Conservation Officer Annual Report: 2012- 2013

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A roundup of the main issues of the last 12 months, and looking forward to the coming year.

 

Common Fisheries Policy.

2012 may be the year when Marine Conservation finally became mainstream.

In the last year we have seen a Celebrity TV Chef (Hugh F-W) take up arms against the issue of discards and successfully run a publicity campaign with the aim of having this practice banned. This has been arguably the most influential campaign to affect the reform of the CFP, and within the next couple of months we should see this largely halted.  He has begun to build on this success by having the Fishfight group focus on other unsustainable fishing practices internationally, aiming to raise the awareness of the general public and thereby put pressure on restaurants and supermarkets who purchase the fish sourced by these unsustainable practices.

 

Protection.
There have been groundbreaking decisions taken at the recent international conference of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regarding Sharks and Rays, resulting in wide-ranging protection for Manta Rays and Oceanic Whitetip, Porbeagle and Hammerhead sharks.  Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new era in wildlife protection with many more of our most endangered marine species gaining the protection they require for their stocks to recover.
 

Marine Conservation Zones.

The creation of MCZ’s in UK waters has been a hot topic, and will continue to be over the coming years. Following the investment of a significant amount of time and money, it was envisaged that there would initially be 127 sites designated, but it now looks like there will only be 31 sites in the first instance, hopefully with more to follow.  Internationally, many countries are creating their own Marine Reserves. Some have been created by countries this year which are millions of square miles in size, making current UK efforts look a little pathetic.  It will also make it very difficult for the UK to encourage responsible behaviour by other countries if we do not lead by example. In order to have a network of protected areas in UK seas, (as there are on land, with the obvious and unarguable benefits to
wildlife) a lot of work will be required.
 

Bass Minimum Landing Size.

This National campaign is supported by many groups and high-profile individuals (including MP’s), with the aim of encouraging the authorities to raise the Minimum Landing Size of Bass. This is to ensure that Bass have at least one breeding season (and preferably 2) before ending up on someone’s plate.
 

Microplastics.

We have seen images and video of Midway Island as an example of the effects of plastic pollution on an island thousands of miles away from major human habitation, and ongoing opposition to balloon and lantern releases by a number of environmental bodies as a way of highlighting the problem. This form of pollution has a wide range of effects arising from ingestion and biological concentration including starvation. Ingestion by fish species has been seen to cause chemical changes within fish, with effects such as reduction in fertility, reduction in growth rates, reduction in sense of smell, affected sense of direction, etc. This issue of plastic pollution is likely to be a hot topic in the coming year, and in the coming decades, as it is a hidden, widespread and devastating form of pollution.
 

Navitus Bay.

The Poole Bay Windfarm, although now reduced in size after first round of consultations, is still failing to gain popular support. This is in part due to the potential visual impact of the site (especially as the developers propose larger turbines on the smaller site) and also due to the effect on sailors and shipping. Watch this space- personally I think we are more likely to see wave/tidal power harnessed at this site than wind.
 

Eelgrass/Seagrass.

This issue has been widely publicised as a local issue in Studland Bay, however, many organisations are campaigning internationally as this is an example of a critically important habitat which many species rely on and has even been referred to as the rainforest of the sea. In recent times locally, Seahorses have been seized upon as a good way of raising the profile of this habitat to the general public, however, there has been some backlash to this, and the approach may even have been detrimental to the campaign.
Future publicity is likely to highlight how this habitat is crucial to a lot more than just seahorses.
 

GOC (Global Ocean Commission).

This new international body aims to save the nearly-lawless high seas from over-fishing. Illegal fishing takes $10-23 Billion per year. The huge range in this estimation demonstrates how in reality no-one really knows the extent of the problem.   Illegal fishing accounts for a significant percentage of the overall annual catch, and is tied to other marine crime such as piracy and the trafficking of drugs and people. Project SCALE is the international police operation which aims to address this, and the coming year should demonstrate some gains in this arena.

 

Fish stocks.
Even though there have been high-profile campaigns this year, pressure on fish stocks has not noticeably reduced, and is unlikely to in the short term due to ongoing global population increase, and some of what we would consider to be the most abundant fish are under increasing pressure. This year has even seen the downgrading of Mackerel.

 

Overall, scientific discoveries are demonstrating that the oceans are very complex and barely understood systems, which human activity is undoubtedly altering. The recent announcement that the deepest parts of the oceans teem with microbes where only a few years ago it was believed that life in these areas was impossible highlights the fact that we don’t know much about the oceans. So those people involved in industries in the world’s oceans who say that they know what effects their particular activity will have, are unlikely to be correct.