From: Greenpeace via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,talk.environment,alt.fishing
Subject: NEWS & INFO: "A Precautionary Approach to Fisheries Management"
Followup-To: talk.environment,alt.fishing
Date: 8 Jan 1993 00:33:39 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Keywords: environment press

[Greenpeace Press Release from Greenbase -- Redistribute Freely]
 
MORATORIUM ON EAST COAST FISH STOCKS NEEDED TO SAVE FISHERY, 
GREENPEACE TELLS CROSBIE 
 
HALIFAX, Canada December 14, 1992 (GP) The environmental 
organization Greenpeace today demanded Federal Fisheries Minister 
John Crosbie implement a total moratorium on the groundfish fishery 
in all of eastern Canada, saying that only a short-term closure 
will make the fishery viable in the long-term.   
 
A report released by Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Scientific 
Advisory Committee (CAFSAC document 92/7) shows all groundfish 
stocks (cod, haddock, plaice, pollock, redfish) to be close to 
record low levels, with below average numbers of young fish 
expected in the next several years. 
 
According to Greenpeace Fisheries Campaigner Bruno Marcocchio, "The 
overall picture is one of a classic total ecosystem collapse. The 
small-size-to-age ratio of the fish, along with their low 
abundance, indicates the system needs a rest if fish species are to 
be saved from commercial extinction." 
 
Canadian scientists have been pressured by the Minister to conform 
their advice to the political agenda of the government. The CAFSAC 
advice for cod in southern and western Newfoundland and Sydney 
Bight (3Ps,4RS3Pn, 4Vn) all show this disturbing trend. In southern 
Newfoundland (3Ps), population estimates from Canadian and French 
research vessel surveys for 1992 are considerably lower than for 
1991. Canada's survey showed a 70% decrease; France estimated a 95% 
decrease in population. Despite this, CAFSAC is recommending a 
quota cut of only 45%, or 20,000 tonnes. 
 
Canadian scientists have repeatedly ignored warnings from fishers 
that stocks are in decline and the dumping and discarding of 
undersized fish by the mobile dragger fleet is now out of control. 
In 1988 alone, reported discards totalled 11,800,000 fish in NAFO 
the southern Gulf and Sydney Bight (areas 4T and 4Vn). The actual 
number of discards was likely much higher.  
 
"John Crosbie is playing politics with both the ecosystem and 
coastal fishing communities throughout the Maritimes," Marcocchio 
said. "To avoid the pain of a short-term closure and a compensation 
package he will destroy the livelihood of coastal fishers and the 
ecosystem that has supported them for centuries." 
 
The single-species management models that view species in isolation 
have been a dismal failure not only in Eastern Canada but 
throughout all the range of the northern cod complex. For the 
impacts of a given level of fishing to be understood, this model 
must be replaced with an ecosystem-based model that factors in the 
interrelationship of various fish species, marine mammals and 
seabirds. There must be feedback mechanisms built in that allow 
action to be taken when the system shows signs of decline rather 
than ignoring even clear signs of total collapse. 
 
For more information call Bruno Marcocchio (902) 492-4046 
--------------  
 
        A PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH TO FISHERIES MANAGEMENT           
 
A cornerstone to any sound approach to fisheries must be the 
adoption of precautionary management criteria and objectives. It  
is common sense to attempt to determine the effects of what you are 
about to do before you do it, or, if that is not possible, to 
ensure that the consequences of uncertainty and miscalculation are 
minimal.  
 
As a rule, fisheries management decisions are based on drastically 
inadequate estimates of poorly understood biological processes. 
Scientific certainty regarding changes in complex ecosystems can 
not be achieved. A precautionary approach implies that the health 
of ecosystems and species must be granted the benefit of the doubt 
rather than placing the burden on the environment to show signs of 
crisis before remedial action is taken.  This means that, if 
adverse impacts on target and non-target species are detected, the 
fishery can be modified or even closed in time to prevent serious 
damage to the viability of affected populations. 
 
An effective management system consists of several interacting 
components:   
 
-    a statement of the strategic objectives of fishery  
     management ( what results are desired from the 
     management) 
-    for each fishery, operational interpretations of the 
     strategic objectives are required which can be expressed      
      in quantitative terms (to allow an evaluation to be 
     made of whether or not the objectives are being met) 
-    a scientific procedure or set of rules for determining        
    the management measures to be imposed (TACs, effort 
     limitation, mesh size, etc.) from the available data. 
     This procedure must have been tested by simulation and        
    demonstrated to be capable of meeting the operational 
     objectives with a high probability, in spite of the 
     various types of uncertainty inherent in fisheries 
     management. 
-    built in feedback mechanisms to respond to changes in 
     the environment no matter what their cause. 
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive