INTRODUCTION

Cod caught in a net

The fishing industry plays an important role in my life and across the world, yet we never really take the time to think just how important the role of fish is. Many groups enjoy fish resources and use these resources for various types of fishing; the three main ones are subsistence fishing, recreational fishing, and commercial fishing. But how these groups utilize and in some cases exploit the industry will have a serious impact on our fishing resources. With the global health trend increasing, fish has become increasingly popular, the average person now eats 6kg more fish than what they did 50 years ago (SASSI on World Wide Foundation, 2010). Through various discourses and concepts I will investigate how humans interact with our environment, what human’s views are on overfishing and hopefully find the common problem. We all know about the decline of fish in this industry, but how serious is it really? Is the seriousness of the issue being portrayed in the media? What role do we play? Can the problems be solved in the future? These are the questions that I hope to uncover in this essay.

CURRENT STATE OF OUR OCEANS

The BlueFin Tuna

“Overfishing occurs when fish are caught faster than what they can reproduce” (Overfishing on The Grid, 2004) in 2002, 72% of the worlds fishing resources were being harvested faster than they could produce, one fourth of the total catch was being wasted which is roughly 27 million tones. According to the United Nations 47% of global fish stocks are completely lost with no hope of recovery from these fish; a further 18% are being over-exploited. As harvests shrink and undersized fish are caught the price of fish continues to rise, making it less affordable to low-income communities (Overfishing on The Grid, 2004). If overfishing continues at the rate it is now everybody in the fishing industry will be out of business by 2048 (Campaign to combat overfishing on Business-ethics, 2011).

LOCAL VIEW

A local fisherman

Currently South Africa’s off-shore fishing stocks don’t seem to be in danger but issues with our in-shore fishing resources is said to be of serious concern. Some rural areas depend on these fish to feed their families or barter with other people in the community for other farming produce. However, poor management of these small-scale fishers and poachers from around the world are coming to steel abalone from our coast lines, and this seems to be the problem with the declining resources. Six out of ten of the most popular in-shore fishes are almost extinct and our valuable abalone has been demolished by poachers (Coastline of South Africa on WWF, 2010). To build these particular marine resources up again will take radical steps, but it is imperative that changes are made as the benefits to the community and environment will be immense.

One of the biggest problems we have in South Africa is the lack of management with regards to the control of illegal fishing; this can be from poachers to recreational fishing. The correct term is IUU fishing which includes illegal, unreported and unregulated. When fishermen don’t report what they have taken for the day proper statistics cannot be made and therefore they can’t determine which fish are in danger. Illegal fishing includes: taking undersized fish, taking more than your quota for the day; having disrespect for any other environment impacts around you; and avoid paying taxes - which allows you to charge cheaper prices for their fish (Illegal fishing on WWF, 2010). This causes instability in fishing markets, loss of income from legal fishermen and overall decrease in sustainability of environment.



The bycatch caught while fishing for tuna



Impacts of fishing methods in some way or another will have an impact on the environment. The World Wide Foundation has established certain factors and different levels that they will take into account before deeming the method as unacceptable for the environment. This includes: 1) Bycatch which includes all the organisms that are caught when fishing for a certain species, for example when fishing for Hake, Kingklip gets caught as well. However, Kingklip is scarce and therefore does not have its own fishing department therefore it is managed as a bycatch of the Hake fishery (Impacts of fishing on WWF, 2010). 2) Incidental mortality, this refers to unintentional deaths caught during fishing actions. 3) Selectivity, where no fish is wasted during the catches and top fishing gear is used. 4) Habitat damage, physical destruction of underwater habitats. Some of these habitats are permanently damaged and this reduces the number of shelters for fish. (Impacts of fishing on WWF, 2010). As we can see it is human activities that play the biggest role in destroying of the marine environment, there should be stricter rules and regulations with regards to these factors. They should consider banning the trawlers from fishing completely if they don’t abide by the regulations, why should they get a second chance when the environment doesn’t?

GLOBAL VIEW

“There is no other business more globalised than the seafood industry - it is the most primary commodity in the world” (Unsustainable Harvest on WWF, 2010). This means that what is sold locally and globally will have an environmental impact on our oceans. Developing a sustainable seafood industry will require a holistic approach, by addressing all areas of the value chain – from the fishermen’s hook to the final product sold at the supermarket.

Despite a global movement trying to stop the further destruction of our oceans there remains global industralised fishing on quite a substantial scale. In spite of the evidence showing what will happen to the fish over the long term, we continue to raid our oceans (State of the Oceans on Green Peace, 2011).

Currently the Green Peace has tried to expose companies that are selling fish that are endangered, focusing on America. They have started a project called Carting Away the Oceans; over the last four years that the project has been running they have tracked progress and innovation throughout the seafood value chain. They have encouraged supermarkets to incorporate sustainability into their seafood practices to provide sustainable seafood options for consumers. Although they admit that there are many seafood retailers still not co-operating and don’t seem to care about the effects on the ocean. Going into 2011 Green Peace decided to take on a more aggressive approach by doing a direct campaign to expose these companies by taking online and offline actions. The result was positive as the company they were targeting final released sustainable seafood statement, where they promise to discontinue any unsustainable fishing practices (State of the oceans on Green Peace, 2011). People from all over the world are demanding change across the globe. Activists are confronting companies directly with emails, letters, in-store demonstrations and other creative tactics, pressurising companies to become sustainable fishing practices.

Supermarkets around the world need to realise the buying power they hold over the fishing industry to try create positive change, they can become the leaders in the environmental movement towards sustainable practices. Supermarkets are the biggest connections to the oceans; most of the world buys their fish over the counter. Change can be made with a proactive stance, by supporting governmental initiatives, removing unsustainable fish from their stock rooms, provide more point-of-purchase information to customers – this will create transparency (State of the oceans on Green Peace, 2011).

Fish Sold at supermarkets

As more fish stocks decrease, high-tech industrialised fishing fleets are under pressure to catch more fish faster and even find new species which they can exploit. Fish no longer have anywhere to hide as they companies hunt them down with new technologies (Dead ahead on Green Peace, 1998). United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation are putting reduction programs in place to prevent over-capacity and wasteful fishing (Overfishing on The Grid, 2004).

The demand for seafood has driven fishing fleets into new fishing territories around the world. Before in the 1950’s fishing was done around your countries water today they are reaching into deep unknown waters that haven’t been claimed by anyone. To compensate for the increasing market they are fishing large predators like Tuna and salmon, which makes people believe there is plenty of fish available. A Global study done be SeafoodPrint says that rich nations are to blame for this and have completely underestimated their impacts. They suggest that if this does not end quickly the abundance of fish would fall dramatically, with only the rich being able to afford seafood options (Greenberg, P. 2010: p.88). Preservationists believe that technology will be able to tackle any problem for limited resources, but we can see that it was actually technology that has accelerated the exploitation of fish (Hannigan, J. 1995: p.43).

We can look at the fish system in terms of ecosystem discourse as marine life form an interwoven ecosystem, where there is an exchange of energy and nutrients with the natural system (Hannigan, J. 1995: p.44). For example, your large predators like tuna eat the intermediate predators like squid, which eat the first-order consumer like zooplankton, who eat the primary producers phytoplankton (Greenberg, P. 2010: p.82). If any change had to occur within this system at any point it would have tremendous consequences at all the other points (Hannigan, J. 1995 p.43). The fish system will focus on the new approach to ecology as it has become a scarce resource with the amount of over fishing taking place. Commoner (1971) breaks down the environmental crisis into four laws of ecology which relates to the marine ecosystem perfectly, they are: ‘everything is connected to everything else’; ‘everything must go somewhere’; ‘nature knows best’; ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’ (Hannigan, J. 1995: p.45).

The European Council of Fisheries adopted a long term recovery plan for endangered species, which also included social factors for the fishermen. The plan aims to increase stocks of Cod by 30% and Hake by 5% over the next ten years. For threatened species there will be multi-annual programs for each area, this will involve fish quotas, restrictions on fishing effort and tighter policies (European fishing quotas on The Grid, 2004). I believe that if this should work, the policies created could be used by other countries as a base line strategy; they could just adapt it to what suits their communities best.

ADVERTISING AND MEDIA CAMPAIGNS

There are four campaigns I will be discussing.

1.      ‘The End Of The Line’ documentary campaign

Firstly the documentary called ‘The End of The Line’ was launched in 2009 about the destructive effects of overfishing. The catch phrase for the movie is ‘imagine an ocean without fish’. In the movie they show how the world has affected our ocean with the almost extinction of the Bluefish Tuna due to the demand of sushi; the impact on marine life and what our future will look like without any fish. It was filmed over two years by a reporter Charles Clover who investigates and challenges Politian’s and celebrity restaurateurs, who turn a blind eye to the damaging consequences they are creating. The film is shot across the world - from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Alaska to the Tokyo fish markets (The end of seafood on endoftheline, 2009).

The film actually puts the responsibility on consumers who naively buy endangered fish from restaurants, politicians who ignore advice from scientists, fishermen who break quotas and the global fishing industry who is slow to react to the consequences that lie ahead. Yet the film provides solutions, so everybody can make a difference (The end of Seafood on endoftheline, 2009).

The End of the Line is not only a documentary it is a global campaign for people to demand better marine policies. It will be released worldwide in numerous formats and venues, which include theaters, television networks, film festivals, online video campaigns, aquariums, museums and special screenings. Overall the film is not against fishing or eating fish but just asking people to be responsible about the fish they buy (The end of Seafood on endoftheline, 2009).

2.      The World Wide Foundation campaign for Bluefin Tuna overfishing – ONLINE ADVERTISING

The world wide Foundation led a campaign showing the BluefinTuna fish with three different mask of animals they thought people cared more about. For example the fish with a panda mask on and the pay-off line stating “Would you care more if I was a panda?” I feel this is done fantastically as it gets you thinking about why we don’t give fish as much attention in the media? We never hear stories of how fish are treated badly but there will be a huge outcry if rhinos are being slaughtered till extinction. Why don’t we feel sentimental or emotional towards fish? Is it because we don’t see them as being cute and soft like a panda we can exploit them easier? Fish are animals too, yet we just see them as food, but if that food was taken away I think then we would we only see the value in them. People in general do not care about protecting fish or taking a stand on the issue as much as they do with other animals.

Paul Greenberg (2010, p.80) a National Geographic investigator went to a seafood summit in Honolulu Harbor where about two dozen buyers enter the factory full of carcasses; he describes the situation like this, “Tuna as big as wagon wheels, spearfish and swordfish with their bills sawed off, their bodies all lined up…auctioneers drill core samples from their lifeless white bellies. Buyers finger these samples for quality…as instructions come over the cell phone, bids are conveyed to the auctioneer through mysterious hand gestures…little sheets of paper are slapped on a fishes flank when the sale is finalized.” From this description we can see how ill treated these fish are, they are treated like clothing that can be thrown around and prices attached to them in large factories. Here animals are seen as a spectacle; the auctioneers observe them and judge them. All our knowledge about the fish and how helpless they have become in the sea gives us human’s complete power over them (Burger, J, 1980: p.27). I feel especially in the case of fish it is this power that separates us from them, we have no emotional connection with them, and we will never be their ‘friends’.

In today’s society with regards to the fishing industry we accept the enlightenments view of nature purely being used as a ‘physical’ resource to be used in an unemotional and scientific way life’ (Dickens, P. 2004: p.4). Fish is never seen in a Romanticised way, perhaps dolphins and whales are admired but majority of fish that are consumed are treated as food and nothing else. Romanticism views nature as having its own qualities and not just for its value as an economic resource, for the views of people to change and see fish in this manner will take a long time, perhaps when fish are all endangered.

 Through this advert they hope to give fish a voice and make people more emotional towards them, so that they can think twice before ordering endangered fish again and also think about how they are treated in general.

3.      Campaign by Oceana to stop fishing subsidies – OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

This campaign really went unnoticed and didn’t have the same emotional connection as the advert for WWF. Yet it is addressing a different issue and one that is just as important in the fishing industry and some exposure is better than no exposure at all. The pay-off line for this billboard advert is, ‘subsidies are fishing the world’s oceans to death – it’s time to cut the bait.’ The non-profit group Oceana started this campaign in 2010 to persuade the World Trade Organisation to ban subsidies that allow the exhaustion of fishing stocks to continue. Although governments have clearly seen the impacts of what overfishing has done over the last 50 years they continue to provide huge subsidies. Roughly $20 billion annually is given to various fishing sectors and these fleets are fishing at a level which is 2.5 times more than what is necessary for sustainable fishing levels (Campaign to combat overfishing on Business-ethics, 2011). Perhaps this advert was aimed at governments only and therefore it did not have the impact it wanted amongst citizens, but it allows us to question things and make the public aware of what is really going on behind closed doors. It is up to the media to bring the issue up more often and expose as many people who are not being sustainable as possible.

4.      Campaign by SASSI on bycatch fishing – PRINT ADVERTISING

This advert was placed in the Fairlady magazine and the first time I read the magazine I didn’t even notice the advert. When I eventually did see it I wasn’t emotionally drawn to it but wanted to read more. The image is of a variety of different types of fish parts built up to make one fish, the catch phrase is “ONLY A PORTION OF THE CATCH IN LONG LINE TUNA FISHING IS TUNA”. The advert is trying to make you more emotional about the issue by adding a dolphin, turtle, seal and shark to the image so people might take action about the issue at hand as people are more drawn to those fish than tuna and salmon images. The advert is also making society aware of what is happening and encouraging people to do something about it, in the fine print they say “to ensure the fish you buy is environmentally friendly, text our number (079 499 8795) with the type of fish and you’ll receive a sms back as to whether it is in the red, orange or green category.” (For the love of our oceans, 2011, p.70)

CAPE TOWN CASE STUDY - ABALONE POACHING





What the abalone looks like



Hawston beach

Up until the early 1990’s abalone fishing was seen as completely commercial and occasionally used for recreation purposes. The sector at that time brought in R70 million in capital investments and had lasted successfully for 50 years. The case study started in 1995 and was completed in 1999; it was centered on the coastal community of Hawston, 130km east of Cape Town. It was done in a time where South African fishing management was going through a transformation process; the problem they wanted to focus on was the illegal exploitation of marine resources. This study revolves around a criminological look at abalone poaching, both legal and illegal as well as looking at the severity of the problems it will cause. While Abalone Fishery is one of the smallest in South Africa still today in 2011 it holds the most value, this makes it a prime target for illegal poachers. The underlying issue the study also hopes to bring up is that alternative methods of regulation need to be addressed and then inserted into the socio-political context of South Africa as well as looking at the international shift taking place in fisheries management. The case study then attempts to investigate how poaching activities are preventing South Africa from sustainable resources management (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).



The case study methodology revolved around qualitative interviewing, observing and interacting with residents within the close community and two months of extensive residential fieldwork. The findings are represented in a complete analysis of poaching, impact on resources and socio-economic implications (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).

Impacts of over-exploitation on the resource have led to its collapse in the area. Evidence from the confiscated samples indicated that the poachers were taking abalone that was undersized which means that the population cannot successfully reproduce (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).



Police catch poachers



The implications socially were just as significant. Conflict and competition rose among commercial divers and poachers who were living in the same community, often leading to violence. The division in the community had an impact on the community decision-making and development. The youth in the area started to get involved in poaching to get more money for drugs and alcohol which led to increased gang involvement and related criminal activities. The general quality of life for locals had diminished as they feared for their lives, often when they felt they could pose a threat to the illegal operations. The poaching also posed an economic threat by putting illegal abalone on the international market, therefore increasing competition and demand for the resource. In addition, if the abalone resource continues to decline there will be severe consequences in the coastal communities (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999). Many coastal communities depend on abalone fishing for an income; if it were to be taken away they would have to find alternative jobs which often require skills they don’t have.

The complexity of the problem is more than what it seems. Firstly, it involves many role players; they include divers, bag carriers, look-outs, transporters, buyers, employed and unemployed people who are involved in the hierarchy of poaching. As we can see there are many involved in the poaching activity it’s difficult to define exactly who a poacher is. Secondly, the complexity is increased when you look at the reason people get involved in poaching, three reasons were uncovered in the Hawston case, and they were: need, greed and politics. Local residents saw poverty in the area as a major contributor to the issues related to poaching. If there is a quick and simply way for men to food their families they are going to take it. The large amounts of money they received for the abalone was also a factor leading more and more people to get involved. Thirdly, the political issue was that poachers felt that due to past oppression during the apartheid policies and access rights should be revisited. Thus trying to justify their actions. Lastly, a problem which continues to fuel the problem is organised crime. The poachers responsible for supplying the Far East demand live on this profitable and illegal market. In China it is believed that abalone helps with fertility, delaying senility and an aphrodisiac. The high demand for the resource therefore increases the price with Chinese Black Market. These syndicates use the small and poverty stricken communities to extract the abalone and sustain their profitable trade at the same time Overall this leads to higher organised crimes rates throughout South Africa. Another obstacle that seems to be filtering into the industry is the corruption of the authorities, both within the community (Hauck, M and Sweijd, N, 1999).



Here we can see that these poachers are using nature as an economic resource. Glanwell paraphrased a comment from Bacon which for me sums up what people in the fishing industry think like as well, ‘nature being known …may be mastered, managed and used to service the human life’ (Dickens, P. 1995: p.2). From the amount of exploitation the oceans have had to endure, humans clearly believe that fish are purely there for our consumption without thinking about the consequences. I do believe God has given us this resource to use freely, but as long as there is money and greed involved it was destined to fail from the beginning. Over the last 50 years the amount of seafood consumed has quadrupled from 16.7 million tons of fish to 77.9 tons of fish in 2006 (Greenberg, P. 2010: p. 81), this for me is a measurement of greed. 

CONCLUSION

Clearly there is problem with the amount and rate at which fish is being taken out of our ocean, and at this point in time it has reached a critical point. The other problem we have is that consumers are not fully aware of the seriousness of the problem. Consumers today don’t want to go research the problem, they like things spoon fed to them in an easy and simple way to understand. I believe that consumers will make better decisions if they are properly informed about which fish to avoid; this can be done in fish shops, on restaurant menu and their websites, television adverts, and food magazines. The more people know about which fish to avoid eating the better for the ocean.

Restaurants play a big role the fish system as at the end of the day they have the choice of which fish to buy, and once they see that society cares more about the endangered fish they will be forced to make wiser fish decisions. The other more forceful way to go about it is to simply stop giving suggestions to everyone involved in the seafood value chain and make certain obligations within it.

 There needs to be a mindset change for everyone in the value chain as there is no longer abundance within our seas and they must stop greedily fighting for whatever is left but rather look at the future, the role of fish in society. The fact is that we need fish more than they need us, we should respect them more and see them in a different light  – they are not just food they are animals who provide us with a healthy lifestyle, income and recreation, therefore they need to be respected as much as any other animal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.      Berger, J. 1980. Why look at animals. Vintage Books: New York.

2.      Campaign to combat over-fishing 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011 from http://wwwbusiness-ethics.com/1433-the-campaign.

3.      Dead Ahead 1998. Retrieved 16 April 2011 from http://www.greenpeace.org/oceans/globaloverfishing.html

4.      Dickens, P.2004. Chapter 1. In: Society and nature: changing our environment, changing ourselves. Cambridge: Polity Press

5.      “For the love of our oceans” 2011, Fairlady magazine, January, p.70

6.      Greenberg, P. 2010. ‘Time for a sea change’, National Geographic, October, vol. 218 no.4

7.      Hannigan, J. 1995. Chapter 3. Environmental discourse. In: Environmental Sociology. New York: Routledge

8.      Hauck, M and Sweijd, N. 1999. A case study of Abalone poaching in South Africa and its impact on fisheries management. Retrieved 15 April 2011 from http://www.idealibrary.com/.

9.      Overfishing – A major threat to the global marine ecology 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2011 from http://www.grid.unep/overfishing.pdf

10.  SASSI 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2011 from http://www.wwf.org/sustainable_fisheries/sassi/

11.  State of the Oceans 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011 from http://www.greenpeace.org/global.pdf

12.  The end of seafood 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2011 from http://www.endoftheline.com/campaign/.

13.  Types of Fishing 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2011 from http://www.wwf.org/oceans_in_trouble/

IMAGE REFERENCES

1. A local fisherman 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from  http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/South_Africa/West/Eastern_Cape/Cape_Town/photo1289797.htm
2. Bluefin Tuna. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from    http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/oceans-overfishing/#/bluefin-tuna_90_600x450.jpg
3. Campaign to stop fishing subsidies. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from    http://www.sindark.com/2008/01/08/advertising-over-fishing/
4. Cod caught in a net 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/oceans-overfishing/
5. “End of the line” documentary 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from  http://www.seaaroundus.org/about/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/end_of_the_line_ver2.jpg
6. Fish sold at supermarkets. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from www.gobeyondoil.com/files/images/frontpage/oceans/sustainable_seafood/fish_counter.jpg
7. Green Peace 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from  http://mashable.com/2007/12/12/mr-splashy-pants-greenpeace/
8. Hawston beach 2002. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from  http://www.flickr.com/photos/donshappysnaps/5512027096/
9. Police catch poachers 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/gangs
10.  The bycatch caught while fishing for tuna. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from  http://www.sharklife.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=244:fish-stocks-recover-as-conservation-measures-take-effect-analysis-
11.  “would you care more if…” online adverts. Retrieved 2 May 2011 from http://beforeyoukillusall.blogspot.com/2011/03/campaign-wwf-bluefin-tuna-overfishing.html