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Image: BDI / FIS
The Fishing Sector Advocates for Ocean Protection with Sustainable Resource Use in Mind
GREECE
Thursday, April 18, 2024, 01:00 (GMT + 9)
The fishing sector grouped in the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA), of which the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA) is a part, has published a resolution in which it expresses three fundamental points when addressing strategies to protect the oceans: its balanced approach, taking into account that fisheries management works and that the high protein quality of fishery products coincides with their low environmental impact.
Thus, according to the fishermen's resolution, published during the 9th Our Ocean 2024 conference in Greece, the first point points out that an unbalanced approach to conservation puts at risk the nutrition of a world population that, according to data of the United Nations, will be 9.8 billion and 11.2 billion people in 2050 and 2100, respectively.
In this context, the supply of fishery products from the oceans is fundamental for global food security, points out the fishermen's resolution, since it provides fishery products of high nutritional quality and with the lowest carbon footprint, both for current generations like the future ones. In this sense, ICFA members consider it a priority to achieve a balance between the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of natural resources and food security.
Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM)
Source: Our Ocean. Clic on the image to access document
Secondly, ICFA points out in its resolution that active fisheries management works, while “lines on a map” to define a previously established objective without scientific basis and argumentation -30% of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in 2030- , is “eco posturing” and an unfruitful measure that, however, threatens the essential function of fishing activity as a provider of healthy food.
According to ICFA, effective fisheries management is the most powerful tool to protect the health of the oceans while promoting human development. In fact, ICFA recalls that, according to the FAO SOFIA 2022 report, in recent years the status of stocks has improved and, in fact, 82.5% of the fish landed in the world in 2019 came from stocks at levels of biological sustainability, with an increase of 3.8% compared to 2017.
Source: Our Ocean
The FAO report also shows that in 2019 the majority (64.6%) of global fishing stocks were at levels of biological sustainability, the result of the sum of stocks that are fished within the levels of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). and underexploited stocks, which represent 57.3% and 7.2%, respectively; while overexploited populations stood at 35.4%.
The potential of active fisheries management is reflected, according to ICFA, in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its calls for sustainable resource use. So, according to ICFA, focusing solely on the creation of MPAs without considering the sustainable use of marine resources and the needs of coastal communities can have detrimental effects on food security and livelihoods.
.jpg) Third, the ICFA resolution highlights that the blue economy is currently “as green as possible” and that the fishing industry has been engaged for decades and is an active participant in solutions to ensure resilience to climate change. In this sense, ICFA insists that fishing is part of the solution for a healthy sustainable future and it is necessary to recognize the fundamental role that fishery products have due to their high nutritional value and low carbon footprint, which makes them an important to achieving global climate goals.
In this sense, ICFA draws attention to the so-called Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECM) as an effective instrument for intersectoral collaboration between fisheries and biodiversity conservation; and underlines the criticality of bringing together policy makers, NGOs and the fishing sector to collaboratively develop pragmatic and implementable solutions in the six areas identified at the Our Ocean conference: MPA, sustainable blue economy, climate change, maritime security, sustainable fisheries and marine pollution.
As stated by Javier Garat, secretary general of Cepesca and vice president of ICFA, during his participation in the parallel event organized by the European Office for Conservation and Development (EBCD) under the title “Food Security: the role of sustainable food aquatic / blue in the green transition' in the framework of Our Ocean 2024, “if we pay attention to what is happening in the world, the OECM are the ones that are truly working and not the paper MPAs or the grand statements of some politicians who In the end, they are empty.”
Source: BDI
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