Fake News Fisheries

Ancient wisdom encourages us to 'believe without believing'. And just what does that mean? Well, in the recreational fishing scene that means if someone tells me they just caught a 20 Kg Kabeljou from the local harbor wall then I'll believe that, eh, is what I heard them say... My experience with the more serious rock & surf – and boat – anglers has been that most are actually quite straight talkers. The 'week-enders' are more often the ones with tales. As for the state of the fishery most recreationals will readily acknowledge over-fished and dwindling stocks.

Recreational lure angler with Yellowtail at the famous Rooikrans ledges

The commercial sector, from fishermen to retailers and restaurateurs, appears to function on a different dynamic. The poor state of our stocks is downplayed, the quotas keep coming and the tills keep ringing. A catch statistics search brought up the website of 'aldi nord.de', a major northern hemisphere retail chain. They trade in markets with a higher level of ecological awareness and are apparently one of the better rated retailers in terms of fish and seafood buying ethics. Their 'social responsibilities' page claims, with reference to the SOFIA July 2016 report (released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN), an annual global wild harvest of 'fish and seafood' of 93.4 Million Tons and a global aquaculture production of 73.6 Million Tons with 31.4 % of Worldwide fish stocks being over-fished. Feel good figures that shouldn't put anybody off a piece of wild caught Hake.

Small longliner pulling Hake in the deep off Cape Point

A closer look at the marine fishery which is what most of us are, after all, concerned about is less appetizing. According to the below table, from the same SOFIA report, the annual marine capture harvest amounts to 81.5 Million Tons which excludes Peruvian Anchovy of 5-10 M Tons as well as the entire IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishery. Australian research puts the inclusive global marine capture harvest at over 120 Million Tons per annum.

Screen-shot, SOFIA 2016 report

As far as the 26.7 M Tons of marine aquaculture are concerned one should firstly question whether this includes IUU-type content with wild caught or freshwater farmed 'seafood' (eg. Tiger Prawn or Tilapia processed into 'Crab Sticks') tabled as products of marine aquaculture. Secondly one should question what is farmed and what is merely fattened as is common in the Tuna fishery. Then one should consider that much of what is (fish) farmed or fattened is fed with wild caught fish, often at poor conversion ratios. The Bluefin Tuna fattening off Baja is, for example, at around 17:1 with 17 Kg of sardines fed to gain 1 Kg of Bluefin mass.

Screen-shot, SOFIA 2016 report

With a heavily revised marine wild capture to aquaculture ratio (a small portion of this actually being - partially wild fed - fish) let us look at the state of our wild fish stocks as depicted in the graph above… The 31.4% of 'over-fished' stocks of course include many of our prized eating fish like Bluefin Tuna depicted in the graph below. The 10% or so 'under-fished' stocks would include undesirable species and unfishable regions of the ocean - under polar ice or at great depth. This leaves the 'fully fished' stocks with commercial quotas issued to the maximum of 'sustainability' and with an IUU catch still on top.

Screen-shot, Asia-Pacific Journal, Pacific Bluefin Tuna

So, all you ecologically aware seafood lovers out there, please take that feel good poster at your eco-friendly grocer or sustainable sushi bar with a pinch of salt. Choose 'fully fished' over 'over-fished' and can 'farmed' if it's fed on wild caught fish.