Coastal Countries Failing to Comply with Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
From ancient times, fishing has been a major source of food for humanity and a provider of employment and economic benefits to those engaged in this activity. The wealth of aquatic resources was assumed to be an unlimited gift of nature. However, with increased knowledge and the dynamic development of fisheries, this myth has faded in face of the realization that aquatic resources, although renewable, are not infinite and need to be properly managed.
In recent years, world fisheries have become a market-driven, dynamically developing sector of the food industry and coastal countries have striven to take advantage of these new opportunities by investing in modern fishing fleets to meet growing international demand for fish and fishery products. It has became clear, however, that fisheries resources can no longer sustain uncontrolled exploitation and development, and that new approaches to fisheries management that embrace conservation and environmental considerations were urgently needed. Noting these and other important developments in world fisheries, the FAO adopted of a global Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries establishes principles and standards applicable to tile conservation, management and development of all fisheries. The Code, was unanimously adopted on October 31, 1995.
However, a recent tri-national study headed by the University of British Columbia finds that although there are many stock conservation laws to prevent over-fishing, few countries take them seriously. The study found “dismayingly poor compliance” among countries around the world with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The time has come for responsible fishing guidelines to be enforced as international law because the voluntary code of conduct currently in place has failed to save the world’s fish from being depleted, fisheries researchers say.
The researchers examined fishing practices of 53 countries that land 96 per cent of the global catch.
Some key findings were:
- More than 90 per cent of the countries failed to deal with their own excess fishing capacity.
- Over 80 per cent of them had “unsatisfactory” scores when it came to irresponsible practices such as catching juvenile fish.
- Only a few countries had methods to ensure fish and shellfish won’t be fatally trapped by lost fishing gear and traps.
Only Norway, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Iceland and Namibia received overall compliance scores of 60 per cent, and 28 countries that haul in 40 per cent of the global catch had “unequivocal fail grades overall,” the study said.
Developing countries tended to receive lower scores, but the report noted that “disappointing scores from some European Union nations, with the resources and know-how to implement the code, reinforce a low priority given to improving fisheries management.”
It added that while it may have been necessary 13 years ago to make the agreement voluntary, there is more widespread agreement now that continued overfishing is hurting ecosystems and threatening food supplies, and international laws for stock conservation need to be enforced.
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