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1ANUARY
1976
1
MINING TIIE SEAS
OF TOMORROW'S
FISH
by
Mlke Wood and John Stettaford
LONDON: Cod and chips are still a
tasty part of tbe staple British diet - but
for how much longer?
The
humbl~ cod~
like ever:y popular
species of fish we eat, is threatened by
tbree decades of intensive "super" fish–
ing, which
is
fast depleting tbe suppos–
edly inexhaustible supply of fisb in tbe
seas.
The end of World War 11 left most
nations desperately shon of food and
without tbe time to grow food on farrns.
Maritime countries seized on fish to
meet tbe immediate need. Left largely
undisturbed for
six
war-time years, the
oceans were teeming with aU ldnds of
fish.
FoUowing the war
a
crash program of
building modero fishing Heets was be–
gun. The new vessels took every advan–
tage of naval electronic detection and
navigational devices developed during
tbewar.
Even tbe cbange from the cumber–
some coal-fired
steam
engine 10 the
compact, powerful - and (tben) cheap
to operate - diese! engine made long
distance deep sea fishing practica! for
tbe first time. And tbe development of
deep free:z.e in tbe early '50s completed
the required tecbnology.
Russlan Supremacy
Today national fisbing fleets roam
every international sea. By far the larg–
est fleet belongs to the Soviet Union.
She now has more than twice as many
modero, sopbisticated large trawlers
than
all
otber nations put 10gether. Ja–
pan, according· 10 Lloyd's Register of
Shipping, is in second place with a fleet
approaching half tbe amount of the
So–
viet gross tonnage.
But fishiog has become too efficienl!
The ability to locate and capture
fisb may weU bave outstripped natural
rales of replacement. Fleeis continue to
increase, but fish catches are dropping
despi\e tbe introduction of new tech–
nology to find fish.
Sonar, originally developed to locate
unseen submarines lurking under water,
has been so successfully employed
10
locate fisb tbat hundreds of 10ns of fish
can be cailght in one draw of the net.
Nets able 10 enclose the
whole
of Lon–
don's St. Paul's Cathedra.l are not un–
common!
Basil Parish, a British fisheries expert,
recently stated on B.B.C. radio that
greater sophistícation of fishing metbods
is no answer to tbe naturallaw ofdimin–
isbing returns currently being experi–
enced by fishermen.
The cumulative effect of using these
kinds of!echnology has been lo virtually
mine tbe seas clean of tomorrow's fisb in
some areas.
The Threat of Extinction
At thc; moment political squabbles are
overriding far more serious issues. While
the large fishing nations continue 10 dis–
agree over fishing rights and the extent
of territorial waters, for example, one
crucial aspect of tbe problem is not re–
ceiving enough attention: researeh into
tbe ability of key fish species to replen–
ish their kind.
Great hopes were placed in the recent
Law of the Sea Conference to address
both the ecological and political prob–
lems of world fishing. But apafl from
publicizing the problems, the only con–
crete agreement at the conference was to
meet again later. ••
•
•
Sorne e<:ologists believc that
it
m\lst–
be left to the fish tbemselves 10 solve the
problem if man can't - or won'L This
may be a solution. but it won't mean
more fish, at least for a while. The rea–
soning goes:
lf
stocks continue to plum–
met, fishing
will
become more difficult
and therefore less profitable.
Less
ships
will venture into tbe seas, so that less
fish
will
be caught and therefore more
will survive to replenisb fish stocks.
Bul other ecologists fear that pollu–
tion, presenlly thought to be killing
large numbers of fish in cenain arcas
(the Black and Mediterranean seas in
particular), 10getber with otber as yel
unknown and unsuspected effects of
man's disturbance of the natural bal–
an ce of
sea
creatures, may cause sorne
fish species 10 become extinct.
Nor can illegal methods, hopefully
not too widespread , be discounted .
Using smaller mesh nets than those in–
temationally agreed upon, for example,
plunders tbe younger, immature smaller
fish beforc giving them a chance 10
breed and affects fish stocks for years to
come. ·
ln the long term, to avoid a potential
fish famine, nations are going lo have to
put aside 'politics and agree who fishes
what, where, when and bow much, or
Friday's
cod
and chips will only be a
nice memory within a decade or so - or
become as expensive
As
caviar, once
stsple fare for Russian peasants and
now the food ofonly tbe very rich.
History teaches, however, tbal nations
and people rarely give up food or food
sources without a fight. The isolated
"cod
wars" of the 60s and 70s could weU
be paled into insignificance by any fu–
ture greedy intemational scramble to
overfish the world's oceans. O
11