Gille ESYS 10 1 Farewell My Lovely Fishes 1 I staggered up the stairs to my office around 11 still reeling a bit from yesterday s roaring surf which had knocked me down more than once My immune system also seemed to be fighting back a virus which I d probably picked up from the outfall pipe that empties onto the beach near my favorite break My office is what real estate agents would call a two room suite I keep the outer room unlocked for the rare occasions when a client shows up and needs a place to wait The inner room which resembles a closet is my private thinking space When I pushed open the door my nose was immediately engulfed in a smell that told me I had a visitor and apparently one who had only just emerged from the ocean A woman dressed in a wet suit jumped up to greet me It s about time you got here she reprimanded and then without hesitating she launched into her request I m Wanda Poisson My contact at the department of Fish and Game said that you are a discreet and persistent detective I need your help Really I asked Usually at this point in an interview clients ask me to track down missing wives or missing jewels but something told me Wanda s request would have a different flavor I ve been diving off the coast of California since I was a child she explained In that time the kelp forest has transformed completely and many of the fish have disappeared I want you to find out what s happened to all the fish When did you first realize the fish were disappearing It s been a gradual change I used to see a variety of abalone and big fishes when I dove Then for a while I chased rock fish along the bottom This morning there seemed to be nothing My brother runs a fishing boat and he says the fishing fleet isn t catching much anymore even with all their new technology Hmmm Something needs to be done Maybe a foreign fishing boat is coming along our coastline in the middle of the night and stealing our fish Maybe all the runoff coming through the storm sewers is polluting the ocean Or do you think El Nin o or global warming is driving the fish away This is no easy case I said Somehow I have a feeling the culprit is nothing as simple as El Nin o I might not be able to find one easy villain How many months are you willing to keep paying me Wanda scowled a bit at the mention of money You ve got to help I explained my usual fees Well just work on one type of fish See what you can do in a week And try to find a solution so that the fish come back With that she disappeared out of my office How was I going to begin Although people sometimes blame the disappearance of fish on pollution or climate fluctuations scientists now believe that overfishing is the biggest factor responsible for depleting fish stocks for numerous species world wide Today a complex set of political decisions determine where and when fishing boats are allowed to work The basic principles are simple If too many fish are caught then there are not enough adults to produce babies and the fish populations will go extinct Implementation of policy is a different problem 1 with apologies to Raymond Chandler Gille ESYS 10 2 Since 1982 the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention has required participating countries to prevent overfishing in their own Exclusive Economic Zones and to regulate their own flagged ships on the high seas However different countries enforced this differently and some fishing boats actively sought to carry flags from countries that did not strongly regulate their actions on the high seas Starting in 1993 the FAO Compliance Agreement says that countries cannot allow their flagged vessels to fish on the high seas unless they are able to control their fishing operations The 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement tries to set up a structure to make all fishing boats comply with regional fisheries organizations such as the US Canadian effort to regulate fishing on the Grand Banks off the coast of New England The fish stocks agreement has not yet been ratified and not all regional organizations have articulated policies In those that do have policies fisheries biologists and commercial fishing boats may not be in agreement about the merits of the existing rules Fish farming offers an alternate means to bring fish to market but has its own problems In our study of overfishing each group will investigate one component of the Pacific Ocean fisheries 1 As a group choose a fishery to study Suggested fisheries are abalone rockfish salmon sardines or tuna though you may pursue other choices Sign up for your fishery choice on the blackboard 2 Identify a list of stakeholders who will be concerned with fishery policy The information in this handout should suggest some possibilities 3 What do you expect will be relevant issues to consider to understand how to manage the fishery that you ve chosen Assign each member of your group to represent one of the stakeholders in the fishery that you are studying Research issues might include finding out about the fish that are caught and their life cycle learning the methods used to catch the fish and determining the current regulations Can the fish be farmed How vulnerable are they to climate change and pollution Do they live in U S territorial waters within the U S Exclusive Economic Zone or in international waters You ll also want to think about general fisheries policy You ll want to be sure to think about the perspectives of biologists fishing boats government regulators fish farmers and international policy makers among others In session 2 of this case study be prepared to work out with your group a fisheries management plan that will be acceptable to all of the stakeholders Gille ESYS 10 3 California s Fisheries are Collapsing SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE JANUARY 1997 Once fishing in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast was a simple story salmon sardines and tuna Now it is virtually anything that swims Overfishing off California s coast is harming dozens of species It is undoing ecosystems and turning a rich ocean environment into a watery wasteland Drift nets stretch for miles trawlers scour the ocean bottom and new mass fishing methods sprout from hook studded PVC pipes to wiremesh fish traps banned in Florida and other places In six decades California s commercial catch has plunged 76 percent from 1 8 billion pounds in 1935 to 425 9 million pounds in 1995 Commercial harvest figures help tell the tale Red abalone down 67 percent 1975 95 Pacific angel shark down 85 percent