UK Urged to Embrace Marine Reserves

LONDON, England, December 8, 2004 (ENS) - Up to a third of Great Britain's coastal waters should be closed to fishing and set aside as marine reserves in order to save dwindling fish stocks, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution advised Tuesday.

Current policies allow overfishing and environmentally destructive fishing practices to devastate the marine environment in Britain and across the world, the commission said, and urgent action is needed to reverse course.

"Around the world, there is evidence that creating marine reserves - areas where fishing is not allowed - leads to a several fold increase in the size and number of fish, shellfish and other animals," said Sir Tom Blundell, chair of the Royal Commission. "A third of the Great Barrier Reef is closed to fishing and countries like New Zealand and South Africa have plans to designate between 10 and 20 percent of their marine environment as reserves."

The report calls on the UK to follow suit - and for it to lobby the European Union and the rest of the world to further embrace marine reserves.

Less than 0.5 percent of the world's oceans are currently protected as marine reserves.

Conservation efforts that focus on protecting individual species are ill suited to the marine environment, the report said, and marine reserves are "most simple, straightforward means for implementing the ecosystem approach."

The report says the UK fleet must be reduced. (Photo courtesy Food and Agriculture Organization)

The report said there is "justified concern" about the short term economic impacts on the fishing industry due to the creation of marine reserves and recommended the UK government explore ways to assist the industry, including restructuring grants and buyouts.

It estimated the annual costs of setting up and running UK marine reserves would be £9 to £15 million annually, compared with about £35 million a year to run the national parks in England and Wales.

The commission, an independent advisory body appointed by the Queen and funded by the UK government, says the UK must radically shift its fisheries policy from commercial over-exploitation to long term protection of the marine environment.

"Currently, fishing is allowed unless there is clear evidence of damage," Blundell said. "This needs to change. Fishing should first be assessed for its effect on marine ecosystems and be brought under a framework of environmental protection."

More than a hundred acts of Parliament govern the UK marine environment, with "often confusing, overlapping jurisdictions covering the seas and coasts."

A new Marine Act is needed to clarify, simplify and improve the system of legislation governing the sea, according to the report, and the new law should have "the protection of the seas as its primary objective."

"On land, we have had a planning system for over 50 years to control development and set aside areas for protection," Blundell said. "Unless similar steps are taken at sea to allow recovery from decades of intensive fishing, species may disappear and the ecosystem itself be put in danger."

The report said the present system is stuck in a cycle of unrealistic quotes and diminishing fish populations.

It detailed increasing evidence that fish stocks in UK waters and beyond face unsustainable pressure.

Fishing is big business - the international fish trade was worth $55 billion in 2001. (Photo by J.M. Olson courtesy NOAA)

This overexploitation ripples across the marine ecosystem, the report said, by removing important components of the food web - in particular larger, older fish at the top of the food chain.

In addition, commercial fishing techniques often ravage the seabed habitats floor and kill a slew of marine species, including birds and marine mammals.

"It is hard to imagine that we would tolerate a similar scale of destruction on land, but because it happens at sea the damage is largely hidden," Blundell said.

The report recommends the UK prohibit deep sea fishing in UK waters, or by UK vessels, and press for similar restrictions at the European level.

Industry groups bristled at the report's call for marine reserves, but the commission said the future of the fishing industry depends on improved management of fish stocks.

Cutting the capacity of the UK fleet - and EU fleets that fish in UK waters - is critical to sustaining both the marine environment and the fishing industry, according to the report.

Past estimates from the European Commission suggested the EU fleet may need to be cut by 40 percent.

"We are certain that further efforts are needed to reduce fishing pressure in EU waters," the report said.

Environmentalists praised the report and called for quick action on its recommendations.

"What is now required is the political will from governments not to cave in to business lobbying," said Greenpeace UK Chief Scientist Doug Parr. "If this means substantial public support for a fishing industry in transition, the money must be found."

The commission is an independent advisory body appointed by the Queen and funded by the UK government.

The report can be found here.