The issue
All fishing methods have an impact on the target
resource and may affect also non-target species.
Many of them also have an impact on the wider
aquatic environment. But the "normal" effect of
exploitation should not be confused with
"destruction" which, according to the dictionary
implies "to reduce to a useless form, to spoil
completely; to put out of existence; to obliterate,
wipe out, annihilate, demolish, devastate, tear
down, raze". The terms "destructive fishing"
have, however, been generally used by scientists
and environmental NGOs for a wide range of
situations spanning from classical overfishing
(excessive use) to outright destruction of the
resource and its environment with explosives (wrong
methods). Indeed, many fishing gears could be
considered "destructive" if used in the wrong
environment. In a fisheries management perspective,
it is however important to distinguish among:
- overuse or overfishing, to be
corrected mainly through fishing capacity
reduction;
- non-selectivity, which in most cases
can be corrected through improved gear
technology, closed seasons, or closed areas,
etc.;
- destructive fishing, or destructive
use, e.g. when a gear is used in the wrong
habitat, such as bottom trawls in seagrass beds
where its impact is unacceptable, and where the
gear can be prohibited; and
- destructive methods, the impact of
which are so indiscriminate and/or irreversible
that they are universally considered
"destructive" in whatever circumstances.
Among the latter, the use of poisons and
explosives is prominently cited in the literature
and the muroami fishing practice is often referred
to (in Southeast Asia). The economic losses for the
local and wider society resulting from such damage
far outweigh the short-term individual gains made
by the users of these destructive methods.
Poisons The use of poisons is
widespread, in some regions in both fresh and
marine waters - especially in coral reefs and
coastal lagoon fisheries. In many places the use of
poison is a traditional practice but the effects
have been exacerbated by the use of pesticides to
replace poisons of vegetable origin. As fish become
scarcer through overfishing or in order to catch
rare, small and precious aquarium fish, local
fishers often resort to using poisons such as
cyanide or pesticides. Fishers can easily obtain
inexpensive cyanide used in the jewellery industry
and gold mining. Pesticides are readily available
to farmers, which are often also part-time fishers.
Techniques used vary across regions/localities.
They are effective at killing or stunning,
indiscriminately, the fish, which are then
collected by divers, or through netting and
seining. The poisons kill also other organisms from
the ecosystem, including the coral reef-building
organisms.
Explosives Fishing with
explosives, also known as blast fishing, has
probably been in existence for centuries and is
apparently spreading. Explosions can produce fairly
large craters, devastating 10-20 square meters of
bottom. In coral reefs, re-colonization of damaged
habitats is very slow and complete recovery may
take several decades. The explosion kills both the
target fish and the accompanying fauna being
indiscriminate in size or species. In many
instances, errors of manipulation have lead to
injuries and death of humans. Explosives and the
raw materials for preparing explosives such as
fertilisers and sugar are cheap and easily
available. Commercial explosives are often obtained
from mining or construction activities. In many
areas, fishers only need to extract the explosive
charges from munitions left over from on-going or
past armed conflicts. In other areas, fishers can
access army munitions through illegal channels.
Explosives can have very serious consequences for
the resources, the environment, and unfortunately
sometimes also for the users themselves.
Muroami The Muroami fishing
technique, employed on coral reefs in Southeast
Asia, uses an encircling net together with pounding
devices. These devices usually comprise large
stones fitted on ropes that are pounded onto the
coral reefs. They can also consist of large heavy
blocks of cement that are suspended above the sea
by a crane fitted to the vessel. The pounding
devices are repeatedly and violently lowered into
the area encircled by the net, literally smashing
the coral in that area into small fragments in
order to scare the fish out of their coral refuges.
The "crushing" effect of the pounding process on
the coral heads has been described as having
longlasting and practically totally destructive
effects.
Inadequate practices Some standard
fishing gears could be used in a way, which damages
the resource and/or the environment, to such an
extent that they could be (and have been)
considered as "destructive" fishing practices.
These may include, inter alia, the following
practices that can be properly regulated and
controlled.
- beach seining, because of the large
proportion of juveniles yielded and often
discarded;
- bottom trawling because of its impact on the
bottom and on bottom-dwelling animals and
benthos such as sea stars, urchins, clams, etc.
In addition, when improperly used in the wrong
environment e.g. on coral reef areas or coastal
seagrass beds (despite of being generally
prohibited in such areas) it may have very
longlasting effects on habitat;
- large-scale pelagic driftnets because of
their ability to snare large marine animals such
as mammals, sharks, turtles, and a number of
vulnerable species;
- fishing with respiratory assistance using
scuba equipment or compressors, because their
effectiveness is judged excessive;
- anchoring of vessels in reef areas
(particularly the Staghorn coral) which breaks
them, seriously damaging the whole reef
sustainability.
Possible solutions
The techniques universally recognised as
"destructive" can only be explicitly banned and
their use severely punished. Most bad ways of using
fishing gear have been identified and are
prohibited in national legislation. However,
experience shows that this is not sufficient
because in stressing economic situations, the
incentives to misbehave might be very high. For
poor people, poisons and explosives are among the
cheapest method available, requiring little capital
investment. In some instances, it is the only
affordable access to a vital resource. Often,
however, the replacement of poison and explosives
by other types of fishing methods is within the
financial means and reach of those who currently
use these destructive fishing practices. For the
poorest, however, it will be difficult to suppress
these bad fishing habits without improving their
economic condition. . In these instances, the
long-term solution to the use of destructive
methods is in improving livelihoods or providing
affordable alternatives. The Muroami technique does
not seem to be associated specifically with
poverty. It reflects a total disregard for
sustainability and as such should be banned.
The destructive modes of use of other more
standard gears can also be "promoted" by chronic
overfishing, in a very damaging vicious circle.
Proper practices should be regulated through
protection of particularly important areas, or
habitats (seagrass beds, coral reefs) as well as
closed seasons (particularly to protect juveniles
or sensitive species).
Eliminating destructive methods requires finding
solutions to a number of issues affecting the
fisheries sector such as overfishing (an example of
"the hen and the egg" dilemma), inequitable
resource allocations, food insecurity and poverty.
In most cases, there is a need to improve
stewardship over the resources through better
monitoring and control, educating fishers about the
destructive nature of their practices, and the
establishment of explicit forms of use rights for
local communities together with decentralised
management responsibilities as well as no-take
areas. There is evidence that the allocation of use
rights will create a strong incentive for
communities to use responsible fishing practices
and persecute and punish trespassers.
Action taken
Awareness about these methods and their effect
is growing. All national fishery laws generally
prohibit poisons and explosives but enforcement is
inadequate. Large-scale pelagic driftnets have been
banned by the United Nations General Assembly. The
use of beach seines is prohibited in many countries
and areas. The coastal areas with coral reefs or
coastal seagrass beds are usually prohibited to
trawls. It should be recognized, however, that
enforcement is often imperfect, particularly when
offshore resources are overexploited. Programmes
have been implemented to educate small scale
fishing communities of the damage caused by
explosives and cyanides. The devolution of fishing
rights and responsibilities to coastal communities
(e.g. in Philippines) and their greater involvement
with other stakeholders and NGOs in the management
of resources accompanied by programmes to raise
awareness of the long-term damage of such fishing
techniques have contributed to the promotion of
local social pressure and enforcement to control
destructive fishing. In addition, the development
of tourism can increase the value of the fish and
the environment creating incentives for their
better conservation, provided the economic benefits
of development are equitably distributed.
Outlook
More of the actions mentioned above are still
needed to reduce destructive fishing. They include
measures aimed at suppressing overfishing,
improving livelihoods, and reducing poverty that
all contribute to reducing the probability of and
need for using these methods. The evolution of the
problem in the future largely depends on local
conditions and it is difficult to generalise. At
the moment, and with the little information
available, the problem seems to be spreading. Once
described mainly in Asia and Africa, it is now
becoming more widespread in the Mediterranean and
Latin America. It is unlikely to regress without
the widespread establishment of explicit use rights
in fisheries. Moreover, the complete cessation of
such destructive practices is likely to require
that the economic situation of the poorest strata
of the fishery and rural sectors improves
significantly.
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