Shoppers urged to help fish preservation

SHOPPERS were urged yesterday to do their bit to keep fisheries afloat by choosing their fish products carefully.

Scientists warned that global fish stocks could be wiped out by 2048 if current practices continued, and said shoppers could help by switching from struggling cod to abundant herring and avoiding other vulnerable species.

Dr Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada who led the team of researchers, said while fish like orange roughie were becoming more common on fish counters, they were very slow to reproduce so stocks took a long time to recover.

“As consumers we have choice and we have responsibility to avoid species that are not doing well,” he said.

“By 2050 we will have three billion more people to feed so we absolutely need to conserve the productivity of the oceans for our own benefits, now and for the future.”

Marine experts here, however, gave reassurance that there was no immediate risk of fish famine, but agreed that steps must be taken to better manage the major fishing grounds if fish counters were not to disappear from shops and markets by mid-century.

Professor Noel Wilkins, a zoologist at National University of Ireland, Galway, said the problem of depleting fish stocks had been brewing for years but was finally reaching what appeared to be a critical point.

“I hope this is now the tipping point where we realise that we need to make a change in the managing of fisheries. But 40-50 years is probably 10 generations of fish so we have the time,” he said.

Joe Maddock, chairman, of the Irish Fisherman’s Organisation, said there was ample evidence from the past that fisheries could be saved by careful management.

“A lot of hysteria has been driven by the state of cod,” he said. “The tools are there for to close off (fishing) areas if there is any kind of restriction you want to bring in. The mechanisms are there to do that work.”

One of the country’s biggest supermarket chains, Tesco Ireland, said it had not yet had to think about changing the types of fish it sold but would have a close ear to the market through its suppliers.

“We already sell a wide range of fish so there is a lot of choice for customers. We have seen an increase in wholesale prices which may be linked to stock shortages but from our perspective it’s not an issue at the moment,” said communications officer Seamus Banim.

Dr Worm said the warnings issued now are intended to spur action rather than create a sense of hopelessness. “It’s only in the last five years that people really start to think about the problem and I see a lot of signs of encouragement.

“At this point in time the ocean still has the recovery potential that is needed to turn things around, but we are afraid that if we wait much longer, that ability would be lost because with every species that is lost, the ability of the system to recover by itself is compromised a little bit more.”

A report on the future of the Irish seafood industry, the National Seafood Strategy 2007-2013, has been compiled by Bord Iascaigh Mhara and is due to be submitted to Marine Minister Noel Dempsey in the next fortnight.