A new paper in Marine Policy journal explains that deep-sea fishing should be banned because it has sequentially depleted areas of high productivity and destroyed vulnerable habitats.
The Washington Post has an excellent article with very telling quotes. For example, here’s Elliot Norse, president of the Marine Conservation Institute (a coalition partner) and the study’s lead author:
We’re now fishing in the worst places to fish…These things don’t come back.
And Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute:
What they’re doing out there is more like mining than fishing.
And Daniel Pauly, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia:
It’s a waste of resources, it’s a waste of biodiversity, it’s a waste of everything…In the end, there is nothing left.
Ultimately, however, this knowledge must me translated into policy changes - exactly what we at the DSCC are trying to do. The EU Commissioner of Fisheries, Maria Damanki, highlights this issue in the Washington Post article. Here's a final good quote from the article:
Maria Damanaki, the European Union’s commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, said in an interview that she would like to reduce fishing on the high seas and cut subsidies for deep-sea trawlers.
“I’ll try. I really agree there’s a danger there, so we have to be prudent,” said Damanaki, adding that nations such as France, Denmark, Portugal and Spain resist such efforts. “We have to try to persuade them to stop this.”
CLICK HERE for a summary of the study put out by the Lenfest Ocean Program.
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