Jacques Cousteau believed the the oceans where great resources, but he also believed in their conservation. His belief was that if a population was kept at a certain level and still fished it could still feed all the people it needed to, instead of overfishing that population and getting temporary gain, but longterm losses. A foresting analogy is if there is 10,000 pine trees in an area and there are 500 seedlings reproduced each year that would reach adulthood/cutting at age at about 30, and a timber company wants to get maximum gain from that forest. They could clear-cut it immediately and get 10,000 trees out of it, or they could wait 20 years cutting 500 trees per year and break even. After that point in time any tree they cut they would be making more profit than they would if they clear cut it. While this analogy isn't accurate and the figures in it are made up, this same concept applies to the quickly diminishing bluefin tuna populations. While it is easier for a company to just clear-cut a forest and move onto the next one, the bluefin tuna populations are running out of "forests" to get overfished. There are ways to have a sustainable and profitable fishing industry, but it would take patience to rebuild the population and cooperation between fishermen all throughout the world to make this viable.
Already the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna population throughout the Atlantic is declining rapidly. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas stated that in 2009 over the past 40 years stocks have diminished by 72% in the Eastern Atlantic and by 82% in the Western Atlantic. At one time the Greeks and Phoenicians described them as a pest of sorts, found all over their waters. Now they are extinct in the Black Sea where they once thrived and are endangered throughout the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Solution Document
Overfishing of bluefin tuna is an
emerging issue in recent years. It’s not that the current restrictions are or
are not strict enough, but that there needs to be an incentivized program that
helps the fish and the fisherman. The way to create this system is to adjust
the specifications on the amount of tuna allowed to be taken in, and to change
the limits on the size and weight of the tuna being fished. Along with these
adjustments, there should be unions created specifically for bluefin tuna
fishermen (union may not be the correct term, but will be used throughout the
passage). In this case, they would have to check in with the union prior to
going out and fishing, which will limit the intake of the tuna. All tuna
catches will go through the unions to make sure they level up to the proper
specifications and of the right numbers of intake. This will provide the
ability to regulate the population of bluefin tuna. Overall, this union
wouldn't be associated with one particular country, but would be implemented in
countries where the fisherman and fish are.
The unions would hopefully be implemented in countries by political
influence of certain governments or the United Nations, because in the long run
the fisherman will have a higher yield.
In the words of Mike Parks, from the
Scottish White Fish Producers Association in Scotland, "A state of anarchy
still exists in parts of the fishing industry where everyone is out for what
they could get from a diminishing stock.” This is a similar philosophy as the
fishermen have on derby days where they catch as much fish as we can. This system also worked in Alaska with Halibut
fishing. This fishermen could fish
according to their schedules when the prices are higher, which would allow them
to get more money and have less of a need to overfish. If the unions could allow a longer season,
but with pound limits fisherman would be more responsible and reduce the
unnecessary catching of tuna and the by-catch of other fish from "ghost
fishing." To be more specific with
the pound quotas, for every tuna that they would catch a certain number of
pounds would be "added" to the fish for using up the quota. This number of pounds added would be the same
for large fish and smaller fish. Therefore, it would be much more effective and
financially better to only keep the larger fish instead of the smaller ones
because proportionally that number of pounds (per fish caught) would be
smaller. Of course the quota would be
higher than an average pound quota to account for the "pounds added"
by this new rule, but would still incentivize to catch larger fish. Statistical research would be conducted by
biologists and mathematicians to calculate what amount the added pounds should
be to allow more fish to reach above reproductive size (and age) so that they
could spawn multiple times before they were caught and what pound value would
influence fisherman the most.
The "unions" that
fisherman would have to become part of would also have a presence in the
markets, the transportation industry, and the marinas so that fisherman would
have a hard time breaking these rules. This would take much funding, so there
should be an additional sales tax for tuna in the first market. This would be fairly large and would provide
funding for the unions. This would also have trickle effect down to the
consumer and would their prices are higher; when their prices are higher there
is less of a demand, therefore reducing overfishing. When the overfishing is reduced there is less
of a need for these unions so they would need less funding from the tax so it
would be lowered. Statisticians would
have to determine the appropriate percentage for the tax and the money gained
would be distributed throughout the unions by fishing activities or related
activities or the financial need. Along with the unions encouragement, and
lower demand for bluefin tuna would encourage fishermen to fish for other fish
if there is more financial incentive.
This would help the bluefin tuna population recover to a level where it
is more sustainable and the regulations and pound quotas could be changed. While this could effect the overfishing of
other species the tuna fishermen would move to, the unions could be expanded to
help with those species as well.
Causes Document
Overfishing of bluefin tuna, also
known as Thunnus thynnus, has been
very detrimental to the overall population. As the larger of the tuna are being
overfished, these fishermen begin fishing the smaller tuna before they had time
to reproduce. Because of derby days where fisherman would have 24 or 48 hours
to catch as much fish as they could they would throw unnecessary amounts of
equipments into the water, often loosing much in bad weather days. This equipment would then "ghost
fish" and kill and catch fish without a fisherman on the other end.
Therefore, the overfishing of the bluefin tuna has not only caused a decline in
population but also the younger tuna are not able to reproduce, which affects
many other animals in their ecosystem, as well as us humans. The disruption of
one animal in a specific ecosystem can severely affect many other living
organisms in that same ecosystem, as well as other ecosystems.
Research Document
· -Population of blue fin tuna in the Atlantic
Ocean has declined 70% in the last 30 years.
· -Fishermen use a technique called long lining,
where 60 miles of baited line is laid out. This results in an effective catch
of blue fin tuna but also an immense amount of by catch of organisms including
sea turtles and sharks.
· -European and Asian countries have exploited
their own tuna populations and have moved onto African waters to find tuna.
· -Experts say that two thirds of major marine
fisheries are currently fully exploited, over exploited or depleted.
· -Overfishing of one species can completely ruin
an entire marine ecosystem.
· -Fishermen
are suffering financial losses because of a smaller catch.
· -Committees
have been formed and legislation has begun to be written and passed but nothing
seems to be a permanent solution.
· -Only
major committee focuses only on the Atlantic Ocean and its surrounding seas.
Works cited
ICCAT Introduction.
(n.d.). ICCAT. Retrieved April 18,
2012, from http://www.iccat.es/en/introduction.htm
Marine Fisheries
& Aquaculture Series: Empty Oceans, Empty Nets – Tuna | PBS. (n.d.). PBS:
Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved April 18, 2012, from http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/eoen/tuna/index.html
Marine Fisheries
& Aquaculture Series: Empty Oceans, Empty Nets – Tuna: Case Study | PBS.
(n.d.). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved April 18, 2012,
from http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/eoen/tuna/casestudy.html
Marine Fisheries
& Aquaculture Series: Empty Oceans, Empty Nets – Tuna: Viewpoints | PBS.
(n.d.). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved April 18, 2012,
from http://www.pbs.org/emptyoceans/eoen/tuna/viewpoints.html
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