Preserving endangered species is essential for maintaining biodiversity and saving species from extinction. Australian researchers identify at least 91 species of marine life caught in industrial fisheries and offer an alternative solution: to consume jellyfish instead.
The study by the University of Queensland and the University of Tasmania was recently published in the journal Nature Communications. One of the problems in conserving threatened marine fish species is that they "can be legally caught in industrial fisheries," noted the authors.
They analyzed data from fisheries around the world and discovered that thirteen species are traded internationally. The team believes that since fisheries have adopted new monitoring technologies, there should be a push for better biodiversity management so that the conservation of threatened marine species would not be neglected.
Threatened Marine Species
At least 80 million tons of marine animals are fished for around the world for consumption per year. Although the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does have a few management strategies for regional fisheries, there is still a lack of international policies to prevent overfishing and catching threatened species. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, one in 16 marine fish species are near extinction.
Some of the endangered species include sturgeons in European waters and white abalone along the coast of California. In addition to overfishing and lack of regulations for fisheries, climate change is also a major threat.
Climate change has caused the acidification of oceans, meaning that the waters are absorbing too much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and are causing algal blooms, which then release toxins into the water that are harmful to fish and other marine life. Other threats include loss of habitat from human activities such as pollution.
Another problem is that seafood is not labeled by species. For example, explained Roberson, fish, flake, or cod in Australian fish and chips shops may be a threatened species. Unfortunately, this means that local seafood is not as sustainable as consumers believe, and is "definitely not in line with many of the large international conservation agreements that Australia has signed to protect threatened species and ecosystems," she said.
Sustainable Fishing Policies
Dr. Carissa Klein, also from the University of Queensland, will be researching Australia's seafood consumption so that there can be more sustainable solutions in the fishing industry. Alternatives such as farmed abalone, sardines, or even jellyfish, would be more sustainable.
Dr. Klein shared that 75% of Australia's seafood is imported, which means that the country is "displacing any social or environmental problems associated with fishing to that place, which is likely to have less capacity to sustainably manage its ocean." The seafood industry as a whole is quite difficult to manage using conservative efforts due to supply chains across international waters.
For example, a fishing boat in Australian waters may be owned by a Chinese company but run by Filipino crew members, she explained. Then, the fish would be processed in China then exported to Europe.
The authors also noted that "major fishers and seafood consumers such as China, Japan, USA, and European nations have power and responsibility to improve traceability and sustainability of seafood globally, and are also important for reducing industrial fishing impacts on threatened species." In conclusion, better coordination of fisheries and conservation policies would save endangered species from extinction while assuring consumers that the fish they are consuming come from sustainable systems.
Read Also: Treating Fish as a Public Health Asset, Not a Commodity, Is Key to Food Security
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