Christine McDaniel and Michael Puttré write in Discourse Magazine about how we can achieve sustainable fishing globally.
- Overfishing, which is happening partially as a result of government subsidies, hurts marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
- The World Trade Organization and United Nations have reached agreements to end these harmful subsidies and discourage overfishing activities.
- In order for these treaties to have a meaningful impact, countries must crack down on unregulated fishing and prevent the encroachment of fishing from developed nations in the waters of developing countries.
- Policymakers should also explore avenues to expand small-scale fishing operations, which tend to be more sustainable and benefit local communities and marine wildlife.
“Small-scale fishing communities tend to regulate themselves in a proactive way to ensure sustainable harvests: The regulators are the fishers, and the fishers are the regulators. The fishers in a certain area today will be the same fishers in that same area tomorrow, the next day and the next year. It is in their interest to catch enough to make a living but not so much as to deplete next year’s catch.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
