What is sustainable fishing?
To ‘sustain’ means to enable something to continue, to maintain it in a way that ensures it always exists. To continue without interruption.
In simple terms, sustainable fishing is fishing that can continue indefinitely without damaging the ocean’s ability to thrive.
But across the internet there’s a debate raging about the definition of ‘sustainable fishing‘. Some argue that whilst there is still room for improvement, some fisheries are well managed and are seeing stock improvements. Others argue we aren’t currently going far enough to be sustainable truly. Others argue that sustainable fishing doesn’t exist at all and that it never will. Then you have some who will say it’s not sustainable fishing unless it leaves the fishery better than it started, though I’d argue that’s regenerative fishing.
As a marine biologist and commercial fisheries consultant working with the UK fishing industry, here’s what sustainable fishing means to me.
Laying ‘sustain’ over fisheries makes the question more nuanced. A fishery managed to well below its Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) and supported with management such as closed periods, closed nursery areas or restocking enables the stock to exist much as it does, forever. It can ‘sustain’ its health.
However, we can’t determine sustainability by looking at stock size alone…
A fishery might have a healthy stock, able to sustain both a commercial fishery and its stock size, but the impact it’s having on other fisheries might not be sustainable. Without forethought and eyes on the larger picture, interactions of one fishery with another can be detrimental.
How can a fishery be sustainable?
To truly be a ‘sustainable’ fishery, it must look at:
Stock numbers and stock health – Maintain healthy fish populations well below their maximum sustainable yield (MSY)
Impact on the environment and ecosystems – Minimises harm to the wider marine environment, including bycatch and habitat damage
Impact on other fisheries – Minimises impacts and interactions with other fisheries
Social importance to coastal communities – Supports the communities who depend on the sea
Importance to ecosystem health – Supports the health of whole ecosystems not just parts
So, no, it isn’t easy to define – and it isn’t easy to manage fisheries sustainably.
But it isn’t impossible – and it is happening already!
How to support sustainable fishing
Look for local – labels like ‘Scottish’ and ‘Cornish’ are protected, if it states an area in the name of the product, it has to come from there
Where possible, buy from a coastal fishmonger – many of them deliver nationwide
Learn to spot the labels that are greenwashing – Utilise guides like the ‘Good fish guide‘ and ‘Cornwall Good Seafood Guide‘
Sustainable fishing terms explained
Artisanal: small-scale fishing practices, usually operated by individual fishermen from coastal communities operating with low capital and low technology.
Bycatch is any marine life caught unintentionally while fishing for a target species
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY): is defined as the maximum catch (in numbers or mass) that can be removed from a population over an indefinite period.
Regenerative fishing is an approach that goes beyond sustainability. Instead of just maintaining the current health of a fishery, it actively works to restore and improve it
A sustainable fishery is managed and maintained in various ways to ensure fish populations stay at a healthy level and avoid population decline.
Sustainable fisheries management ensures the stock is maintained for the health and balance of the ocean and can ‘sustain’ both its population size over time and a low-impact, artisanal fishing industry, providing a sustainable food source long into the future.
Sustainable fishing is the use of fishing methods that are able to limit or remove their impact on the marine ecosystem. These fishing methods should be able to sustain a commercial artisanal fishery, but not leave lasting impact on the marine ecosystem.
