October 25, 2018 — Michel Kaiser, the recently-appointed science and standards director at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), has stressed the need for higher resolution data when estimating the global fishing footprint, in an opinion piece on the Conversation.
The discussion comes after the publication of a report in February which estimated that 55% of the planet’s oceans had been affected by fishing activities. However, Kaiser said this study, which was created from analysis of squares roughly 3000 square kilometers in area, produces a figure that is off by a factor of ten when compared to a more recent August study produced using higher resolution data (1-3 sq. km).
The MSC science director also noted a study published in October 2018 looking into the global footprint of bottom trawling. The paper looked at 24 regions of the global continental shelf, each analyzed using squares of less than 9 sq. km. The team, from the State University of New Jersey, discovered that 24% of the measured areas had been affected by bottom trawling, one of the most destructive fishing practices.