The U.K. government has been urged to end overfishing and restore ocean health in a new report.
The study by the non-profit Oceana says ministers should set a new legally binding, science-led deadline to end overfishing by the end of 2025, along with a ban on ‘supertrawlers’ over 100 metres long, which hoover up vast quantities of ocean life.
The analysis argues the seas around the U.K. face a number of serious threats, including climate change and pollution, and it is vital measures are put in place to protect marine life.
It also says ministers must also act to level the playing field, so that those that fish with nature, rather than against it, are rewarded with a greater share of quota and more taxpayer money goes towards sustainable practices.
And the report contains the findings of a new poll, eight in 10 (82%) British people are concerned about the impacts of declining fish populations on ocean wildlife.
A similar number (80%) are worried that those who work in the fishing industry would lose their livelihoods if fish populations continued to fall.
And more than three quarters (78%) of those surveyed supported the government introducing stricter, science-based limits on how many fish can be caught in U.K. seas.
Oceana U.K’s executive director, Hugo Tagholm said more than half of Britain’s most important fish species are overfished or at sort of a critically low level in an interview.
Tagholm added industrial-scale fishing is “taking too much of the biodiversity” out of the waters around the U.K.
On top of that, he said too much sewage is being pumped into our waterways, which ends up in the oceans, which at the same time are having to contend with growing amounts of plastic waste.
He told me it was important politicians “follow the science” and focus on policies around recovering fish stocks.
Tagholm said the balance of power between industrial fishing companies and smaller, more sustainable fishermen needs to be redressed.
“The U.K has a good opportunity to show global leadership on this, both at big summits around the world, and most importantly in our own waters.
“This is about regenerating our oceans and marine life back, because we all rely on it in one way or another.”
The University of Exeter’s Professor of Marine Conservation, Callum Roberts, who was not involved in the report said the science shows seas can be restored to thriving abundance and full health in a statement.
Professor Roberts said a lack of data, knowledge or technology is not the problem.
“What is standing in the way of this political inaction, pure and simple,” he added.
“A comprehensive overhaul of the government’s strategy is needed, and Oceana’s report has started that conversation.”
In response, a spokesperson for the U.K. government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement: “For too long our oceans, and the precious species that depend on them, have been under threat.
“That’s why we are protecting marine life at home and abroad by ratifying the Global Oceans Treaty, enforcing bottom trawling restrictions in marine protected areas and ensuring all catch limits are set sustainably.”
