Transcript Slide 1

Marine Biodiversity and Fisheries Governance
Michael Kidd
Structure of Presentation
 Marine biodiversity
 Fisheries:
 Context (SOFIA)
 Fisheries governance: who, ‘hard law’ and ‘soft law’
 Bad management decisions
 IUU fishing
 Subsidies
 Governance Tools
Marine Biodiversity
 Oceans contain –
 32 of 34 known animal phyla on Earth
 Between 50 000 and 10 million species
 Marine/coastal habitats include:
 mangrove forests
 coral reefs
 sea grass beds
 estuaries in coastal areas
 hydrothermal vents
 seamounts and soft sediments on the ocean floor.
Importance of marine biodiversity
 Food – fisheries
 Oxygen production
 Carbon sink
 Travel and tourism
 Other ecosystem services: water quality, flood control
 Loss of marine biodiversity adversely affects ecosystem
services (Worm et al (2006))
Threats to marine biodiversity
 Threats to marine biodiversity:
 Overfishing/destructive fishing/IUU fishing
 Pollution
 Eutrophication

Hypoxic zones (dead zones)
 Habitat destruction
 Climate change
 Ocean acidification
 Alien species
The State of
Fisheries: SOFIA
2012
SOFIA 2012
SOFIA 2012
SOFIA 2012
 Employment: fisheries sector supports livelihoods of
10-12 % of world’s population
 Total number fishing vessels (2010): 4.36 million (3.23
marine; 69% of which engine-powered)
 Food security: fish responsible for 15 or more percent
of animal protein for 4.3 billion people
SOFIA 2012
Non-fully
exploited
12%
Overexploited
stocks
30%
Fishing Stocks
Fully exploited
stocks
58%
SOFIA 2012
 ‘In the long term, the status of tuna stocks (and
consequently catches) may further deteriorate unless
there are significant improvements in their
management. This is because of the substantial
demand for tuna and the significant overcapacity of
tuna fishing fleets’ (at 12).
SOFIA 2012
 ‘The declining global marine catch over the last few years
together with the increased percentage of overexploited fish
stocks and the decreased proportion of non-fully exploited
species around the world convey the strong message that the
state of world marine fisheries is worsening and has had a
negative impact on fishery production. Overexploitation not only
causes negative ecological consequences, but it also reduces fish
production, which further leads to negative social and economic
consequences. To increase the contribution of marine fisheries to the
food security, economies and well-being of the coastal communities,
effective management plans must be put in place to rebuild
overexploited stocks. The situation seems more critical for some
highly migratory, straddling and other fishery resources that are
exploited solely or partially in the high seas. The United Nations Fish
Stocks Agreement that entered into force in 2001 should be used as a
legal basis for management measures of the high seas fisheries’ (at 1213). Emphasis added.
Fisheries governance
 The key determinant of sustainability is governance—
the ‘sum of the legal, social, economic and political
arrangements used to manage fisheries’ (Grafton et al
2008)
Fisheries: Who governs?
 UNGA
 Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of
the Sea (ICP)
 UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS)
 IMO
 International Sea-bed Authority (ISA)
 IOC-UNESCO
 MEA Secretariats (eg CBD)
 Regional fisheries bodies (RFB)
 Regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs)
 UNEP Regional Seas Programmes
 Global Environment Facility (GEF) Large Marine Ecosystem (LME)
Programmes
 Coastal states (EEZ – sovereign rights – UNCLOS)
Fisheries: The ‘hard law’
 Law of coastal states e.g South Africa’s Marine Living
Resources Act
 Law of confederations of states (e.g. EU): e.g .
Communication from the Commission to the Council
and the European Parliament - Implementing
sustainability in EU fisheries through maximum
sustainable yield {SEC(2006) 868}
 International conventions e.g. UNCLOS & UN
Fish/Straddling Stocks Agreement 1995
 Decisions of RFMOs
Fisheries: The ‘soft law’
 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
 International Plans of Action (eg IPOA on IUU
Fishing)
IUU Fishing the only culprit?
Picture source: Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org)
IUU Fishing: The only culprit?
 Grand Banks cod fishery
 ICCAT - The International Conspiracy to Catch All
Tuna?
Reasons for bad decisions
 Inappropriate models: e.g. maximum sustainable yield
Here lies the concept. MSY.
It advocated yields too high.
And didn’t spell out how to slice the pie.
We bury it with the best of wishes.
Especially on behalf of fishes.
Reasons for bad decisions
 Inappropriate models: e.g. maximum sustainable yield
 Scientists employed by RFMOs
 Scientific uncertainty
 Decision-makers ignore scientists
Back to IUU fishing
 Extent of IUU fishing:
 Between $10 billion and 23.5 billion annually
 Between 11-26 million tons Agnew et al (2008))
 i.e. over 10% of total marine catch
 How to combat IUU fishing (COFI, July 2012):
 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent,
Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and
Unregulated Fishing
 Criteria for Flag State Performance
 Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport
Vessels and Supply Vessels
Other problems: Subsidies
 Extent:
 SOFIA: for 2003, ‘harmful’ subsidies = $16.2 billion out of
$27 billion annually and globally
 Clover (2004):



Japan (1999) $2.5 billion (24% of value of landings)
EU $1.16 billion (17%)
USA $1.1 billion (30%)
 Subsidies being addressed by WTO (see Rio=20 The
Future We Want para 173) (little progress since 2001)
Governance Tools
 Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF)
 Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM)
 Integrated Coastal Zone Management
 Marine Protected Areas
 CBD COP 10 decision – 10% by 2020 (approx 1%
currently)
 Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)
Programme
CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
(Aichi Targets)
 Target 6: By 2020 all fish and invertebrate stocks and
aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably,
legally and applying ecosystem based approaches, so
that overfishing is avoided, recovery plans and
measures are in place for all depleted species, fisheries
have no significant adverse impacts on threatened
species and vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of
fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within
safe ecological limits.
Bibliography to be supplied
Thank you – ngiyabonga!