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STRONGER COLLABORATION NEEDED TO TACKLE OVERFISHING AND TO PROTECT THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

STRONGER COLLABORATION NEEDED TO TACKLE OVERFISHING

Stronger collaboration needed to tackle overfishing and to protect the marine environment – say leaders from industry, academia and NGOs.  Stronger collaboration is needed to tackle the problem of overfishing, according to leaders from the fishing industry, academia, NGOs and the seafood processing and retail supply chain, who gathered at Mansion House, in London, yesterday for an event hosted by the Marine Stewardship Council, the world’s leading standard setter for sustainable seafood.

The event, Fish, Food & Science: Delivering SDG14,  was part of a series of ‘Coffee Colloquies’ organised by the office of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, focused on finding ways to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Seven representatives from across the fishing industry, NGOs, finance and the supply chain each gave a four minute pitch on possible solutions to the challenge of protecting the ocean and ending overfishing.

Opening the discussion Rupert Howes, chief executive of the MSC, said the latest State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, released at the weekend, showed that “trends are going in the wrong direction” adding “our lives depend on the ocean and the life in the ocean”.

Bryce Stewart, marine ecologist and fisheries biologist from the University of Plymouth, said part of the solution lay in improved technologies adding:

“The most important thing scientists could do is work more closely with the fishing industry. Fishermen are experts by experience.”

Representing the catching sector, Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, talked about the progress made in Scotland in making the industry more sustainable adding that where once fishermen were like foxes guarding chickens, today they are “custodians of the sea”.

Echoing Bryce’s comments on collaboration with science, he said:

“we can use every fishing vessel as a research platform.”

Bernadette Butfield, senior policy officer from the UK Marine Team, RSPB, “without nature at the front of the discourse, both people and planet will suffer…sustainable fishing is essential for preserving biodiversity.”

From fish processor New England Seafood International, Cassie Leisk, Planet and People Group Director, spoke about how important the MSC framework was and added there “was a need to build trust and a need to focus on business to drive the change”.

Ana Nicola, Responsible Sourcing Manager, at Ocadothe UK’s largest online grocer, spoke about the role of bringing the consumer along. “It’s our responsibility to equip consumers with the knowledge so they can try and make more responsible choices,” she said.

Lucy Holmes, Senior Director of Blue Finance at, WWF, said:

the “door had opened with conversations on sustainability with the finance sector”.

“A big shift in mindset that we are seeing is that we need to see sustainability as no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a fundamental costs of doing business.”

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