State of the Marine Environment Rainer Froese Leibniz

State of the Marine Environment Rainer Froese Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, Kiel If. M-GEOMAR rfroese@ifm-geomar. de

Acknowledgements • • Sea Around Us provided data Fish. Base provided data EEA provided data Daniel Pauly, Boris Worm and Ian Payne shared slides • DG Development and DG Research supported previous research

Overview • • Major Threats to European Seas Paradox of Fishing Myths about Fishing Common Sense Fisheries Policy

Europe‘s Regional Seas

Major Threats to Europe‘s Seas 1. Fishing (NE, North Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea)

Fishing Down Marine Food Webs Pauly et al. 1998 Science 279: 860 -863 Trophic Level 5 4 3 2 Watson and Pauly In: Atlas of the Ocean

Fishing Down the Food Web in the North Sea (Source: Froese and Pauly 2003) Trends in mean trophic level of annual landings from the North Sea

Major Threats to Europe‘s Seas 1. Fishing (NE, North Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea) 2. Pollution (North Sea, Baltic, Black Sea)

Pollution Regional trends of hazardous substances in fish from north-east Atlantic and Baltic regions (Source: EEA)

Major Threats to Europe‘s Seas 1. Fishing (NE, North Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea) 2. Pollution (North Sea, Baltic, Black Sea) 3. Eutrophication (Black Sea, Baltic, North Sea)

Eutrophication Chlorophyll-a concentrations in transitional, coastal and marine waters (Source: EEA)

Major Threats to Europe‘s Seas 1. Fishing (NE, North Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea) 2. Pollution (North Sea, Baltic, Black Sea) 3. Eutrophication (Black Sea, Baltic, North Sea) 4. Climate change (NE, North Sea)

Climate change Observed European annual average temperature deviations (Source: EEA)

Major Threats to Europe‘s Seas 1. Fishing (NE, North Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea) 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Pollution (North Sea, Baltic, Black Sea) Eutrophication (Black Sea, Baltic, North Sea) Climate change (NE, North Sea) Invasive species (Black Sea, Mediterranean) Local threats: Coastal developments, Mariculture, Shipping accidents

Paradox of Fishing • Reducing pollution, eutrophication, green house gases, and ballast water introductions are ‚common sense‘ solutions that seem to work. • Fishing less to get more fish is not ‚common sense‘ • Fishers and boats are less but fishing effort has increased • Focus only on reducing fishing effort has not worked in the past 100 years and is unlikely to work in the future.

Time Series of Abundance and Fishing Mortality Trends from ‘Working Group’ reports by fisheries scientists in government agencies (NMFS, DFO, DIFMAR, IFREMER, etc. ), compiled by R. A. Myers.

Myths about Fishing • There are enough fish. . .

FAO Marine Catches 1951 -1998 (Source: Froese and Pauly 2003) ?

The Northeast Atlantic, ICES (Source: Froese and Pauly 2003)

Geographic expansion of fisheries (Source: Sea Around Us) Years at and after maximum catch in half-degree cell

Myths about Fishing • There are enough fish. . . • It is the climate. . .

Source: Myers and Worm 2003. Nature 423: 280 -283

Myths about Fishing • There are enough fish. . . • It is the climate. . . • It is the pollution. . .

(t/km 2) Biomass of table fish in 1900 (Christensen et al. 2003, Fish & Fisheries)

and in 2000….

Myths about Fishing • • There are enough fish. . . It is the climate. . . It is the pollution. . . Size does not matter. . .

Size Does Matter! 1. Size at first maturity: fish caught below that size could not spawn; 2. Size at maximum yield: fish caught below that size have not yet reached optimum weight; 3. Mega-spawner size (many eggs, high egg survival, good genes): fish caught below that size have no chance to become Megaspawners

EC Minimum Size Limits Council Regulation No 2555/2001 Species EC Minimum Size Atlantic cod 41 cm Size at first Size at maturity maximum yield 60 cm 85 cm American plaice Yellowtail flounder Greenland halibut 25 cm 20 cm 25 cm 26 cm 29 cm 30 cm 58 cm 72 cm

Myths about Fishing • • There are enough fish. . . It is the climate. . . It is the pollution. . . Size does not matter. . . Recruitment can be predicted. . . Stocks will recover. . . Aquaculture is the solution. . .

Aquaculture is Part of the Problem • 3 -4 kg of wild fish to culture 1 kg of salmon • 5 kg of wild fish for 1 kg of cod • 20 kg of wild fish for fattening of 1 kg of tuna • More Aquaculture means less wild fish for human consumption

Three Simple Steps from CFP to Common Sense Fisheries Policy 1. Let them spawn – Size at first maturity is known for all stocks 2. Let them grow – Size of maximum yield per recruit is known for all stocks and is slightly beyond size at maturity 3. Let some live – Old, large fish produce more eggs, have better genes, and provide an insurance against recruitment failures

CSFP

Common Sense Fisheries Policy • Agree on biology of stock: maturity, spawning time and area, productivity • Agree on percentage of first-time spawners to be caught (10 – 50 %) • Determine annual number of first time spawners by survey on spawning grounds • Allow fishing of first-time spawners after spawning season • Provide strong incentives for catching only fish of the desired size (mix of Policy Instruments) • Only import mature fish

Thank You More information: • Froese, R. 2004. Keep it simple: three indicators to deal with overfishing. Fish and Fisheries 5: 86 -91 • Froese, R. 2004. Keep fishery management simple. ICES Newsletter 41: 9 -10 Copies available from rfroese@ifm-geomar. de