” Sustainability”: what does it mean?  

Posted by Ian on August 17, 2004 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

 ” Sustainability”: what does it mean ? What should it mean?

And what they want us to believe!

There seams to be a rush to attain the Marine Steward-ship Council (MSC) “seal” of approval, by the Norwegian association of ocean-going fishing vessels. This is a wise move considering an ever increasing consumer consciousness concerning sustainability of fish stocks on a global level.

We have experienced in the past how quickly and effectively environmentalist and animal-rights groups can damage sales of marine products .This threat will not go away. We have an imminent need to paint a prettier picture for an ever-more informed/dis informed group of consumers.

There is a greater need for information than a need for a seal of “final approval”, – for a lot of damage can be done in only 6 months. The question is what kind of information and what it is to be based upon .Take cod for example, a fish that is very much in the media as being on the verge of extinction. A cod is a cod in the ears and eyes of most consumers, not knowing that there are several strains of cod in the N. Atlantic and it, s adjoining seas , some of which are in very good condition as is with stocks round the Faeroe Islands and the Norwegian & Barents Seas .

On the question of sustainability we have the need for a much deeper and wider

understanding of the word .Research scientists Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have spent the last 10 years on a study, which shows that some mayor fish species have been reduced by overfishing to 10% of that they were for 50 years ago. It is now time to eat “humble pie “and repent. The global consumer has still fresh in it,s memory the near extinction of several whale stocks in the Antarctic, due to over-exploitation by large whaling companies in the period 1900- 1960 . More recently we have experienced the collapse of the one time enormous cod stocks on Canadian coast, this collapse was effectuated by large fleets of factory trawlers from various parts of the world .1992 to be exact a moratorium was imposed on Canadian cod. Cod stocks in both the Baltic and North Sea are deemed under the level of sustainability, and have been subject to much negative publicity during the last 5 years. The situation for sand eel stocks in the N Sea is so critical that industrial trawlers have turned their attention to blue whiting .Stocks of capelin in the Barents Sea are on the verge of collapse. Norway has imposed a total ban in Norwegian waters on capelin for 2004. Capelin is mainly fished for the fish-meal industry, and much used in the salmon farming business, a business which is meeting quite a lot of protests in the USA and the U.K. Capelin is one of the primary food sources for Arctic cod. This over-fishing of capelin stocks has resulted in cod stocks in the Barents sea turning their attention to Arctic shrimp .Stocks of Arctic shrimp seam to be in a poor state due to increased pressure from both cod and a capital intensive fleet of shrimp trawlers .There are signs of an acute shortage of food in the Barents sea , this shortage affecting the ecological balance of both marine mammals and fish .

The year 2003 marked the start of the “great blue whiting experiment”, an experiment in seeing how far one “species”can take another before it collapses .The “species” conducting the experiment being a fleet of large high-powered pelagic trawlers from the Norway ,Iceland, Faeroe ,Russia and the European community. It is estimated that the total catch of blue whiting for 2003 will have exceeded 2.25 million tons. A TAC of 600,000 tons was recommended by ICES , this being ignored due to the fact that the involved nations are not able to reach an agreement concerning how big an allocation of future TAC,s each land is entitled to .There is an on-going race to establish track records on which to base future claims of stock entitlement . This unregulated “track record race”based up-on a non-agreement is being used to legitimate what could be the beginning of the end for NE –Atlantic blue whiting stocks .This unregulated fishery has also generated large incomes for the vessels concerned.

Now back to the question of “sustainability”, what does it mean? For most people and economists it means having a harvest which does not exceed nature,s capability of replenishing it self. This of course is true apart from the fact that it is an all too simple explanation for a subject that is immensely complex . Is would be wise to include PEOPLE as opposed to companies ,division of wealth and well-being instead of corporate profit , bio-dependability of fish stocks /marine mammals and again HUMANS that directly depend on marine resources for their existence .

It is a paradox that the UN is striving to increase the existence level of the worlds poor, when at the same time many of it,s wealthy member states are privatising their natural resources and putting them in the hands of finance institutes and capital strong players . The system of individual transferable quotas (ITQ) has failed miserably as a means of resource management. This system has led to heavy financial burdens for second generations ITQ owners, resulting in their owners in reality fishing for the financial institutions .This system of “fishing for the banks” generates little income to coastal societies .Take Iceland for example, a fishing nation that has on numerous occasions in the past defended it,s coastal waters from fleets of large foreign trawlers ,predominantly British and later culminating in “the great cod war”.Now with Iceland having sovereignty over it,s diminishing fisheries resources the scene was being set for a new “war,” a war of access to Islands hard won resources .Island along with other countries imposed a system of quotas as a means of stocks management, this system being made individual and transferable . To-days situation is that over 50% of the Icelandic fish resources are in the hands of 10 large companies located centrally on Iceland resulting in the impoverishment of many small coastal communities. Fishing, what was once the means of sustenance for the many has become an acquisition of the few and an object of the stock – exchange.

The “Common fisheries policy” in the EU has resulted in white fish stocks being at an all time low. This all time “low” coming in despite the fact that coastal fishing fleets have been decimated in recent years to the advantage of a fleet of “CE approved” hyper effective fishing vessels .One third of all fish landed by the British fishing fleet is caught by British fishing vessels under Spanish ownership .Denmark was once renowned for it,s fleet of small eggshell blue cutters ,crewed by innovative fishermen using “light-weight” gear as opposed to heavy bottom trawls .Those days are long gone along with most of the inshore fishing fleets and the communities they once supported .Paradoxically the anticipation of“the tragedy of the commons”,and the means used to avert, it have materialised as the “tragedy of the common fisheries policy”.