for example, the EU landing obligation requires fishers to land everything they catch, incentivising more selective fishing methods, and trawls can be designed to reduce the catch of undersized fish, drag or contact with the seabed. The next few years will see more changes implemented and the use of technology to improve monitoring and traceability of what is caught, says Brophy. There will be much to “iron out” between fisheries and the industry, she adds.
ASK QUESTIONS
What we do also matters. When it comes to rivers, McGinnity says, a community caring for the river’s structure and life within is essential. Eating fish responsibly also calls for the same thoughtfulness we use with all foods, with awareness of where it’s come from and checking labels.
“If you’re going to a fishmonger to buy fish, ask them about it,” Brophy adds. “As a country, we probably don’t appreciate fish as much compared to France and Spain, but we do have seafood that’s really good and locally produced and sustainable.”
“If there is more demand for fisheries to be well managed, that is more of an incentive for people to show evidence for it, like by applying for MSC certification,” Brophy adds, a stamp that insures fish populations and habitats are being preserved.
