/ 25 July 2007

New fishing plan aims to save sea life

A plan to reduce the effects of commercial fishing fleets within Southern Africa’s so-called Benguela-current large marine ecosystem (BCLME) was released in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Experts have hailed it as a clear and practical way of implementing an ”ecosystem approach to fisheries” (EAF) policy in the region, and say putting it in place will reduce the effects of commercial fishing on vulnerable species such as turtles, seabirds and sharks.

It is estimated that more than 33 000 seabirds and 4 200 sea turtles are killed each year by long-line fishing fleets in the BCLME, which covers the area of Atlantic Ocean stretching from South Africa to Angola.

The plan, titled Ecological Risk Assessment: A Tool for Implementing an Ecosystem Approach for Southern African Fisheries, was launched jointly by the conservation organisation WWF-SA and the BCLME programme.

The BCLME programme is a multinational initiative involving the governments of Angola, Namibia and South Africa, and aims to manage and protect marine resources and the environment in the waters off the sub-continent’s west coast.

Both South Africa and Namibia committed themselves at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg five years ago to implement an EAF by 2012.

Target species

WWF-SA and the BCLME programme say fisheries in the region have traditionally been managed by ”single-species” techniques, where the main aim is to maintain the target species at commercially viable levels.

”This narrow management approach has been held responsible for the current poor state of our global oceans and declining socio-economic returns for those that depend on it.

”The new approach [EAF] refocuses fisheries management on maintaining the overall health of the marine ecosystem that sustains commercially important species,” the organisations said in a joint press release.

Recent workshops had identified the main ecological risks to southern Africa’s marine resources as:

  • the effects of fisheries on top predators such as seabirds, sharks and tuna through the removal of fish on which they would normally feed;

  • the effects of fishing gear on vulnerable and slow-breeding species such as turtles, seabirds and sharks; and

  • the effects of heavy fishing gear on the sensitive sea life at the bottom of the ocean.

BCLME programme chief technical adviser Dr Michael O’Toole said the report gives ”a very clear and practical plan of how we can go about implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries in Southern Africa”.

WWF fisheries programme manager Samantha Petersen said there is willingness and commitment among stakeholders to implement an EAF, but confusion on how to go about it. ”The report shows how to turn willingness into action,” she said.

According to the report, the development of an EAF is ”highly dependent on voluntary support from the fishing industry and other stakeholders having an impact on marine ecosystems”. Developing such support will require very effective participatory and co-management structures with industry and fishing communities.

Regulations

The joint press release notes that implementing an EAF could see changes to fishing regulations currently in force. ”Implementation might mean changing fisheries regulations to reduce impacts on the ecosystem, creating new governance structures to allow for effective participatory decision making, or initiating new research to allow a better understanding of the ecosystem.”

Asked if enforcement of such a new policy is feasible, given the government’s battle to control poaching, Petersen said this is ”a concern for everybody”.

Recent workshops have highlighted the need for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s marine and coastal Management branch to ”increase their capacity and enforcement”, she said. — Sapa