Fisheries

Question 1

What is the best way to describe the fishing industry?

Answer 1

• Large and heterogeneous, global
• Made up of lots of small scale and few larger industrial vessels
• Important for food security, economics, environmental impacts
  = making it a source of controversy

Question 2

Describe the controversy created by the ‘100 cod’ headline

Answer 2

• Headline: just 100 cod left in the North sea, no catches of any fish over 13 yrs
• Reality: cods mature after 3-6 yrs, 13 year old are v rare
• Cefas report found 21 million adult cod

Question 3

What are lessons to be learned about the ‘100 cods left’ headline?

Answer 3

Accuracy matters
- Simplifying and exaggerating messaging is tempting
- But this loses credibility with important stakeholders (in this case the fishing industry)
- Politics may be ‘post truth’; nature is not

Question 4

Describe the overfishing controversy

Answer 4

• Stems from WWF: >85% of fisheries are pushes to/ beyond limit and are in strict need of management plants
• But, according to the UN FAO, 34.2% of fisheries are acc overfished
• Most fisheries aim for max sustainable yield

Question 5

Outline the controversy from Sala et al. (2021)s study into trawling

Answer 5

• Sala et al. said that large-scale trawling disrupts sediment, releasing lots of stored carbon
• Based on Sala’s figure the Guardian estimated that this is the same as flying!
• But Hiddink et al. Argues Sala et al. overestimate figures and their estimates suggest impacts are 2-3x lower, but more research is needed.