Off the Hook

by Campaign for Eco-Safe Tuna
January 29, 2014

We came across this piece from Andrew Revkin of Dot Earth highlighting the impact of surface longline fishing practices on bluefin tuna. Though the United States has established catch quotas for the increasingly rare bluefin tuna, approximately 25% of that quota is caught as bycatch from surface longline fishing.

New regulations on fishing practices from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) are a small step in the right direction, but they don't go far enough to protect non-target marine life, including bluefin tuna, from becoming bycatch. As a result, responsible fishermen will continue to be punished while industry's bullies get off the hook.

NOAA's new regulations reallocate quotas for catch of declining stocks of bluefin tuna, require increased monitoring for certain kinds of fishing, and institute token regulations on surface longline fishing. All this is good. These regulations have been needed for far too long. Now that things are in motion, it is time to really get the ball rolling.

There are responsible fishing operations that use poles and lines that allow fishermen to catch target species without indiscriminately harvesting marine life. Last year, environmentalists and fishermen partnered with the Pew Charitable Trusts to call for greater regulation of surface longlines. Expanding the protections started by NOAA's new regulations will help ensure that the fishing is sustainable, for the long-run.

With almost a billion people dependent on fishing for their livelihoods, unsustainable fishing practices threaten more than just the fish being caught. There are the fishermen and their families. Most of the people working on fishing boats are men. These men have families that depend on them. Their families, their wives, their children are on land while they are at sea, depending on their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, to ensure they have food on the table and a chance to thrive. As noted in a Rockefeller Foundation study in 2013, "the ability of fisheries to deliver nutritional benefits, sustain livelihoods, and contribute to economic growth is increasingly threatened" by unsustainable and irresponsible fishing practices.

Irresponsible and harmful fishing practices, like surface longline fishing, need to be better monitored and regulated. Though fishermen target only a few species of marine life with their surface longlines, dozens of species are caught up in the lines. This kind of devastation to marine ecosystems is the result of indiscriminate fishing practices, like fish aggregating device (FAD) fishing and surface longline fishing. These practices are intended to catch only certain kinds of fish, like skipjack tuna or yellowfin tuna, they always also capture other species of marine life. These other animals get caught up and are pulled in by fishermen collecting the lines only to be disposed of as dead/dying bycatch.

Like FAD fishing, surface longline fishing results in untold levels of harm to marine life, including tens of thousands of dolphins. The devastating impact of these wasteful fishing practices hurts everyone. Marine ecosystems suffer as important species are indiscriminately caught-up in harvests. And the fishing industry suffers as populations of target species suffer the damage to their ecosystems. Increased regulation will reward responsible fishermen for protecting the environment, ensuring the sustainability of the industry. By encouraging selective fishing, NOAA can help protect threatened marine life and reduce bycatch of other species. Increased regulations will also protect both oceans and industry from wasteful and irresponsible operations.

To date, NOAA's bureaucrats have made it The Bureau of Half-Measures but the independent fishermen and poor island communities of the world cannot afford more administration deferrals and half-empty gestures. The damage resulting from their inaction hurts literally everyone. The ecosystem risks collapse; communities dependent on fishing are threatened, and the fishing industry hangs in the balance. NOAA knows the science. It's high time for them to do something about it, other than let profiteers off the hook.