WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — February 24, 2014 — Writing in an essay originally published in Foreign Affairs, (“The Devolution of the Seas,” November/December 2013) Alan Sielen, a Senior Fellow for International Environmental Policy at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, paints a dire picture of the state of the world’s oceans, claiming that “humanity has come perilously close to reversing the almost miraculous biological abundance of the deep.” But in his highly selective and misleading portrayal of the current state of fisheries management, Mr. Sielen gets several key facts wrong, and recirculates ideas that are either highly disputed or have been thoroughly refuted by the marine science community.
One of Mr. Sielen’s central arguments is that commercial fishing is continuing unchecked, with disastrous results for the future of marine life. Mr. Sielen supports this contention largely by citing a 2003 study by Dr. Boris Worm and Dr. Ransom Myers, which concluded that “large fish” such as tuna and swordfish have seen their numbers decline by 90 percent since 1950. But Mr. Sielen brushes aside the widespread and significant criticisms of that study within the fisheries science community, downplaying the controversy over the study to the point of being deceptive.
Prominent experts on tuna science and management, such as Dr. Victor Restrepo, who previously worked with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), have criticized the methodology behind Drs. Myers and Worm’s 2003 study. Writing in a July 2013 article published on the website of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, Dr. Restrepo called the estimate “totally wrong.” In the same article, he quotes a colleague who called it “one of the most rebutted fisheries papers of all time.” Dr. Restrepo detailed his criticisms of the study in a 2013 Saving Seafood Radio interview.
Among other issues, the Myers and Worm study derived its tuna population data almost entirely from longline tuna fisheries. This skewed the data, as longline fisheries exclusively target larger fish, and thus the sample used in the study was not representative of the tuna population as a whole. Several peer-reviewed studies published after Drs. Myers and Worm’s concluded that the estimate of a 90 percent decline in large species like tuna is highly inaccurate. While the studies did record declines in tuna populations, the numbers were nowhere near 90 percent. By not presenting these details, Mr. Sielen leaves readers with the incorrect impression that there is a general agreement over the figure he cites. The opposite is in fact the case: it has been thoroughly refuted.
While Mr. Sielen’s essay paints a picture of the world’s fisheries as being in steady decline, he ignores success stories, and fails to mention the bright spots. The United States, for example, boasts some of the best-managed fisheries in the world. By law, US fisheries are required to have management plans in place that end overfishing, and US fishermen abide by some of the strictest management standards in the world. The Marine Stewardship Council, an independent organization that reviews and highlights sustainable fishing practices, has certified several fisheries in the US, including North Atlantic swordfish, sea scallops, and spiny dogfish, as sustainable.
And while many international fisheries remain poorly managed, there are signs that, at least in parts of the world, fisheries management is improving. In a 2006 study, “Rebuilding Global Fisheries,” published in Science, Dr. Ray Hilborn and Dr. Worm concluded that, in several of the ecosystems surveyed, fishing pressure had actually decreased, due to “increasing efforts to restore marine ecosystems and rebuild fisheries.” Many areas of the world still suffer from either poor or nonexistent fisheries management, but the overall picture is much more complex than Mr. Sielen indicates.
There is plenty to criticize about the state of the world’s marine resources. Too many global fish stocks remain overexploited, and an unacceptable number of international fisheries need stronger management. But by highlighting old, refuted statistics and ignoring positive developments like the strong track record of US fisheries, Mr. Sielen leaves readers with a distorted and incomplete picture, and fails entirely to note how well fisheries in the United States are managed.
Read the full essay republished in The Nation
Listen to Dr. Victor Restrepo discuss the current state of global tuna populations with Saving Seafood Radio