Seafood supply altered by climate change

Seafood supply altered by climate change

The global supply of seafood is set to change substantially and many people will not be able to enjoy the same quantity and dishes in the future due to climate change and ocean acidification, according to UBC scientists.

These findings were released today in Japan by the NF-UBC Nereus Program, an international research team led by UBC scientists and supported by the Nippon Foundation. The Nereus Program was formed to study the future of the world’s oceans and seafood resources. Today it released a summary of the first phase of its research in a report titled ‘Predicting Future Ocean.’ Researchers say that the future supply of seafood will be substantially altered by climate change, overfishing and other human activities.

“The types of fish that we will have on our dinner table will be very different in the future,” said William Cheung, UBC associate professor and the co-director of the Nereus Program. “Fisheries will be catching more warm-water species, with smaller size, and that will affect fish supply through our domestic and oversea fisheries as well as imports.”

The report highlighted climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing and destruction of marine ecosystems as the primary drivers of ocean change. Researchers say these changes will lead to a decline in fisheries in many regions and alter marine biodiversity and food web structures.

Researchers say there are solutions to help the ocean and communities prepare for the future. These include improving ocean governance globally to ensure sustainable fisheries and the need to limit carbon dioxide emissions.

“Global marine ecosystems have already been largely altered by overfishing,” said Daniel Pauly, professor at UBC and an advisor to Nereus. “This report clearly points out that any solution needs to deal with the CO2 problem as well.”

 

BACKGROUND

The Nereus Program
The Nippon Foundation committed $12.25 million US in 2010 to UBC to establish NF-UBC Nereus – Predicting the Future Ocean, a nine-year interdisciplinary research project that was created to further knowledge of how best to attain sustainability for our world’s oceans. In addition to the Nippon Foundation and UBC, the Program is comprised of several other partner institutions, including the University of Cambridge, Duke University, Princeton University, Stockholm University, United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Utrecht University.
www.nereusprogram.org

Funding for the Nereus program forms part of UBC’s start an evolution campaign, the most ambitious fundraising and alumni engagement campaign in Canadian history.

 

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PICES Ocean Monitoring Service Award (POMA)

The award is given for significant contributions to the progress of marine science in the North Pacific through long-term monitoring operations, management of data associated with ocean conditions and marine bio-resources in the region, or both categories. Recipients may include, for example, research vessels, research or administrative institutes or portions thereof, or technical groups involved in monitoring, data management and dissemination, or a combination of these activities. Outstanding individual efforts may also be recognized.

Nomination and Selection
Nominations from individuals or groups from PICES member countries should be sent with supporting documentation to the Executive Secretary (Robin.Brown@pices.int) by the deadline specified in the Call for Nominations at the PICES website. The Technical Committee on Monitoring (MONITOR) and Technical Committee on Data Exchange (TCODE) will evaluate independently the documents submitted with each nomination, and recommend some or all of the nominations for consideration by SB. Evaluations will include the relevance, duration and balance of activities (ocean observation, resource monitoring, data management, etc.). If more than one nomination is considered worthy of recognition by MONITOR or TCODE, rank preferences will be provided to SB by each Technical Committee. A maximum of one award will be given each year. To keep a large pool of potential candidates, Science Board will reserve any surplus of recommendations for review in two consecutive years and will be reactivated if nominator gives approval. Those nominated but not recommended by a Technical Committee must be re-submitted if they are to be considered for the next year.

 

Award and Presentation
The award consists of a certificate signed by the PICES Chair and the PICES SB Chair, which will be presented to the recipients (or their representative) at the Opening Session of the PICES Annual Meeting. No financial support from PICES will be provided to the recipient to attend the Annual Meeting where the award is given. Should any representative be unable to attend the Annual Meeting, a Delegate of the recipient’s country will be asked to accept the award on behalf of the recipient.

Nominations for the PICES Ocean Monitoring Service Award, with supporting documentation, should be sent to the PICES Executive Secretary (sonia.batten@pices.int) by MARCH 31.

Deadline: Usually end of March 

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PICES Wooster Award

The main criteria for selection are sustained excellence in research, teaching, administration or a combination of the three in the area of North Pacific marine science. Special consideration is given to individuals who have worked in integrating the disciplines of marine science. Individuals who were or are currently actively involved in PICES activities are preferred but the award may be given to any suitable candidate, including those from outside PICES member countries.

Nominations are accepted annually from the PICES community although the award may not be given every year if a suitable candidate is not found. The Selection Committee consists of the PICES Science Board and the PICES Chairman, and the Award Presentation Ceremony takes place at an Opening Session during the PICES Annual Meeting. Individuals who are not chosen for the Wooster Award when nominated are eligible to be re-nominated, providing that the nomination documents are updated.

Nominations for the Wooster Award, with supporting documentation, should be sent to the PICES Executive Secretary (sonia.batten@pices.int) by MARCH 31

Information: https://meetings.pices.int/awards/Wooster-Award
Deadline: Usually end of March

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High seas fishing ban could boost global catches, equality

Closing the high seas to commercial fishing could distribute fisheries income more equitably among the world’s maritime nations, according to research from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The analysis of fisheries data indicates that if increased spillover of fish stocks from protected international waters were to boost coastal catches by 18 per cent, current global catches would be maintained. When the researchers modelled less conservative estimates of stock spillover, catches in coastal waters surpassed current global levels.

Rashid Sumalia

Rashid Sumalia

“We should use international waters as the world’s fish bank,” says Rashid Sumaila, director of the UBC Fisheries Economics Research Unit (FERU) and lead author of the study. “Restricting fisheries activities to coastal waters is economically and environmentally sensible, particularly as the industry faces diminishing returns.”

The findings appeared today in Scientific Reports, published by Nature Publishing Group and will be presented February 13 at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The study also indicates that a high-seas moratorium would improve fisheries income distribution among maritime nations. Currently, 10 high seas fishing nations capture 71 per cent of the landed value of catches in international waters.

Under all scenarios considered by the researchers, European Member States, Group of Eight nations, and least developed fishing nations would benefit the most from a closure. Under a catch-neutral scenario, the United States, Guam and the United Kingdom would benefit the most, each with potential increases in landed values of more than $250 million (USD) per year. Canada would see an increase of $125 million (USD) per year.

While closing the high seas would benefit some countries, others stand to lose significant fisheries income. South Korea, Taiwan and Japan would each see a decrease in catch values of at least $800 million (USD) per year in a catch-neutral scenario. Countries that sail vessels under flags of convenience would also be hard hit. While this figure is not insignificant, Sumaila points out that the high seas belong to the world and currently only a few countries benefit from the fish resources. Countries fishing in the high seas will have to give something up to achieve higher levels of food security and profits globally.

The authors acknowledge that implementing a high seas ban would be a major undertaking, but argue that the ongoing expansion of human activities into the oceans may soon require major reform to the governance of international waters regardless. Penalties imposed on illegal fishing could offset administrative and operational costs.

View the full report ‘Winners and losers in a world where the high seas is closed to fishing’ here.

 

BACKGROUND
Methods
The study examined global fish catch and landed value data to determine how much fish is caught in the high seas and how much is caught in coastal waters (nations’ 200-mile exclusive economic zones). The researchers then used models to compare likely increases in coastal catches driven by increased biomass spillover from protected areas and losses from the closure of high seas fisheries.

 

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Countries with poor marine safety records linked to oil spill vessels

More than half of ships involved in the 100 largest oil spills of the past three decades were registered in states that consistently fail to comply with international safety and environmental standards, UBC researchers have determined.

The research also found one-third of the current global oil tanker fleet are flying the flags of states with poor marine safety records—what they term “flags of non-compliance.”

“Vessels flying flags of non-compliance create more problems than the rest of the global fleet,” observes Rashid Sumaila, co-author of the study and director of UBC’s Fisheries Economics Research Unit (FERU). “We think the best thing to do is to put pressure on flag states to ensure that anyone who uses their flag conforms to the regulations.”

Lead author Dana Miller, a FERU post-doctoral fellow, notes that ship owners often register with foreign states for cost-cutting reasons.

“International law says there should be a genuine link between the nationality of the vessel owner and the flag the vessel is flying, but that is not necessarily always the case,” Miller explains. “Just because a vessel owner is using a foreign flag doesn’t mean they are irresponsible, but there is recognition by the international community that there are some flag states that are just doing a terrible job. Some would argue that if we don’t get rid of the system of flags of convenience, the problem will always persist.”

To obtain their results, the researchers consulted data gathered by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation; the Information Handling Services Sea-web global database; inspection reports from the United States Coast Guard’s annual targeted flag list and seven regional Memoranda of Understanding on Port State Control.

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