The Next Fight is Ecosystem Overfishing
The winter NCMC bulletin is out and the lead article sets up the battle against ‘ecosystem overfishing’ as the next major fight in the U.S.
NMFS says we are now moving toward a future where overfishing is “a concern of the past,” where the challenge is one of maintaining sustainable fisheries. “We are as happy as anyone with the progress we’ve all made in turning the nation’s fisheries around and putting fish stocks on the path to recovery,” says NCMC president Ken Hinman. “But if we really are going to sustain ocean fishing in the future, we must fight and win a second battle against overfishing. ‘Ecosystem overfishing’ has altered food webs, reduced diversity, and upset the balance between predators and their prey. In this battle, the stakes are even higher.”
They do, however, point out that rebuilding will still take some effort:
After years of overfishing, however, we are still laboring to return quite a few stocks to healthy levels; 48 out of 207 to be precise, among them Atlantic cod, bluefi n tuna, coastal sharks, red snapper and grouper, and Pacific groundfish. But over the last 10 years, NMFS points out, we have rebuilt 21 fish stocks, including Georges Bank haddock, spiny dogfish and summer flounder. Others are on the road to recovery. In a marine environment where overfishing has long been the rule, reaching a point where it’s the exception is indeed a milestone; although NMFS shares the blame for it taking so long to get here.
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