Marine Biodiversity and Fisheries Governance Michael Kidd

Structure of Presentation Marine biodiversity Fisheries: Context (SOFIA) Fisheries governance: who, ‘hard law’ and ‘soft law’ Bad management decisions IUU fishing Subsidies Governance Tools

Marine Biodiversity Oceans contain – 32 of 34 known animal phyla on Earth Between and 10 million species Marine/coastal habitats include: mangrove forests coral reefs sea grass beds estuaries in coastal areas hydrothermal vents seamounts and soft sediments on the ocean floor.

Importance of marine biodiversity Food – fisheries Oxygen production Carbon sink Travel and tourism Other ecosystem services: water quality, flood control Loss of marine biodiversity adversely affects ecosystem services (Worm et al (2006))

Threats to marine biodiversity Threats to marine biodiversity: Overfishing/destructive fishing/IUU fishing Pollution Eutrophication Hypoxic zones (dead zones) Habitat destruction Climate change Ocean acidification Alien species

The State of Fisheries: SOFIA 2012

SOFIA 2012

Employment: fisheries sector supports livelihoods of % of world’s population Total number fishing vessels (2010): 4.36 million (3.23 marine; 69% of which engine-powered) Food security: fish responsible for 15 or more percent of animal protein for 4.3 billion people

SOFIA 2012

‘In the long term, the status of tuna stocks (and consequently catches) may further deteriorate unless there are significant improvements in their management. This is because of the substantial demand for tuna and the significant overcapacity of tuna fishing fleets’ (at 12).

SOFIA 2012 ‘The declining global marine catch over the last few years together with the increased percentage of overexploited fish stocks and the decreased proportion of non-fully exploited species around the world convey the strong message that the state of world marine fisheries is worsening and has had a negative impact on fishery production. Overexploitation not only causes negative ecological consequences, but it also reduces fish production, which further leads to negative social and economic consequences. To increase the contribution of marine fisheries to the food security, economies and well-being of the coastal communities, effective management plans must be put in place to rebuild overexploited stocks. The situation seems more critical for some highly migratory, straddling and other fishery resources that are exploited solely or partially in the high seas. The United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement that entered into force in 2001 should be used as a legal basis for management measures of the high seas fisheries’ (at ). Emphasis added.

Fisheries governance The key determinant of sustainability is governance— the ‘sum of the legal, social, economic and political arrangements used to manage fisheries’ (Grafton et al 2008)

Fisheries: Who governs? UNGA Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP) UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS) IMO International Sea-bed Authority (ISA) IOC-UNESCO MEA Secretariats (eg CBD) Regional fisheries bodies (RFB) Regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) UNEP Regional Seas Programmes Global Environment Facility (GEF) Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Programmes Coastal states (EEZ – sovereign rights – UNCLOS)

Fisheries: The ‘hard law’ Law of coastal states e.g South Africa’s Marine Living Resources Act Law of confederations of states (e.g. EU): e.g. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - Implementing sustainability in EU fisheries through maximum sustainable yield {SEC(2006) 868} International conventions e.g. UNCLOS & UN Fish/Straddling Stocks Agreement 1995 Decisions of RFMOs

Fisheries: The ‘soft law’ FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries International Plans of Action (eg IPOA on IUU Fishing)

IUU Fishing the only culprit? Picture source: Greenpeace (

IUU Fishing: The only culprit? Grand Banks cod fishery ICCAT - The International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna?

Reasons for bad decisions Inappropriate models: e.g. maximum sustainable yield Here lies the concept. MSY. It advocated yields too high. And didn’t spell out how to slice the pie. We bury it with the best of wishes. Especially on behalf of fishes.

Reasons for bad decisions Inappropriate models: e.g. maximum sustainable yield Scientists employed by RFMOs Scientific uncertainty Decision-makers ignore scientists

Back to IUU fishing Extent of IUU fishing: Between $10 billion and 23.5 billion annually Between million tons Agnew et al (2008)) i.e. over 10% of total marine catch How to combat IUU fishing (COFI, July 2012): FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing Criteria for Flag State Performance Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels

Other problems: Subsidies Extent: SOFIA: for 2003, ‘harmful’ subsidies = $16.2 billion out of $27 billion annually and globally Clover (2004): Japan (1999) $2.5 billion (24% of value of landings) EU $1.16 billion (17%) USA $1.1 billion (30%) Subsidies being addressed by WTO (see Rio=20 The Future We Want para 173) (little progress since 2001)

Governance Tools Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) Integrated Coastal Zone Management Marine Protected Areas CBD COP 10 decision – 10% by 2020 (approx 1% currently) Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) Programme

CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (Aichi Targets) Target 6: By 2020 all fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably, legally and applying ecosystem based approaches, so that overfishing is avoided, recovery plans and measures are in place for all depleted species, fisheries have no significant adverse impacts on threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits.

Bibliography to be supplied

Thank you – ngiyabonga!