Prince Charles calls for greater sustainability in fisheries
London Mercury Sunday 13th July, 2014
• Report by Prince of Wales Trust calls for greater sustainability
• Reports claims there is an extra USD $50-billion to be earned from fisheries
• Report outlined at meeting of conservationists in London
LONDON, UK - A new report backed by Britain's Prince Charles claims that oceans around the globe could inject an extra USD $50-billion into the world's economy if fisheries were sustainably managed.
The report by Prince Charles' International Sustainability Unit, the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund and 50in10 claims that global fisheries contribute more than USD $270-billion to global GDP and employ hundreds of millions of people around the world.
An additional USD $160 billion comes from related businesses, such as ship building or fish processing industries, according to the report.
Environmentalists, supported by the Prince of Wales, argue that the world's oceans are being exploited, which will eventually cost the industry billions.
The report points to the Canadian Grand Banks cod fisheries, where unsustainable fishing led to its collapse, as an example of the impact.
The report says sustainable fishing would ensure a bigger and healthier fish stock, producing yields in the longer term.
"Success would provide a much-needed example of how to regenerate our planet's dangerously depleted, threadbare and under-performing natural capital while also providing a realistic economic return," the Prince of Wales, a keen environmentalist, told together representatives of the fishing industry, governments, campaigning groups and investors at a meeting in London this week.
The Global Ocean Commission, which is allied with The Prince of Wales Trust, has also sounded warnings about international waters, saying in June that there was a risk of exploitation in oceans outside national jurisdictions.
"There are too many boats trying to catch too few fish yet, despite this clear overcapacity, governments still grant at least USS $30-billion a year in fisheries subsidies," the commission said.
The commission alleges the majority of sustainable fishing in international waters is done by only 10 countries, most of them developed nations that can afford to subsidise the expensive operations of sending large boats into remote corners of the oceans.
"Economy and ecology do not have to be locked into an irreconcilable struggle," Prince Charles said, referring to this unsustainable situation.
Prince Charles in holding the meeting joined forces with the Environmental Defense Fund and a fisheries network 50in10, to call for investors to transform the industry into a more sustainable model in order to find the extra USD $50-billion within it.
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