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| Sustainable fishery Posted on Wednesday, November 6, 2002 |
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The underlying principle of the strategy of sustainable development implies the parity of economic, social and ecological interests of the society. Taking into account the environmental component of sustainable fisheries development, more and more attention over the last decade has been attached to the management of aquatic biological resources. The greatest contribution to this issue was made by the UN Law of the Sea Convention adopted in 1982. The Convention consolidated the institute of extended 200-mile exclusive economic zones and determined the basic standards for managing marine living resources.
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The study of international regulatory acts as well as of national laws allows defining at least six elements that constitute the management of marine bio-resources. These are:
It was assumed that the entry into force of restrictions on fishery would put an end to overfishing, extermination of aquatic species, and the detriment to reproductive capacity. (To illustrate this positive intention, the following examples could be taken: the herring fishery in the Norwegian sea was suspended for a long period in 1969, as well as catching Polar cod in the Barents Sea in 1977, as these two species were found on the brink of extinction.) Years back, it looked like the widespread introduction of 200-mile economic zones and fixing the legal frameworks would lay the foundation for sustainable and rational fishery development. However, the subsequent practice failed to meet these expectations. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), today practically all largest stocks within 200-mile exclusive economic zones are significantly depleted. Statistical data on catches and the present state of marine organisms stocks confirm the inefficiency of the currently taken biological and technical measures for fisheries conservation and monitoring. It is obvious that economic measures should be additionally applied to regulate fisheries. Scientists believe that charging fees for the use of marine bio-resources is a key economic method of promoting sustainable fishery. Maintenance of marine organisms stocks on the proper level is a basic question in relation to sustainable fishery. In economic terms, this level is on one hand determined by a balanced price for fish and by the maximum efficiency of fishery on the other hand. Therefore, a high cost of bio-resources will help restore shortly the state of stocks and contribute to a better correlation between demand and supply. Average prices for fishing quotas offered at the auctions as well as prices that enable social and economic development of fishing enterprises could serve as criteria for determining the cost of resources. Besides, an economic criterion for the cease of fishery could be worked out using a certain index of profit obtained from fishing activities. Alongside the annual forecasting on the state of stocks and fishing output, it is necessary to estimate the fishery efficiency taking into account the cost of resources, and to recommend fishery closure in case of its decrease due to low output observed (poor stocks condition). In practice, it would be reasonable to differentiate the rates charged for bio-resources according to species to be caught and depending on the prospective sales orientation that is whether the catches will be exported or delivered to the domestic market. Selling marine biological resources through auctions helps to provide a steady cash flow into the federal budget, but it does not resolve the vital problem of creating a system of sustainable fishery in the interests of the society. The methods used to determine the prices for auction lots are not based on a sustainable approach to fishery and will finally lead to numerous negative phenomena and the depletion of stocks. The serious argument against paying for marine resources is the need to adjust the international regulations accordingly. In this regard, Russia could take the leading role in promoting this initiative, especially with its scientific background that may be used by the world community in elaborating new rules of fishery within national 200-mile zones and on the high seas. One more condition for ensuring the sustainable and effective fishery is bringing the fishing fleet capacities into conformity with available stock amounts and the use of selective, environmentally safe fishing gear. It is known that today the capacities of the Northern basin fishing fleet for catching bottom species exceed the required standards at least twice. To tackle this redundancy, it seems reasonable to take measures aimed at withdrawal of excess obsolete vessels from exploitation and therefore to adapt the fishing capacities to the actual volume of ground fish stocks, in particular cod and haddock. Since 1992, fisheries management in the Russian North waters has been subject to the unresolved clash of opinions held by fishing entrepreneurs on one hand, and by regional authorities together with on-shore processing industry and the rest of the population on the other hand. The interests of the first are obviously different from those shared by their opponents. Fishing companies want to be as much independent as possible in their work, using factory ships or refrigerated trawlers and selling fish catches abroad. This policy enabling to get maximum profit from fishing vessels operation is not found in compliance with the interests of the on-shore fishery support enterprises and does not contribute to improving the general public well-being. The state, in its turn, has to take care of the economic interests of all population, not only of fish catchers, and consequently to pay more attention to promoting the on-shore processing industry. According to clause 11.1.5 of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, “states should give due consideration to the economic and social role of the post-harvest fisheries sector when formulating national policies for the sustainable development and utilization of fishery resources.” The most effective way to follow this principle is to establish a system of combined industrial structures for fish harvesting, handling and post-harvest operations with the involvement on-shore processing factories and the use of seiner-trawlers equipped with RSW-tanks. Such a scheme, demonstrating rather high economic results, is already implemented at the Murmansk Fish Processing Plant, so far only with two species – capelin and saithe. The social and economic effect of establishing such industrial complexes will lie in the growth of employment, the reduction of prices for fish and, as a result, in the increased consumption of fish by the population. Another important principle featured in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is the integration of fisheries into coastal area management. Clause 10.1.3 of the document says: “States should develop, as appropriate, institutional and legal frameworks in order to determine the possible uses of coastal resources and to govern access to them taking into account the rights of coastal fishing communities and their customary practices to the extent compatible with sustainable development.” Earlier, at the 1984 FAO Conference on Fisheries Management and Development, it was pointed that the development of small-scale fisheries in most cases called for special governmental support, making a complex approach carried out together with fishing cooperatives required to develop and introduce the locally applicable fishing technologies. Development of coastal fisheries with the use of stationary gear alongside with promotion of longline catching is the best way to meet the requirements of the sustainable fishery concept, both in terms of marine biology and of the social and economic welfare. A. Vasilyev, Deputy Director of the Arctic Centre of the Economic Issues Institute at Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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