The Marine Stewardship Council Programme - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 81

Chapter 4
The Marine Stewardship
Council Programme

Rupert Howes

4.1 Introduction

The plight of the world's fish stocks is increasingly in the headlines. Hardly a day
goes by without some reference to collapsing stocks, threatened livelihoods and
the negative impacts of modern fishing practices on the marine environment. A
recent and, for some, a controversial report in the journal Science suggested that
a 'business as usual approach' to the global fishing industry could precipitate the
collapse of the remaining commercial stocks by as early as 2048, as ecosystems
around the world became impoverished, depleted and damaged from overfishing
(Worm et al . 2006). Top predators such as marlin, swordfish and tuna are considered
to be under particular threat (Worm et al . 2005).
This growing media attention and interest is not surprising, given the scale and
increasingly visible nature of the global fishing effort. Commercial fishing is the last
major industry that harvests a wild and renewable resource for food. Its export value
is over $70 billion annually (FAO 2006), sustaining over 200 million livelihoods
around the world. It also provides the main source of animal protein for millions
of people, particularly in developing countries. Hence, in one way or another, the
world's commercial fishing industry touches all of us.
Global catches of fish and invertebrates have increased significantly this century
from just 19 million tonnes a year in the 1950s to around 100 million tonnes a year
now. However, catch rates have reached a plateau, and with 50% of the world's
fish stocks now classified as fully exploited and a further 25% considered to be
overfished, depleted or in a fragile state of recovery (FAO 2006), it is hard to see
how we can meet the growing demand for seafood around the world for today's
population let alone meet the basic needs and requirements for a global population
that could grow from 6 to 9 billion people by the end of this century (United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 1999). Whilst aquaculture or
fish farming offers some potential to fill this gap, it is not a panacea. Fish farming
has its own set of sustainability challenges not least the underlying sustainability of
the feed, largely derived from wild-capture fisheries, used in the production systems