Tuesday, June 15, 2004

It would cost governments billions less to protect the world's oceans than it does to fund subsidies for fishing fleets and will result in larger catches in the long run, according to a new study by WWF and the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Reuters reports. The study was published yesterday in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and pushes for the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs). It says the establishment of a network of MPAs spanning 30 percent of the oceans would cost $12 billion to $14 billion per year, far less than the $15 billion to $30 billion spent annually on commercial fisheries, which environmentalists say encourages overfishing.

"MPAs turn around fisheries and build up (fish) populations in adjacent areas," said Callum Roberts, one of the study's authors, who is a fisheries biologist at the United Kingdom's University of York. "In St. Lucia, in the Caribbean, fish catches increased by 50 to 100 percent as a consequence of MPAs created in 1995."

Some argue that government subsidies, particularly in the European Union, keep unprofitable boats at sea and essentially pay them to hunt dwindling fish stocks.

"It (fishing subsidies) encourages too much capital into the industry and people are fishing for subsidies rather than fish in the end," Roberts said.

The report says setting up the MPAs would preserve marine services valued at $7 trillion each year, including money generated from tourism, fishing, waste recycling and the price of coastal properties. The study also estimates that the MPA system would generate between 830,000 to 1.1 million full-time jobs. Additional jobs could be expected from increased fish catches and ecotourism, the study says.

While the study's authors would like to see 30 percent of the oceans protected, only 0.5 percent is currently protected, compared with 12 percent of protected land.

According to WWF, marine habitat loss now equals or exceeds the loss of rain forests, with 60 percent of coral reefs expected to disappear by 2030 at the current rate of decline (Ed Stoddard, Reuters/Planet Ark, June 15).
Published in UN Wire - Copyright, National Journal Group, Year 2004