The UN report, ‘Towards a Green Economy’ , claims that a paradigm shift to a “green economy” can start the move towards a sustainable world while generating high growth rates. The report contains a chapter on fisheries which contends that fisheries subsidies – estimated at around US $27 billion a year globally, and US$ 3 billion in the EU – result in more damage than long-term gains to national economies. The UN strategy includes limiting subsidies to those used for management, which would generate estimated global savings of US$ 19 billion annually. The total value added to the global economy from fishing in the green scenario is estimated at US$ 67 billion a year, compared to US$ 17 billion a year with current fisheries. This would be a net increase of US$ 50 billion a year. Key to achieving this is a reduction in excessive fleet capacity. The key points in the fisheries chapter are here

TAGS: World, fisheries, sustainable, greening, green economy, UNEP, fisheries subsidies, overcapacity

A new report calls for some of the biggest cuts to Newfoundland and Labrador's fishery since the collapse of cod stocks in 1992. The report was prepared by Tom Clift, a business professor at Memorial University. He is the independent head of a steering committee made up of industry and union leaders. It recommends the province spend $450 million to buy out harvesting and processing licences. It says inshore fleets should be cut by up to 80 per cent, and that nearshore fleets should be reduced by up to half to help remake the fishery as a self-sustaining, international competitor.It suggests that only between one-third and two-thirds of the fishing fleets now operating are viable. More here  Fisheries Minister Clyde Jackman says the province is reviewing the report but can't cover the amount recommended. In response the Liberal Fisheries critic has called for the resignation of the Minister terming the failure to act "a complete abrogation of leadership on the part of the Fisheries Minister and the government of Kathy Dunderdale.”

TAGS: N.L. fishery, massive cuts urged, restructuring, licence buybacks, sustainable, fisheries, fishing,Tom Clift, Clyde Jackman

 Is community-based co-management "the key to fisheries worldwide" ?This is the conclusion of a paper recently published in Nature. This article evaluated data on 130 fisheries in over 40 developed and developing nations. The authors conclude that the bulk of the world's fisheries – including small-scale, often non-industrialised fisheries on which millions of people depend for food – could be sustained without top-down rules from strong centralised governments. In fact, many fisheries around the world are well managed under limited central government structure, as long as communities of fishers are proactively engaged.The study highlights aspects that seem key to the success of co-managed fisheries, including prominent community leadership and social cohesion, security over the amount fishers can catch or the area they can fish, protected areas combined with regulated harvest inside and outside, when these areas are proposed and monitored by local communities. The authors contend that co-management is the only realistic solution for the majority of the world‟s fisheries and can solve many of the problems facing global fisheries today. More here  Personally I think that this is a utopian fantasy and that some government involvement is necessary for successful fisheries management, even though the track record worldwide is admittedly poor. What do you think?