Greenpeace: Industrial fishing fleet should be halved

Greenpeace says the world's industrial fishing fleet has grown 22 percent since 1991

From the Environmental News Network staff

May 7, 1998
Web posted at: 7:20 p.m. EDT (2320 GMT)

(ENN) -- The world's industrial fishing fleet should be cut in half to maintain sustainable fisheries, recommends the environmental group Greenpeace, which released a report detailing what it calls an explosion in capacity of commercial fishing over the past few years.

It's not news that nearly 70 percent of global fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited or depleted. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) came to that conclusion in 1995.

What is alarming, said Greenpeace in the report made public Tuesday, is that in the face of such depletion, the world's industrial fishing fleet has increased 22 percent since 1991.

The report, "Assessment of the World's Fishing Fleet 1991-1997," was authored by Chris Newton and John Fitzpatrick, former senior managers of the fisheries department of the FAO. It calls for a 50 percent reduction in the capacity of industrial fishing fleets to protect dwindling fish stocks.

"In the U.S., factory trawlers are the top predators of the commercial fishing fleet," said Gerald Leape, Greenpeace legislative director for oceans. "In 1994, roughly 50 factory trawlers, less than 1 percent of the U.S. fleet, caught approximately 20 percent of the fish."

According to the report, only 1 percent of the world's 3.5 million fishing boats account for half or more of the worldwide catch.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alabama, introduced legislation in 1997, designed to begin phasing out the factory trawler fleet, ban the entry of any new factory trawlers into U.S. fisheries and cut all subsidies for construction of new factory trawlers.

According to recent U.N. estimates, only 10 percent of the 15 million fishers are employed on large-scale fishing vessels. Yet, this fleet receives most of the $25 billion to $50 billion in taxpayer-funded government subsidies to the fishing industry annually, according to World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization estimates.

In addition to calling for a 50 percent reduction in the capacity of the industrial fishing fleet, Greenpeace seeks the elimination of government subsidies and a moratorium on the construction of large fishing vessels. The group also supports establishing or enhancing decommissioning plans and eliminating pirate fishing by preventing the registration of fishing vessels under so-called "flags of convenience."

Copyright 1998, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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• NMFS acts to cut bycatch, rebuild fish stocks
• Top 20 fishing nations failed to fight overfishing

Related sites:

• Greenpeace Oceans
  
• Year of the Ocean
  

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