Today marks 'fish dependence day' – where our appetite for seafood means we have to deplete other countries' resources
David Adam guardian.co.uk 9 Jul 10;
Europeans are eating more fish while stocks in their own seas continue to deplete, according to a new analysis that highlights the unsustainable nature of the industry. A report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) names today as the point at which Europe has nominally consumed all its own fish, and needs to bring in stocks from elsewhere. The thinktank says this "fish dependence day" comes earlier than in previous years, which it says shows that policy changes are needed.
The report, Fish Dependence: The Increasing Reliance of the EU on Fish From Elsewhere, maps marine resources onto a calendar year, and finds the day when the EU effectively starts to live off the rest of the world. This point now arrives a month earlier than when the group performed a similar analysis in 2000.
Aniol Esteban, head of environmental economics at NEF, said: "Safeguarding the marine environment is vital if we want to make use of EU resources and protect livelihoods and economies."
Esteban added: "The EU has some of the largest and richest fishing grounds in the world but at the moment we're not managing them properly. The upcoming reform of the EU's common fisheries policy presents a unique opportunity to ensure that these ecosystems are protected for future generations."
The group is calling for reduced fishing capacity and stronger conservation controls. It also wants wider campaigns to promote responsible consumption of fish, as well as greater government investment in ways to enforce quotas and sustainable practices.
The report says: "In a context of finite resources and growing populations, the current EU model is unsustainable. The EU's increasing fish dependence has implications for the fish stocks in other countries, which are also overfished, and for the communities that depend upon them."
It adds: "The main message of this report is that rising fish consumption in a context of declining stocks is a model that is environmentally unviable and socially unfair. The EU has highly productive waters that have the potential to sustain a long-term and stable supply of fish, jobs and related social and economic benefits, but only if its fish resources are managed responsibly."
