Our proposals and demands to combat overfishing
We must counter overfishing, not least in our own interest. Every individual can take action and reconsider their choices. Consumers must be informed and change their consumption patterns. Where there is no demand, there is no production. Where no fish is purchased, no fish is caught. Where no plastic products are purchased, no plastic is produced. Furthermore, corporations, conglomerates, and policymakers must rapidly and sustainably shift their approach, reform production methods, and enact legislation. Thus, there are many areas in which every one of us can take action.
There are no more excuses. Everyone can take action.
Fish Consumption
Every individual should reconsider their fish consumption. Fish is no longer as healthy as the industry claims. Sustainability labels, such as the MSC seal, no longer guarantee truly sustainable fishing⁵. Over the years, this seal has developed into a marketing bubble for the fishing industry and only relates to sustainability in a very few fishery sectors, such as pole-and-line fishing. Consumers who value the healthy substances in fish can obtain them in other ways. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in linseed oil, walnut oil, and walnuts. Eating fish or swallowing fish oil capsules is no longer necessary for a healthy diet.
To date, the effects of microplastics in fish bodies remain unknown; research is still in its infancy. No scientist yet knows exactly what the microplastics ingested with fish do inside the human body. Environmental toxins such as PCBs and dioxins, which accumulate specifically in river fish such as eel (Anguilla anguilla), pose further unpredictable risks. Methylmercury is considered one of the most toxic substances, occurring particularly in long-lived fish such as tuna (Thunnus spp.), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), monkfish (Lophius piscatorius), swordfish (Xiphias gladius), and sharks (Selachimorpha). Accumulating over years in the bodies of the fish, it ends up on our plates and leads to severe health consequences.
Therefore, both to protect our oceans and the constantly dwindling fish stocks, and for self-protection, we advise against the consumption of marine and river fish.
Marine Protected Areas
We support the call by scientists to place at least 30% of the oceans under protection by 2030. However, these must be strictly managed protected areas in which, without exception, no fishing of any kind—neither benthic nor pelagic—is permitted. Human activity must be entirely excluded.
Seismic Surveys
We demand highly stringent regulation of seismic surveys (for oil exploration and offshore wind farms) and of low-frequency sonar (LFS) in military operations. These methods must be completely banned across a wide radius in and around marine protected areas and along cetacean migration routes.
Industrial Fishing
We call for a global ban on industrial longline fishing, deep-sea bottom trawling, and the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), as well as a drastic reduction in and the mandatory use of bycatch-reduction technologies in bottom trawling and purse seine fishing. Large industrial fishing fleets benefit primarily from cheap fishing methods and competitive advantages over small-scale fishers, destroying their livelihoods. Globally, the industrial, unsustainable, and unselective fishing methods that cause long-term damage to the marine ecosystem must be far more heavily regulated, whilst small-scale, mostly sustainable fishing operations should be supported.
Overall, fisheries management, and thus the guidelines for catch quotas and protected areas, must adopt a holistic approach. If populations of keystone species are removed from an ecosystem, it can collapse. The resulting damage to the community through lost ecosystem services would be far more severe than the profits captured by a single entity. Therefore, fisheries management must be successively expanded to include other stakeholder groups, such as (eco-)tourism and coastal residents.