The State of the World’s Fisheries

Michael F. Hirshfield, Ph.D.Chief Scientist, Oceana

October 2009

Who is Oceana?

*Washington, DCMadrid, Spain

Brussels, Belgium

Santiago, Chile

Belize City, Belize

New York City, NY

Monterey, CA

Portland, OR

Anchorage, AK

Juneau, AK

Heavy Human Impacts on the Oceans

Halpern, et al. (Science, 2008)

Global Expansion of Fishing

Berkes, et al. (Ecology, 2006)

The Sea Urchin Example

Global Landings of Sea Urchins

Global Expansion of Fishing

Worm, B., et al. (Science, 2009)

Total “Fishing Access

Years” in the ’90s

Increasing Global Fishing Power

The World Bank. 2009

Decline in Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Tag-A-Giant Foundation

Bluefin in Trouble Everywhere

Southern bluefin stocks near collapse, at 5% of 1940's level, yet only token quota cuts proposed

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) NewsOct 23, 2009

Bluefin in Trouble Everywhere

The average weight of a bluefin tuna caught in the Sea of Japan and brought to a port in Tottori Prefecture is under half what it was 25 years ago, Kyodo News findings indicated Monday [October 19].

Global Decline in Big Fish

Myers, R.A. and B. Worm (Nature, 2003)

Decline in Fish Abundancein the North Atlantic

Christensen, V.S. et al. (Fish and Fisheries, 2003)

Decline in Fish Abundance

in Southeast Asia

1960

2000

Christensen et al. 2003

Decline in Fish Abundance in West Africa

Christensen et al. Dakar Conference Proceedings

Reduced Potential to Expand Fisheries

1978

Overexploited, Depleted and Recovering Fully ExploitedUnderexploited and Moderately ExploitedFAO. 2009

9%

50%

41%

Reduced Potential to Expand Fisheries

1978 1987

Overexploited, Depleted and Recovering Fully ExploitedUnderexploited and Moderately ExploitedFAO. 2009

9%

50%

41%24%

44%

32%

Reduced Potential to Expand Fisheries

1978

1997

1987

Overexploited, Depleted and Recovering Fully ExploitedUnderexploited and Moderately ExploitedFAO. 2009

9%

50%

41%24%

44%

32%

24%

50%

26%

Reduced Potential to Expand Fisheries

1978

1997

1987

2007

Overexploited, Depleted and Recovering Fully ExploitedUnderexploited and Moderately ExploitedFAO. 2009

9%

50%

41%24%

44%

32%

24%

50%

26% 28%

52%

20%

Regional Trend is Similar

Garcia, S. M. (The World Bank, 2009)

Changes during the Doha Round

Area Region 2001 2006

27 Northeast Atlantic    

21 Northwest Atlantic    

31 Western Central Atlantic    

47 Southeast Atlantic    

37 Mediterranean    

34 Eastern Central Atlantic    

67 Northeast Pacific    

61 Northwest Pacific    

51 Western Indian Ocean    

77 Eastern Central Pacific    

41 Southwest Atlantic    

81 Southwest Pacific    

87 Southeast Pacific    

71 Western Central Pacific   ?

57 Eastern Indian Ocean    

Adapted from Garcia, S. M. (The World Bank, 2009)

Changes During the Doha Round

U/M: Under or Moderately ExploitedF: Fully ExploitedO: OverexploitedD/R: Depleted or Recovering from Depletion

Adapted from: FAOSOFIA 2002 and 2008

-5%

+5%

Decline in Food Supply from Wild Fish

FAO. 2009

Declining Annual Catch Per Fisher (Marine and Inland)

The World Bank. 2009

Fish provides essential nutrition for 3 billion people...

-- United Nations

...and at least 50% of animal protein and minerals to 400 million people from the poorest countries. --United Nations

Taking account of dependants, about 520 million people could be dependent on the [fishing] sector, or nearly 8 percent of the

world population. UN

What do we want to see in the oceans?

Worm, B., et al. (Science, 2009)

THANK YOU for your important work!