Whats behind the decline in the fishing industry globally?
The reason the fishing industry has been in decline is because we have provided no refuges for animals from exploitation. We have reached the point that for many of the most commercially valuable species there are no fish surviving to reproductive maturity. In the past, fisheries management has taken no account of the habitat in which fish live. It has always been assumed that the means to support fish production will be there. Now, we are beginning to realize that this assumption is deeply flawed. The problem is many of techniques we use to harvest fish destroy the habitat those fish need to survive. By taking a dragger or trawler into the North Sea or Georges Bank [off Cape Cod] what we’re doing is mowing down the fish habitat while catching fish. We are catching fish in a way that damages their habitat and compromises our ability to achieve sustainable fisheries. Q: Why would that be the case? A: One of the problems is the way we fish: catching bigger animals and leaving little ones
