s2ait2 Fisheries: Lost property| The Economist FIND OUT MORE > PENI wo" Fors Feo omens oom Economist Fisheries comment Lost property eel ‘The world’s fisheries are in an even worse state than feared OFF Chile's Pacific coastline, between Decenber and February, divers take to the chily waters in search of a precatory se2-snal, the loco (Concholepas concholepas). Balled land daubed in mayonnaise, tei @ local favourte, Asian gourmets prefer it stir-fried or as sesh ‘The snaifs popularity rocketed when Chile opened ts markets in the late 1970s. This was nearly its undoing: t fetched $25,000 a tonne at export and a snalrush ensued. In 1980 Chilean fsnermen landed 25,000 tonnes; by 1989, when the fishery was officaly closed stocks had colapsed. That isa sad and familar tale. But it has an inspiring sequel (On reopening the fishery, the government changed the rules. ‘Small groups of artisanal fishermen, registered a= co- In this section lace and other benthic creatures in a defi bed. They were also encouraged to chase amay legal snal-gatherers. This has been good for man and snail. Che's 0,000 artisanal fishermen now produce a steady, and lucratve, 2,500-5,000 operatives, had exclusive nights to harv area of Lost property ing nes Cited out Extracing oll, burying aon tonnes of lac a year ‘Such hopeful stones are urgently needed, as new research ‘rom Orns Costello and Steve Gaines ofthe Unversity of Related toples Calfomia, Santa Sarbare, indicates. Using an aray of catch Wort Banke and fish Ife-cycle data, they have devised a new statistical method to gauge the health of fish stecks, and applied * to 7,000 fisheries. Most, probably making up 80% of the Marne cology ond slbal cater, hac previously been subject only to sketcher fstivates compled by the UNS Food and Agrcuure eeu ond the Organisation, Based on official Agus eee The new study (under peer review for the Journal Science) ‘won economist convnode/21 548212 BraR als Pare Subscribe Now "8s2ait2 Fisheries: Lost property | The Economist reckons that those unassessed fsheries are gravely depleted, with on average about half the fishy biomass they peed to maintain their maxirum annual yield (the usual efintion of sustainabilty). Anather analysis, using the seme methad, of sround 3,500 fisheries last year reached sinlar resus, Both suggest the least-known fisheries are the rest dammged, This conflicts with the sunnier analyss of industrial fishing flets, based largely on ‘expensive studies ofa few hundred fisheries, rasty in European and American waters These are depleted but generally recovering, thanks to recent reforms. That these turn out to be exceptional cases is unsurprising. The rapacious habits of fishermen and perverse effects of the subsidies some extract from governmants are wall ‘own. Sometines overfishing stems trem ignorance and sometimes from short-termism, exacerbated by the belief that whatever they dont take, ethers wil. The cost is enormous. Besides harbouring millons of spaces, fisheries provide the privary source of protein fora billon people and livelihoods for hundreds of rillons, most of them poor. ‘The World Bank reckons that benefits (such as income and food) lost by overfishing between 1974 and 2008 amount to $2.2 tron. More happily, the new assessment reckons that only 29 of fisheries have so far colapsed—cefined as a fallto less than a tenth ofthe historical blowass. Previous estirates were higher, at up to 30%6, Yet incidences of calpse are rsing, the researchers stress; and once collapsed, fisheries do not necessary recover. Shoals of archer coc have nat yet returned to the Grand Banks fishery off Newfouncland, which collapsed in 1992. (On February 24th, at a conference in Singapore hosted by The Economist, the World Bank's outgoing head, Robert Zoelick, wil announce plans for a new assault on the sea's troubles, which also incluce aciifcation (a result of climate change) and palltion by human an¢ agricutural waste. The ambitious aims are to raise an adctional $1.5 illon for mane management; to rebuild at least haf of the fish stocks Identifies as cepleted; +o double the number of marine protected areas; and to halve the economic losses in fisheries, partly by scrapping ruinous subsicles, ‘Above all, fishermen need better incentives to manage stocks properly. This has been tried In several ways. In Iceland and elsewhere they have 2 tradable share of @ sclentfically determined quota. Or they can be glen long-term rights—akin to property rights—over an exoanse of sea, as Chile's loco snallers have. ‘According to a 2008 study by Messrs Costell, Gaines and others, ths approach works fisheries where such rights are In force are only hak as Ikely to collapse as the average fishery. Yet the spread of such schemes has been woefully slow only 2 few hundred ‘mainly rich-worl fisheries have adopted them so far. Though sensible in theory, rights- ‘based schemes are hard to get rght in practice. Getting locals on board can be dificult ‘ands slow process at best. If the target species 's especially valuable or slow~ growing, overfishing (at least in narrow economée terms) rational. That may make ‘monitoring and enforcement impractically costly Aights-based fsheres are not the only answer to overfshing. In particular, @ bt more of ‘the sea needs protecting from any fshing at al. Yet there are few better ways to make fishermen control themselves, Chik’s predatory snails, and thelr human precator, will vouehsate thet Recommend] 43) Ue) 7 View all comments (9) Related iteme ‘TOPIC: World Bank » anking in the developing word: The poor are diferent ‘The Wert Bank: Kim for present ‘won economist convnode/21 548212 ‘Topre: chile » Chile's student protests: Progress and its Sdeontents Cite: Progress and ts aiscontents Chile: Lessons from the students 1, The future of the European Union: The choles 2. Bangladesh's toxic pots: Hell, Dah 3. The eur crisis: The Greek run 4, Foreigners in China: Barbarian at the gate, 5, Europe's bigest fear: A rn they cannot stop 6. Charlemagne: The feeing’s mutual 7. 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Subserbe to The Economist and get the week's most relevant news and analysis. Fiteh Traini E >” a ; Early Bird Otter [Reeerte} Pare Saints 25%ott 2m place Freee errs Book Now PTZ i rote tenting com co Some ‘won economist convnode/21 548212 30