Europe's bycatch mess--throwing away dead fish

Catch a fish and keep it--catch the next one and throw it away dead.

WTF?

It's called bycatch and it's a waste. Worse, it's a sin. Click here for a video to see it an example of a fishing boat dumping tons of dead fish overboard.

What do you think? Is this a good way to fish? No, of course not. So why do we allow it?

Some fishermen (and fish lovers) would say the goverment makes them do it. They're WRONG. It's happening because fishermen can't be bothered to fish selectively. It's caused by sloppy fishing.

These days the big fight about throwing away fish is happening in Europe. The Common Fisheries Policy is Europe's main fishing law and it sets limits on how many fish can be caught. Limits on fishing lead to waste because fishermen can't control what they catch, and they run afoul of the limits. Does this mean that it's bad to have limits?

Sloppy fishing that catches unwanted fish is called "by-catch" in the fishy world. Bycatch means catching something you don't want while you're busy catching what you do want. Fish or other ocean animals can be caught as bycatch.

Europe's fishing rules set limits for some types of valuable fish. Fishermen are allowed to go out and try to catch fish. If they exceed the limits for any one of several fish, they're in trouble. So what happens then? Fishermen throw away the fish they catch which are over the limits. Throw it away, and they can't be punished for catching the fish over the limits. The real solution is that they should be prevented from ever catching the fish. The rules only limit what fish they're allowed to bring home and sell.

How does this play out on a fishing trip?Fishermen go out fishing with unselective gear, catch their limit of one fish (say cod) but then instead of stopping, they keep fishing for other fish (maybe haddock). Who's surprised when they catch excess cod and and then throw it away? Nobody should be surprised.

Who's responsible for the waste? The rules that set limits on fish? or the sloppy fishing that can't control what is caught?

Some politicians and fishermen say the rules are at fault. I say the sloppy fishing is responsible for the waste, and sloppy fishermen shouldn't whine about the rules. Instead, they should learn how to fish selectively and catch only what they are allowed to keep.

The rules are designed to protect fish. Science-based limits on cod can't be increased just because they're inconvenient, otherwise cod will disappear totally.

The problem can be solved. One easy solution is for fishermen to stop fishing when they hit their first limit. This is similar to how the problem is handled in the US (the land of enlightenment compared to this European mess).

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Climate change creates a war over fish

Pay attention to the new mackerel war, you'll be seeing more of this type of dispute in the coming years as climate change warms ocean waters.

This dispute threatens to put the stink on foreign relations between the EU and Iceland, with some big consequences such as hindering Iceland's entry into the European Union. All of that over an oily little fish?

The mackerel war is happening because it seems that climate change is warming ocean waters northwest of Europe, driving mackerel towards Iceland. Traditional mackerel fishing countries don't want to share the fish with Iceland. Caught in the middle is the Faroe Islands, with a small share of the traditional catch but a growing share of the fish around their small island home. They want more mackerel too.

Mackerel seem to be replacing some traditional staples of Icelandic ocean bounty, so Icelanders feel justified in catching mackerel. It does seem reasonable, since mackerel are now swarming around Iceland and the word on fishing for mackerel is that it's so good it's crazy.

Fish and fisheries will move as the ocean warms in coming years. Nations that traditionally caught certain fish will want to follow those fish north. But the nations that become new hosts of the fish will certainly want at least a piece of the action. And why not, since their traditional fish will likely have moved north into someone else's waters.

This is a mackerel war in name only, no actual shots are being fired, at least not yet. But the next one might not be so civilized. Real wars have been fought over less.

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Eels in deep trouble

What's long, skinny, and endangered? No, it's not Michael Jackson

Europe's eels are in deep trouble, and that situation is getting some ink now that Dutch fishermen are joining eels in the decline.

Eels are fascinating creatures, and unfortunately their complex lifecycle makes them perhaps uniquely vulnerable to overfishing, habitat damage, and other human-caused ills afflicting fish. (That's right, eels are fish).

Eels live most of their lives in rivers, but then the adults swim out to sea and spawn mysteriously in places people can't find. Baby eels drift in the ocean for nearly a year and then return to rivers as tiny and nearly invisible "glass eels" that are an expensive delicacy when eaten whole and sometimes while still alive (right).

Dutch fishery managers are responding to the plight of the European eel, thanks perhaps to eel protection campaigns by WWF and others. Fishermen wish for a different type of recovery plan, one that leaves them free to fish, of course.

Eel politics are not new, eel riots date back to the 1800s when fishermen battled police trying to break up a type of eel tug-of-war according to the New York Times. Hmmm...eels seem to invite strange behavior in people. Maybe there is a Michael Jackson connection.

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Jellyfish replacing fish on UK menus?

Not quite yet, but that day is coming unless we end overfishing. So say reputable scientists, although they disagree about whether or not we should say we're "running out of fish."

Why the jellyfish boom?

It's a tired story, scientific advice is ignored as managers try to keep fishing jobs afloat by giving away fish that don't exist, even on paper. It's the Christmas spirit and it's quite nice, but it doesn't work when there's no fish left to give away.

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There's big money in ocean waves

And it's not just in ocean energy. Protecting a high-quality surfing wave makes good business sense.

Here's a study of a surfing spot in Spain and it's value to the local economy. Once people read this, we'll probably see a rush of projects to make new surfing waves in small coastal towns around the world.

Thanks to the Save the Waves Coalition, we now know that saving the wave pictured above, in Mundaka, Spain, is good business. Surfing adds $4.5 million to the local economy and supports 95 jobs in a town of 1900 people.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that surfing is good clean fun.

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Puffins in trouble?

Nothing is cuter than a puffin, and with the North Sea puffins now in trouble, Newsweek asks: Are they cute enough to inspire a rescue effort. It's "The power of cuddly."

For those of you who don't know puffins, they're the silly little sea bird with the big colorful beak shown in the photo at left.

We've been through this before, with baby seals and pandas, and the power of cuddly is huge. Let's hope it does the trick for puffins. Now isn't this a great excuse to pust some intolerably cute pix of baby seals and pandas?

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Jellyfish swarm attacks UK

A salmon farm was wiped out last week, by a jellyfish swarm that stung and suffocated salmon in a cage. Now a second swarm is floating off the UK shore. It's Frank Schatzing's Swarm.

These "purple stinger" jellyfish are known from waters further south, but their appearance in a mass off the UK is a big surprise in the cold water of November. And nobody expected a killer swarm that could devastate a salmon farm.

One thing that gives jellyfish a boost is the removal of fish due to overfishing, so we may see more of this in the future if we don't stop overfishing our oceans.

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Good news for cod on blog action day

Reduce overfishing and fish will recover, even in the severely overfished North Sea. Wow, who wouldda thunk it?! It's just the early signs of recovery, but let's enjoy the good news today.

Because, it's BLOG ACTION DAY for the environment. Today, bloggers worldwide are posting on environmental issues. The hope is that concerted action by bloggers will help lead to concerted action by others. It's worth a try.

Good news is the best way to do this work, I think. So let's all enjoy a deep breath or two while we notice that the North Sea's fabled cod are showing the early signs of recovery after decades (more like centuries) of overfishing. Maybe we can enjoy COD fish and chips again in London someday, instead of the dogfish that are typically used now.

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Get naked for conservation 2

Video clips of the nude global warming protest. Hat tip: Pepijn

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Get naked for conservation

Hundreds of people took off their clothes to raise awareness of global warming. It was a chilly nude, since they posed on a shrinking Swiss glacier.

Few other than blogfish have the courage to bring you the frontal shot, Other, more demure types chose the rear view, and even then they only linked to the photo rather than showing it.

Artist Spencer Tunick got everyone to take off their tunics for one of his photos of nude gatherings in public places. It's an interesting and fun way to try to save the world. But it remains to be seen whether it works. Is it really the glaciers that everyone's thinking about?

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Jellyfish swarm worsens, be very afraid

Toxic jellyfish are invading Europe's Mediterranean beaches, and people are suffering. Is it overfishing? Or is it...THE SWARM

As blogfish packs for vacation, I must admit I've finally picked up a copy of Frank Schatzing's THE SWARM. It's an ocean techno-thriller, where the ocean fights back against our misuse and abuse. Jellyfish start to...wait, you'll just have to read it.

In the real world, jellyfish swarms seem to be getting worse. Climate change, overfishing, or natural? You be the judge.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to get on the plane and get back into THE SWARM...

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Fiddling while Europe's fish disappear

Who will disappear first, Europe's fish or fishermen? The way things are going, the last fisherman will go out of business just after selling the last fish.

Crippled by arguments and failed policies, European fisheries are in even worse shape than US fisheries. Conservationists are upset, fishermen are upset, managers are beleagured and upset, and the fish are smaller and fewer every year.

The thousand pound bluefin tuna of yesterday are only a memory, and famous North Sea cod are almost gone--scientists advise no more fishing until they recover.

Overall fish levels in the North Sea have dropped 60% in the last 100 years, showing that fishing taken much of the life out of Europe's oceans.

Are there signs of change in recent fishing cutbacks? Is the glass 1/4 full or 3/4 empty?

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