Sustainable fishing would benefit the fishermen, the fisheries, the fish and the consumers.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The Fund for Environmental Defense thinks that sustainable practices could save our fish supply. According to them, we could replenish the supply of seafood in less than 35 years if we adopt management strategies that are more sustainable.
The Fund for National Defense teamed up with Santa Barbara, California and Washington Universities and came up with a plan for saving Earth’s fisheries from becoming extinct. And it seems that they concluded that sustainable practices could save our fish supply by 2050. According to them, if people working in the fish industry would adapt their management strategies, the fish reserve would double.
Presently the researchers discovered that approximately 85 percent of all the fisheries in the world are either overexploited or fully exploited. And taking into consideration previous studies that showed that Earth’s fisheries are heading towards an imminent collapse, the team concluded that management strategies must be implemented urgently.
In order to reach their conclusions, the team of scientists analyzed 4713 fisheries, which would account for roughly 78 percent of the annual worldwide catch. Upon close examination they found that just a third of the fisheries were in a decent shape, biologically speaking.
Amanda Leland, the co-author of the article and senior oceans vice president at the Fund for Environmental Defense, declared that there is no other environmental challenge that has such an easy solution.
According to the data provided by the study, more than 3 billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. That means that if the management strategies are used correctly, the amount of seafood available on the market will increase significantly.
The sustainable reforms that Leland and her team are suggesting will lead to an increase in seafood production of more than 16 million metric tons and a spike of %53 billion per year in profits.
This means that in just ten years, the fisheries considered healthy from a biological point of view would amount to 77 percent out of the total number. Furthermore, it seems that the reforms proposed by the team would bring an increase in fisherman profits of 204 percent.
Chris Costello, a professor of resource and environmental economics at Santa Barbara University and the lead author of the study said that their proposal would only bring more seafood on the plates, more money in the fisherman’s pocket and more fish in the fisheries.
Sustainable practices could save our fish supply, and they could do it pretty quick.
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