Eastern Fish and Chips

Eastern cod has been a classic story of overfishing, with fish populations crashing and the fisherman along with it. That's why I found it curious that hook-caught Georges Bank cod off the eastern seaboard is going for certification by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as a sustainable fishery.

Eric Brazer Jr., of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, told The Cape Codder that last fall the hook and line fishing sector off Cape Cod, Mass., passed the "first assessment to getting certified" under rigorous sustainable harvesting standards set by the MSC.

MSC, founded by World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, has now certified 21 other fisheries around the world as "sustainable."

The news on cod was reported by Sustainable Food News (requires subscription) in March and I have seen no follow-up anywhere else. Perhaps prospects for the fish have changed, if you consider this small item in a Green Guide story from 2003:

According to NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service), the cod population of New England’s Georges Bank has yet to recover, despite restrictions placed on its fishing since 1994. This year, Canada shut down all its cod fisheries to protect the species’ plummeting numbers. “We’ve seen species after species, such as the Georges Bank cod and Bocaccio rockfish on the Pacific Coast, that have collapsed under federal management,” says Susan Boa, program manager of the Seafood Choices Alliance (SCA). Lee Crockett, executive director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, says that fisheries managers have allowed catches that were too large for too long, bringing about the collapse of these populations over the last decade or two.

Right now, Seafood Watch only recommends buying Pacific line-caught cod, because those fisheries have been managed sustainably. (Icelandic cod, not on this list, is also well-managed). But so far, the program advises to "avoid" Atlantic cod. Here's the current cod recommendations (click graphic to enlarge), but this may well change if Atlantic line-caught cod wins MSC certification. - Samuel Fromartz

Comments

[Mark Powell]

Sam,

This is a very difficult issue, and I think it boils down to how one handles fishermen who use better practices within the context of an unsustainable fishery.

If we "just say no" to unsustainable fish, then what is the path towards change? Might it be better to find ways to support the best practices in an unsustainable fishery, and provide some direct, short-term incentives for positive change? Otherwise, sustainability incentives may seem too distant to motivate improvement in unsustainable fisheries.

I don't have all the answers, but I work for an organization that is currently grappling with this challenge. I wonder how the lessons from organic foods might illuminate this question?

Mark

[Sam Fromartz]

For those who don't know, Mark is US director of Fish Conservation-Ocean Conservancy and works on sustainability issues. He also writes at Blogfish http://blogfishx.blogspot.com.

Like Charles Clover in End of the Line (a book I highly recommend), I question how "sustainable" it is to fish an unsustainable fishery. I also understand the counterargument that we should support fisherman who are doing it right and perhaps invite incentives for them to do it right, and sanctions for those who do it wrong. In some overfished populations this is already the case, although illegal fishing is also widespread.

This same debate engulfs Chilean Cod (Patagonia Toothfish), a slow-growing fish that has almost been fished out. Only one population is certified as sustainable by the MSC, off the South Georgia Islands. Whole Foods and soon Wal-Mart will be selling this MSC fish, which provides a huge incentive for those fisherman who do it right. But does it also muddy the perception that this is a fish to avoid in general, aside from MSC certified catches?

Clover makes the point that "no one speaks for the fish," in other words that everyone has a voice - the commercial and sport fisherman, the government, people who want to eat the fish. "But who speaks for the fish?" I think that's a question to consider. And in a practical sense, would continued stiff restrictions achieve the goal of bringing back the fishery?