February 14, 2013 — Damaging fishing methods and a lack of marine protected zones are being targeted by a renewed campaign to protect the world's dwindling fish stocks, spearheaded by food writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Maria Damanaki, the EU fisheries commissioner, has repeatedly praised the work of campaigners in bringing the subject to wider attention, and mobilizing the public in favor of her proposed reforms. More than 800,000 people signed the Fish Fight petition against discards. The fight to end discards is not over yet, however, as further negotiations must take place with ministers and member states.
Sections of the fishing industry have mobilized against the Fish Fight programs. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said scallop dredging had been portrayed in a way that was "inaccurate and negative".
He said: "Scallop fishermen depend upon abundant scallop stocks and a healthy marine environment and are committed to the protection of marine biodiversity. Scallops prefer to live in less sensitive habitats such as sand and gravel, which are naturally dynamic environments due to the movement of water on the seabed from currents, tides and waves and this is where scallop fishermen concentrate their efforts. Scallop fishermen avoid areas where there are unusual marine features and fully support the need for protecting ecologically important habitats and species."
He said the scallop industry, which supports 600 jobs in fishing and 750 in processing, had been involved in environmental initiatives including a good practice guide, and experimenting with different styles of dredges. He said: "Scalloping only utilizes a very small part of the seabed with vessels consistently fishing the same areas decade after decade. To imply that the scallop sector causes wide scale damage is both disingenuous and disproportionate."
Seafish, which represents the UK's fishing industry, said in a statement: "Dredging may not necessarily be destructive if used in areas with 'high energy' seabeds – soft or sandy ones that naturally change all the time as a result of normal tide, current and wave action. The key consideration is the resilience of the habitat to scallop dredging. The faster the recovery rate of the animals and plants that live in the affected seabed, the more tolerant it will be to scallop dredging."
On protected areas, Seafish was also cautious: "Marine protected areas need to have clear and measurable objectives, as [those] designed for fisheries management may be quite different to those designed to protect marine biodiversity. There could be some win-wins – for example where a habitat in need of protection also provides an important nursery area for a commercial fish species."
Read the full story at the Guardian