So What is The Issue?

The following essay takes a deep look into the major environmental crisis of overfishing that we as a society are facing today. It provides a multifaceted approach to the issue, looking at the history, the effects, both environmental and social, the organisations involved in rectifying the problem, a media campaign, a local Cape Town case study, as well to analyse the researched communication. Finally, I provide my personal insight and assumptions on the issue of overfishing.

A brief description of the problem, the history and the consequences of overfishing

Overfishing, a global problem we as a society are facing today can simply be defined as the following: “Catching too many fish; fishing so much that the fish cannot sustain their population. The fish get fewer and fewer, until finally there are none to catch.” (reefED, n.d.) The issue of overfishing, although a major concern of many environmentalists today, has; however, been an issue for many years.

The exploitation of fisheries can be dated all the way back to the 11th Century where fishermen would, after depleting one ecosystem, move on to other, more prosperous areas, leaving lasting damage behind. (Greenpeace, 2011)

A significant increase in the overfishing dilemma; however, came in the mid-20thcentury, when increasing the availability and affordability of protein rich foods was of international concern. This led to certain governments increasing their fishing capacity and creating favourable policies for fishermen, as well as providing loans and subsidies where needed. Through this, came the rapid rise of large-scale industrial fishing operations. These profit-driven, commercial fishing fleets were highly aggressive in their approach and were constantly developing new methods and technologies to find and extract their target species. This increase in supply meant that consumers were now accustomed to having access to a large variety of fish at affordable prices. (National Geographic, 2011)

By 1989; however, the consequences of this increase in the global fishing capacity were brutal. With 90 million metric tons of catch being removed from the ocean, the industry had reached its pinnacle, and ever since, the yields have declined or stagnated. This affected, not only the commercial fishing industry, but also the ecosystems within our oceans, as well as society as whole. (National Geographic, 2011)

At present, the rapid growth in population and; therefore, increased demand in fish, has further perpetuated the problem of overfishing and the depletion of oceanic ecosystems. Furthermore, technological advances, subsidies, unfair fisheries partnership agreements, pirate fishers and a lack of fisheries conservation and management have also worsened the problem of overfishing. (WWF, n.d.) The consequences or repercussions of overfishing have had negative effects on the environments as well as society as a whole.

The following Youtube video by Green Forum Oceans breaks down overfishing and its consequences:

How it is affecting the environment

With regards to the environment, the consequences of overfishing include: depletion of certain species as well as “excessive unintentional harvest of non-targeted, undersized or protected species, and ecosystems changes.” (Somma, 2003) Certain species such as Haddock, Atlantic Cod and Bluefin Tuna in particular, have been severely affected by overfishing and have been classified, as per the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (2004), as depleted or overfished.

The harvest of non-target species, which constitutes about a quarter of global fish catch, consists of the unwanted or unused animals that are caught during the fishing process. These animals consist of protected or endangered species or species that have no commercial or recreational value. They often found dead but otherwise are discarded by management officials. (Somma, 2003)

Finally, the changes to ecosystems that overfishing is causing is also detrimental to the environment. Natural resource specialist, Angela Somma (2003) explains: “Top predatory species tend to be fished for first. Once depleted, fishing moves down the food chain and can simplify the marine ecosystem.” She further states, “This, along with environmental changes to important habitat areas, can affect future fish production levels.” 

The following diagram illustrates how fishing directly and indirectly alters the ecosystem structure and function:

How it is affecting society

Despite the fact that overfishing and the depletion of fisheries means that humans will have a decreased supply of an important protein source, there are other implications that overfishing has on society as a whole.

In the early 1990’s, in Newfoundland, Canada, the cod stocks of the Grand Banks seemed infinite for centuries. This led to thousands of people being employed in the fishing and fish processing industry. However, in 1992, the cod fishery had finally collapsed, leaving over 40 000 people jobless. Using this example to explain the effects of overfishing on society, we can see that, unless something is done, the effects of overfishing on society will continue to get worse. (WWF, n.d.)Furthermore, for those coastal communities, where fishing is their main source of income and food supply, the implications of overfishing will have a much greater impact. The lack of income, employment and food that is caused by overfishing will hinder these communities’ possibilities of growth as well as worsen their standards of living.

Looking at these effects, it can be said that overfishing is definitely a global issue that is effecting the environment extensively as well as communities, large and small. If something is not done, and if sustainable fishing practices are not implemented on a global scale, the negative effects of overfishing will worsen and we will see the depletion of many more species of fish.

John Bruno (2012) observes the changing perceptions of our impact on the sea over time:

The global thoughts and actions on overfishing

Being a global issue, overfishing has caught the attention of many global organisatioins, activists, conservationists and of course the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation. All these parties have devised strategies and solutions to better the overfishing crisis; however, highlighting the approaches of two major organisations, WWF and Greenpeace, and the most recent study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society, I will sum up the overall global effort with regards to overfishing.

The World Wide Fund (WWF)

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), as expected, is highly involved in the issue of overfishing. Within the WWF’s Global Marine Programme, that aims to correct the damage that overfishing has caused and create sustainable, healthy marine ecosystems are; Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) (WWF, n.d)

The WWF defines their Marine Protected Area as: “An area designated to protect marine ecosystems, processes, habitats, and species, which can contribute to the restoration and replenishment of resources for social, economic, and cultural enrichment.” (WWF, n.d) For the success of these protected areas in terms of conservation, the WWF aims to establish and implement well-managed MPAs, improve the management of existing MPA’s and reduce external threats, such as human involvement and climate change. The benefits, they propose, offered by MPA’s include, the maintenance of biodiversity, the protection of important marine habitats and the provision of areas where fish can grow to their adult size, to name a few.

Ecosystem-Based Management is an attempt to find “new, innovative forms of management that conserve fish populations, don’t harm other marine species, protect the structure and function of marine ecosystems, and support sustainable fisheries and the fishers that depend on them.” (WWF, n.d) This method of conservation provides a holistic framework to rectify the overfishing crisis and it involves all stakeholders concerned. Through incorporating all stakeholders of the fishing industry, the WWF, believe that they will obtain better success in creating sustainable fisheries and restoring marine ecosystems (WWF, n.d)

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is an organisation, also very well known for their efforts in nature conservation. With regards to the problem of overfishing, Greenpeace, similarly to WWF, is working to protect marine reserves; however, they provide two other solutions that will assist the overfishing problem: sustainable fishing and sustainable seafood.

Sustainable fishing, a similar solution to the EBM, promotes the efficient management of fisheries as well as the protection of other marine life and marine ecosystems. However, Greenpeace has proposed sustainable fishing techniques as the method to promote sustainable fishing practices. They believe that fishing methods play a huge role in determining fisheries’ sustainability as well as the sustainability of marine life. (Greenpeace, n.d.) The Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, is at present in the Pacific, defending the ocean from unsustainable and pirate fishing. (Greenpeace, n.d.)

The video below explains what the Esperanza is doing and serves as a visual example of Greenpeace’s involvement in protecting the ocean.

Sustainable seafood, the other solution Greenpeace proposes for overfishing, involves retailers and consumers. They believe that “if retailers and consumers shift towards purchasing sustainable seafood, then the demand for fish caught using destructive and unsustainable practices will decline” (Greenpeace, n.d)

To assist this, Greenpeace has created the Seafood Redlist, a guide that informs people which fish are being overfished and therefore be avoided. With the use of this guide, retailers can stop buying fish from unsustainable sources, increase the range of seafood that is deemed sustainable and work with suppliers to promote sustainable fishing practices. For consumers, the Seafood Redlist, can assist their fish purchasing decisions and show them what fish not to buy. In conjunction with the Seafood Redlist, consumers can and should interrogate retailers as to where and how the fish was caught and from there, support retailers that support sustainable seafood. (Greenpeace, n.d)

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

The WCS (2012) explains: “that ‘co-management’—a collaborative arrangement between local communities, conservation groups, and governments—provides a solution to a vexing global problem: overfishing.” This is the outcome after the WCS conducted the largest, ever study of tropical coral reef fisheries which aimed to find how government, local fisheries, and organizations can protect livelihoods and fish.

The WCS found apparent evidence that people were in fact capable of implementing their own rules to manage fisheries.  “This is particularly encouraging because of the perceived failure of many open-access and top-down government-controlled attempts to manage fisheries around the world.” (WCS, 2012)

When a comparison between co-managed reefs and other reefs was made it showed that co-managed reefs were half as likely to be overfished, however studies also found that “globalized food chains can undermine local, democratic efforts to manage fisheries better.” When surveyed, only 9 percent of the fisheries felt that co-management would have a negative impact on their livelihoods, and an unexpected result showed that the main benefits of co-management tend to filter up to the wealthier, rather than down to the poor, however it is not disadvantageous or harmful to them. (WCS, 2012)

Above all this study confirmed that long-term investment in co-management regimes is crucial for the sustained health and economy of coastal populations and their supporting marine ecosystems. (WCS, 2012)

The following Youtube video is a comedic public service announcement on the affects of overfishing and the proposal of a solution:

A media campaign which relates to this theme

Unlike other environmental issues that concern the endangerment of a particular species, overfishing has not received as much media attention. Many advertising campaigns (especially in the last year) are created to attract awareness to Rhino poaching per say; however, for overfishing; only one campaign has resonated in the media:

The WWF Bluefin Tuna Campaign

The WWF Bluefin Tuna overfishing campaign was created by Ogilvy Paris, with the creative team consisting of Chris Garbutt (creative director), Arnaud Vanhelle (copywriter), Benot Raynert (art director) and Thomas Mangold (photographer). The print advertisement displayed the face of a panda on the body of a Bluefin Tuna and made use of the copy “Would you care more if I was a panda?” Two adaptations were created using the faces of a rhino and a gorilla which including the same copy, adapted appropriately. Below are the three different print ads.(Design Scene, 2011)

The inspiration behind the campaign stems from the fact that we, as a society, have not given the critical issue of overfishing the attention and concern it deserves. The question “Would you care more if I was a rhino, panda or gorilla?” is used not to detract attention from other environmental issues that the WWF supports, but to emphasise societies preferred interest of more publicised conservation issues as apposed to that of overfishing.

The “sarcastic and bitter” (Russo, 2011) tone of the campaign and the question “Would you care more if I was a panda, rhino or gorilla?” are strategically used an emotional method to raise awareness to the issue at hand. The campaign leaves viewers feeling guilty or ashamed that they have not paid a sufficient amount of attention to the problem of overfishing, and in this case, the overfishing of Bluefin Tuna. With this in mind, it can be said that the campaign has succeed in its objective of raising public awareness to the plight of Bluefin Tuna. The campaign has also featured on many advertising websites and blogs, such as ads of the world, which further demonstrates the success of the campaign.

A local Cape Town incident of overfishing

Overfishing is being practiced in many places all over the world and the consequences cannot be blamed on any particular fishery. In South Africa, overfishing can be seen mainly through the illegal fishing practices, with regards to the poaching of abalone or perlemoen, as it is locally known as. Abalone poaching is rife is South Africa due to its economic value for gourmets, particularly in Asia. Known for its aphrodisiac qualities, it is a delicacy that has spawned illegal poaching and trade. This has led to the abalone population to diminish severely. (Marshall, 2002)

In Cape Town especially, the issue of abalone poaching is fierce. Leon Marshall, from National Geographic News (2002), states, “Poaching is most intense along a rugged coastline straddling the confluence of the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans at the southern tip of Africa and along a 100-mile (160-kilometer) stretch of South Africa's Western Cape coast.”

The various news articles and reports about abalone poaching busts also show how the issue is very intense in the Western Cape. One of the biggest cases related to abalone poaching happened in 2010 when three Chinese men were arrested for the possession of over $1,5 million dollars worth of abalone. The three men have recently been sentenced and will serve severe jail time in South African prisons. (SADOCC, 2011) This is; however, only one case that has been heavily publicized in the media. Many other poachers are in still in practice in the Western Cape. Malungelo Booi (2012) reported: that “conservation group Feike recently announced there was a steady increase in abalone poaching along South Africa’s coastline.” In the same eye Witness News report it revealed that last week Western Cape officials recently arrested a 19 year old suspect after they recovered R1 million worth of abalone.

The environmental consequences of abalone poaching are similar to any other case of over exploitation with regards to marine life. The depletion of a particular marine species will negatively affect the ecosystem in which it lives. The depletion of the abalone species in this case will adversely affect other species that may have a symbiotic relationship with the abalone.

The major effect that abalone poaching has on the society of Cape Town; however, is that it promotes gangsterism. The high asking price of abalone by foreign Asian countries promotes locals to become involved in illegal fishing practices. Furthermore, these illegal fishing gangs compete against one another for resources and contracts and this leads to an increase in violent crimes amongst them.

Communicating and the construction of the environmental issue: overfishing

“Any tendency to over-fishing will meet with its natural check in the diminution of the supply... this check will always come into operation long before anything like permanent exhaustion has occurred.” (in Kurlansky,1998: 122) This extract from a speech made by a prominent scientist over a century ago proves that both the discussion and debate of overfishing is not a new one. Anders Hansen (2010) explains: “environmental issues or problems – over time – fade in and out of public focus in cycles that often seem to have little to do with whether they have been addressed, resolved, averted or ameliorated.” Society has become increasingly fickle about what they believe, and support despite that often they may not even completely understand. As highlighted throughout this essay, overfishing is in fact a serious environmental problem with vicious consequences; however it sadly has not and does not get equal or sufficient attention from society. There are various observations that may explain it – the constructionist argument is that environmental issues only become recognized through the process of public claims-making, so we need to examine what the media, communication and discourse of overfishing has been. (Hansen, 2010)

Firstly we look at the misguided perception that the sea is resilient to human activity Despite (or perhaps because of) conflicting evidence from the fishing trade about fish stocks and landings. Thomas Huxley’s widely reported belief that fishes were so prolific and the sea in which they swam so large that the activities of fishermen could have no real effect on stocks I’m sure is one of the claims that helped lead to the rise of overfishing practices in the twentieth century, at a time when government was wanting to increase the availability of protein rich food. This rise in the exploitation of fisheries proves that overfishing stems from the Age of Reason concept that nature should be used as an economic resource for human purposes and consumption. (Dickens, 2004: 2) Fish is not an animal that humans can identify with or get emotionally attached to as easily as rhino’s as per say so it becomes hard to fathom why we should not desolate their natural habitat or exploit their species to satisfy our own basic needs.

It is evident that overfishing has primarily been part of political and scientific discourses up to now. Governments and scientists have debated the policies regarding fishing for centuries however as Anders Hansen (2010) explains: “While claims-making and definition takes place in a number of arenas, the mass media are a particularly important arena or hub, because it is through the media that we as publics predominantly learn about what goes on in other key arenas.” When applying Ibarra and Kitsuse core foci of constructionist analysis to the problem it becomes more apparent why society remains to some extent detached from this environmental issue – in particular when looking at setting. If an agency were to do a print ad to raise awareness for this cause how would you create an image which resonated a rhetoric of loss or unreason, how would you create a sense of accountability in society when it is impossible to interact with fish or have an understanding of their “home.” To most an image of a vast empty ocean would be considered beautiful so how do we try make sense of it being a crisis. How can media make this issue more attainable?

As we have seen in the WWF campaign for Bluefin Tuna, media has now started to take creative and alternative approaches to raise awareness. Perhaps, the most significant change has been the fact that overfishing has now entered the public discourse. “Charles Clovers’ The End of the Line has recently been transformed into a much acclaimed film, indicating how issues surrounding overfishing are now being explored in the public domain. Just like many of today’s issues, the real pendulum swing looks set to rest in the hands of consumers. The appetite for change and transformation has never appeared stronger. The question is finding the right approach.” (Alhadeff, 2011)

 The Seafood Redlist, provided by Greenpeace in the hopes to achieve sustainable seafood, is a good example of how organisations have assisted in creating a global civil society. The Redlist, which provides consumers with a list of fish that are being overfished and should be avoided, allows consumers to make informed decisions with regards to the seafood purchases. As ecological modernisation states, concerned, informed consumers who favour sustainable fishing practices, will affect fishing corporations and will hopefully decrease the over exploitation of certain fisheries.

What do I think?

Although it is tempting to think of fishers as being involved in an artisanal trade - going to sea in small wooden boats or sitting on a beach mending nets by hand, in reality the majority of fish are caught by fishers using a variety of modern technologies for locating and catching fish and unfortunately in a society fuelled by greed, markets and industries no longer strive to satisfy need but increasing want, to a point where the environment simply cannot keep up.

The overfishing crisis we as a society are facing today, in my opinion, has resulted from Man’s view that nature has been created to provide and sustain human life. As Dickens (2004: 4) states: “God has given mankind dominion over nature with Man having the right to use it, work on it and consume its produce.” The general population has only recently been concerned with the issue of sustainability. However, despite this, we as a society have taken and still take nature, and in this case the ocean’s resources, for granted.

The oceans have been plundered for many years without care of what it is doing to the marine ecosystems or the small communities that solely rely on fishing for their livelihoods. Furthermore, the extreme increase in the world’s population has worsened the crisis. The marine populations cannot survive or be sustained under the pressure that is being caused by the global demand for fish.

However, despite the fact that the oceans are suffering from years of human exploitation, fish as a human resource cannot be completely disregarded. Fish make up a large source of protein, so in order for their existence as a part of our diets, we, as a society, need to make a collective effort to ensure the sustainability of marine life.

The solutions; however, cannot be left solely to the WWF and Greenpeace. Individuals that form part of a mass movement toward sustainable fishing will have the most impact on the crisis at hand. The idea of a global civil society within the theory of ecological modernisation, in my opinion, is the best way to put an end to unsustainable practices. The newer concept of co-management compliments this thinking. With consumers becoming more concerned as to what fish they are consuming and choosing only to consume fish that are sustainable, it will stop the overfishing of endangered marine species, such as the Bluefin tuna.

As a society, we need to become more proactive in our approach to sustainability and consider the way in which we consume and how it affects future generations. Individuals must not get stuck at doing nothing because they can only do little. The ocean and fish species might seem vast, unreachable, unattainable or even uncomprehending but that should be no excuse to not focus our efforts on it or have more actors for this issue.

To conclude it can be said that overfishing is most definitely an issue that has brutal consequences and, that without more concerted from a global and individual level, these consequences will become much more severe. Furthermore, from looking the theories surrounding the environment, one can see the nature of the problem that is the overfishing and how it links to human nature as well the origins of environmental reform and nature conservation.