A text from Danielle Beaudon

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global fish production has reached unprecedented levels. According to the latest data, in 2014 the catch fishery reached 93.4 million tons. Most of the catch comes from sea fishing, but from the numbers, about 11.9 million tons of fish also come from continental waters.

China remains the main producer of marine fisheries, ahead of Indonesia, the United States and Russia. The Middle Kingdom also dominates inland fishing. Next are Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.

Fishery production has been fairly stable since the 1980s and aquaculture has contributed to the strong growth in world fish supply. In 1974, aquaculture accounted for only 7% of total world production. In 2014 it rose to 41%. That year, aquaculture produced 73.8 million tons of aquatic animals, mostly fish but also molluscs, crustaceans and amphibians.

China produces more than 60% of the world’s aquaculture production. It ranks first among farmed fish producers, ahead of India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Egypt.

The ravages of overfishing

According to the latest FAO report, marine resources are still in poor condition due to overfishing and the situation has not improved.

The FAO reports that nearly a third of commercial fish stocks are so overexploited that they don’t have time to reproduce. That’s three times more than in 1974. The damage doesn’t stop there. Another significant part of marine resources is being exploited to its maximum capacity.

The report stresses that the situation is alarming in the Black Sea and Mediterranean, where 59% of stocks assessed in 2013 were being fished “at biologically unsustainable levels”.

What to do to avoid the death of the seas?

In order to ensure sustainable management of fish stocks, it is necessary to favor artisanal fishing and limit industrial fishing, believes Daniel Pauly, principal investigator of the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia.

The scientist believes that local fishermen should have unrestricted access to areas along the coasts and that industrial fishermen should be restricted to marine areas.

As an example, Daniel Pauly cites the cod fishery in Newfoundland. Now that cod is back, why not give Newfoundland fishermen privileged access to this resource? “A resource that is now being given to industrial fishermen, he says, who will wipe out the stock again in a few years. »

” industrial fishermen […] Use huge boats that have too large fishing capacity relative to the resource. So a big trawler will make the authorized catch in a few days, in a few weeks, and that’s it. And it is very easy for them to go beyond what is permitted. »

Aquaculture, yes, but…

FAO figures show that half of the world’s aquaculture production of animals and plants comes from “unfertilized species” that survive in particular thanks to plankton and other grasses. Among these species: mussels, oysters and carp. This type of breeding is mainly practiced in Asia.

According to Daniel Pauly, this is the best form of aquaculture: “It’s a solution that can improve the nutrition situation of the whole world”. The expert is much less pleased with the other form of aquaculture, which is practiced primarily in the West and in which the fish have to be fed with fish. He gives the example of salmon.

” We must feed the salmon well, and what are we going to feed them? With sardines, anchovies, fish directly edible for humans. »

The scientist also suggests creating marine sanctuaries to help rebuild fish populations. He believes that inventory rebuilding should also be enforced, as is the case in the United States.

No more “terrible fishing methods”

Daniel Pauly explains that the trawler shaves everything in its path by plowing the seabed, leaving only mud and sand behind. It destroys oyster, sponge or coral reefs that have taken centuries to develop.

” This habitat change reduces the productive capacity of the sea, and that productive capacity is what we depend on because we don’t produce the seafood, we just harvest it. »

“We can also make laws that force fishermen not to discard fish they don’t like and not to eliminate discarding. Norway is leading the way,” adds Daniel Pauly.

Enough fish to feed the planet?

“Maybe we don’t have enough fish to feed everyone because the sea can’t produce them indefinitely,” the expert estimates. There is, of course, aquaculture that can help produce more fish. But even “good aquaculture” pollutes and has its limits, adds Daniel Pauly.

” In fact, the oxygen-free zones in the ocean are increasing, fisheries are shrinking and we have to be careful. We might even lose what is now. »