Santa Barbara, CA- Fishes and fishermen will be on a win-win situation according to new studies published on Monday, revealing a way to catch more fishes without decreasing the number of fishes worldwide.
The University of Washington and University of California – both in Santa Barbara – with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) analyzed the data of over 4,500 fisheries around the world, representing about 78% of global fish-catching.
A reform of sustainable management is strongly recommended by scientist, because it could generate an annual increase of 16 Million Metric Tons (MMT) in catches, about 619 MMT in biomass, resulting in a 53$ Billion profit. If this fish practice improves, about 77% world’s fisheries could recover in about 98% by 2050, increasing the profit of the fisheries around the world 204%.
Rights-based fisheries management implemented through territorial rights, as well as fixed fishing individual and transferable quotas that ensure healthy population levels are just a few of the solutions given by the scientist from this study.
Taking action of this solution, the impact will be a constant rising of fish prices due the high demand and quality of these, applying the appropriated reforms, making the recovery of many fish species happen quickly and optimizing the economic value.
What about the Fishermen?
The fish are not the only ones beneficiated by this study; also, these approaches will give the fishermen fishing rights. Under the actual management system, the fishermen are practicing a so-called “race to fish” that is just a competence with one to another, catching as many fishes as they can, at a fast rate so they can’t reproduce and restore the stocks.
Actually, a fisherman is granted with rights to a percentage of the total allocated haul; if the number of fishes rises, the fishermen’s catch numbers are revised. This may give the fishermen an incentive to get their own policies on the waters they fish in and use the best practice they can so they can’t cause a negative impact on the fishes.
The result of this study reveals that if these ideas are set in motion, there will be a positive financial and reproductive benefit.
Is There Any Obstacle To Achieve This Reform?
The idea of restoring the worldwide stock of fishes sounds really amazing but there are always many things that can slow down the rhythm of this reform.
From the financial of these system managements to the fishermen pulling back their implements to a catch reform, the food prices might fall, therefore making this the return of this investment can be achieved in within 10 years, making this a smart investment to all fishermen all over the world.
Source: Newsweek