9Fishermen’s Manifesto
as Recommended by a Special Fisherman
by: Glen Spain and Zeke Grader
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
Commercial fishing builds in a strong ethic of stewardship and respect for Nature. Fishing brings you face to face with Nature at both her wildest and her most nurturing. Yet fishermen cannot put the environment passively on a pedestal — instead, like small family farmers, they must actively engage Nature, seek to adapt to her natural rhythms where they can and take part in her bounty where she allows — but always on her terms. Fishermen seldom forget, however, that they are part of and dealing with a wild and enormously powerful natural system in which we humans play only a very small part. Both fish and human needs must be met by Nature if we are to survive. All of us are Nature’s children, and owe her for our lives.
Like all the rest of humankind, however, we are also coping with and learning to control our own developing powers to bend these natural rhythms beyond their breaking point. Nature is forgiving only up to that point. Going beyond it unleashes terrible consequences we as a species are only dimly beginning to understand. All too often we wield our new-found powers without knowing the consequent environmental destruction or genetic catastrophe we may unleash upon ourselves. We are now capable of destroying not only ourselves but all of Nature’s other creatures as well. We even have the power to do so by accident or from neglect.
The world’s oceans and all their bounty are a public resource. Commercial fishermen are allowed to use that resource only at the sufferance of the public, and we are responsible to the public at large for our actions. Fishermen are merely stewards and must discharge their public trust responsibly. Whether we are good stewards or bad stewards will determine whether the public retains its confidence in us to discharge that public trust wisely.
Today these public resources themselves face a multitude of assaults. Fishing as a way of life is threatened not only by world market forces but also by a multitude of cumulative habitat losses which when all combined now face both fishermen and the majority of fish species on this planet with the serious prospect of extinction. Fragile ocean ecosystems suffer from widespread pollution and too many streams and estuaries have been biologically depleted. Global warming now threatens the delicate balance of ocean life, while sea level rises are beginning to threaten ports and coastal communities. Continued thinning of the earth’s ozone layer may result in too much UV radiation killing off much of the ocean’s zooplankton, thus knocking out the very foundation of the ocean’s food chain as well as the primary source of atmospheric oxygen. Scientists now know that all these threats are very real. Fishermen must speak out against all these things and help reverse them before it is too late. Fortunately they are reversible — all of them are caused by human activities which can be changed.
To our own shame we have also allowed far too many fish species to be overexploited. Bycatch and waste is much higher in many fisheries than it needs to be or should be. Lack of international controls and increasingly powerful fishing technologies make the risk of overexploitation an omnipresent threat in many areas of the world. The public is closely watching and seriously questioning our willingness and ability to solve these problems ourselves. We must demand solutions to these problems, and we must hold ourselves to a very high standard or we will lose the public’s confidence and support. The increasing technological power to fish must also be coupled with increasing self-restraint and greater responsibility.
Human beings now can — and indeed now are — changing the planet far faster than any geological force, but without any guidance whatsoever and with almost no forethought as to the ultimate consequences. Like the demigods and heros of ancient Greek mythology, we are afflicted with our own hubris — the belief that we can do Nature’s job better than she can. This is pure arrogance of the sort which usually leads to tragedy.
We can do much better. Fortunately our industry has generally been unified around the basic principles of conservation and stewardship. Also, in spite of industry fragmentation and constant infighting over allocations, when faced with serious outside threats we usually do manage to come together and present a united front. This is such a time. Today the world’s oceans face a multitude of environmental threats far more serious than any they have faced throughout geological time. We must now not only continue to earn the right to exist as an industry, but also aggressively defend the right of the resource itself to continue to exist at all! There is no doubt in our minds that those of us who make our living from the sea must be its principal champions and defenders. If we do not speak for the fish — who will?
To that end, we offer the following six principles as guidelines for the protection not only of our industry, but for the preservation of the fragile and irreplaceable resource upon which it is based and with which we are entrusted. By following these principles, our industry will assure both the continued existence of this resource, and of the public’s trust in our stewardship. As recent years have clearly shown, neither our continued existence as a way of life nor the public’s trust in our stewardship are a given — they must continually be earned.
The Fishermen’s Manifesto
Sustainability: The commercial fishing industry will work to assure that all fisheries are primarily managed and regulated on the basis of biologically sound and sustainable harvest levels. This means assuring that there are adequate scientific research, resource assessment, and enforcement programs in addition to scientifically sound fishing regulations to assure long-term sustained yields within the ultimate constraints of biological sustainability. Our most fundamental duty is to pass on this biological heritage intact to future generations.
Habitat Protection: The commercial fishing industry will actively and aggressively take all actions necessary, including the promotion of regulations or litigation, to assure the full protection of the biological habitats and ecosystems necessary to maintain and maximize the production and health of fish and shellfish populations. The loss of fish habitat results in an economic loss to fisherfolk and seafood processors as certain as any theft of catch, reallocation or shutdown of a fishery. Industry will seek cooperation and alliances with conservation organizations and/or governmental fishery organizations in pursuing the cause of fish habitat protection, but will, when necessary, initiate and lead actions in its own right to assure that fish habitat is protected and restored.
Selective Fishing: The commercial fishing industry will identify and initiate those actions necessary to avoid wherever possible the bycatch of marine mammals, turtles, seabirds and non-target fish species, regardless of whether such takes are “biologically sustainable.” The principle must be: “If you can’t use it or sell it, don’t take it.” The fishing industry is licensed by the public to provide the public with access to its public resources in the market place; this is not a license to gratuitously take or kill other public trust resources for which there is no lawful market. An active program, therefore, must be established (for those fisheries where bycatch is a problem) for the modification of existing fishing gear or the adoption of new fishing gear or other techniques to avoid and minimize bycatch. The program should encourage fisherfolk to identify problems and provide them with the necessary technical and monetary assistance to enable them to effectively minimize bycatch and work toward an ultimate goal of total bycatch elimination.
Maximize the Value of Fish Taken: The commercial fishing industry must endeavor to maximize the value of fish taken, utilizing as much of the fish as possible and changing currently wasteful fishery practices where they exist (such as the shark fin fishery) to assure maximum utilization of this resource. The license to fish is not a license to waste.
Provide the Public the Best Possible Product: The commercial fishing industry — in all of its harvesting, processing and distribution sectors — must always endeavor to provide the public with a safe, healthful and, wherever possible, affordable source of food protein. The public grant of a license to fish carries with it a responsibility to return to the public the best possible and most desirable product.
Act as Stewards of the Public Interest: As commercial fishermen, processors and users of the public’s resource, we are stewards of the resource. We will therefore combine together within our own industry to responsibly discharge that trust, join with others to protect and restore the resource, and work cooperatively with recreational fishermen and public interest groups wherever possible to conserve this resource for future generations. The fishing industry will also strive for international fishing and conservation standards which are scientifically sound, universally applied, and both fair and equitable, and which will assure the highest level of international cooperation and conservation feasible. In all our work, long-term sustainable use and conservation must be our most fundamental principle and highest goal.
