POSITION PAPER
Ecologically Sound and Sustainable Fisheries: Recommendations of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
Presenting the position paper, BfN President Professor Beate Jessel noted that fisheries continue to be among the human activities that have the most severe adverse effects on marine ecosystems, both globally and on our own doorstep. As a recent FAO report shows, 28 percent of fish stocks are now overfished worldwide and 52 percent are exploited to the limits of their biological capacity. Overexploitation of fish stocks in shallow and productive coastal waters has caused fishing vessels to target deeper waters and the coastal waters of less developed countries where people are heavily reliant on wild fish for protein. “The overexploitation of fisheries resources,” said Jessel, “has a social and ethical as well as an ecological component.”
In view of the alarming situation of fish stocks both globally and notably in European marine waters, BfN has published a position paper on Ecologically Sound and Sustainable Fisheries. The position paper describes how fisheries adversely affect commercially harvested fish stocks, other species and marine habitats. The position paper highlights where action is needed and possible ways of making fisheries ecologically sound and sustainable.
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The position paper,
Ecologically Sound and Sustainable Fisheries: Recommendations of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, is available for download here:
2009-09-01-Ecologically_sound_and_sustainable_fisheries_en-de.pdf