The "ten year fishing ban" in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin in China has been launched in an all-round way, with unprecedented efforts. The Yangtze River fishing ban involves many fishermen and fishing boats, covers a wide area, and lasts a long time, which is rare in the world.

Throughout the global waters, there are about 35 million cubic kilometers of fresh water, including the Yangtze River, and about 1.337 billion cubic kilometers of sea water, accounting for 96.5% of the total water of the earth. Therefore, banning fishing in freshwater waters is a good start, but it is far from enough. At present, the implementation of high seas fishing ban and the promotion of sustainable marine fisheries are also key to the protection of marine environment and biodiversity.

International rules to be upgraded: "protect at least 30% of the oceans by 2030" is widely supported

"When I was a child, my father would occasionally take me fishing on the high seas. It was not unusual to catch about 30 jin of female Atlantic cod at that time. Now, decades later, the fish caught in the near high seas are no longer that big. My father often told me that it's short-sighted to live for nothing but fish In Norway's lovetown islands, the reporter met Jann Einar Olsen, whose family has been fishing for generations.

At present, fishing has become a human activity which has the greatest impact on marine life and ecosystem. Since 1950, high seas fisheries have covered about 48% of the high seas.

According to the 2020 report of the food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), "the situation of fishery resources on the high seas is very serious. As one of the main fishing targets of high seas fisheries, tuna has one third of the population overfished. High seas fishing causes tens of thousands of seabirds and a large number of sharks, marine mammals, turtles and other accidental deaths every year. Coupled with the impact of multiple pressures such as climate change, seawater acidification and plastic pollution, biodiversity in the high seas is facing a crisis and needs to be effectively protected. "

Zhou Wei, senior expert of marine project of international environmental protection organization, said, "the high seas' no fishing 'reserve is the most effective tool in protecting and restoring biodiversity and enhancing its resilience to cumulative impacts." She believes that the establishment of effective protected areas means that some sea areas will be designated as "no fishing areas", which will inevitably affect the existing high seas fishing activities to a certain extent.

However, the primary purpose of protected areas is to protect biodiversity, which is different from the purpose of fisheries management focusing on conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources. The results show that the biomass of fish in the fully protected area can be significantly increased, which is 670% higher than that in the unprotected area and 343% higher than that in the partially protected area.

"The rich fishery resources in the reserve will be added to the adjacent waters, which will also benefit the surrounding fisheries. Under the same fishing input, the catch in the waters around the reserve will be four times higher than that before the establishment of the reserve." Industry experts told reporters.

At present, there are many proposals on how many high seas should be designated as protected areas in the future. Among them, the goal of "protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030" has been widely supported by governments, scientific circles, environmentalists and NGOs. However, there is still a lack of a global legal mechanism to establish protected areas on the high seas. Since 2018, the United Nations has started the Intergovernmental negotiations on the legal instruments for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity (bbnj) in the waters beyond national jurisdiction. The last meeting was originally scheduled to be held at the end of March 2020, but it is still in a delayed state due to the impact of the epidemic.

"The complex distribution of interests is the key point for the establishment of high seas protected areas in the future." Zhou Wei said.

China's first fishing ban on the high seas of the southwest Atlantic

The protection of the high seas needs not only a global legal mechanism, but also countries' promotion at the national level.

As the second largest water exporting country in the world, Norway has good resource endowment and geographical advantages. In order to make the pillar industries more sustainable, Norway became the first country to implement fishery quota management. What's more, Norway's total catch and allocation structure should be confirmed according to the size and characteristics of fish stocks scientifically assessed and the ecosystem associated with fish stocks.

"September to November is the peak fishing season for Atlantic mackerel. Now, even at the busiest time of the year, my brothers and I don't stay at sea for long. We have come to realize that the driving force for sustainable development of fisheries is not output, but quality. " Olsen told reporters.

This is a new look of Norwegian fisheries after nearly half a century of continuous development. In the past 40 years, Norwegian fishery has stepped out of the dilemma of overfishing and disorderly management, and become one of the models of global marine economy.

In order to promote the sustainable development of fisheries, on July 1, 2020, China tried out a three-month independent fishing ban for the first time in the high seas of the southwest Atlantic Ocean. During the fishing moratorium, all Chinese ocean going fishing vessels, including squid fishing and trawlers, operating in the corresponding areas of the high seas of the southwest Atlantic Ocean, must stop their operations.

Matilda, an expert in Pelagic Fisheries, said, "China's independent fishing ban is mainly to protect spawning groups and fish larvae. The results show that the most important winter spawning population of squid in the southwest Atlantic lays eggs in the continental shelf and outer slope of northern Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil from July to August every year. The squid lays eggs throughout the year, with two peak periods from February to April and from September to November. The spawning peak of the two squid species overlaps with the fishing ban, which has certain ecological protection value in China

The relevant person in charge of the fishery administration bureau of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas said, "China's pelagic fishery has always adhered to the principle of sustainable development. This initiative and independent implementation of the fishing ban is an important embodiment of practicing the concept of" marine community of destiny "and actively participating in International marine governance."

Enterprises consciously accelerate: the world's largest krill fishing alliance actively delimits the no fishing zone

"In the past, huge nets were merciless. Now it's not the same. Even the krill fishing enterprise association has taken action. " A former crew member of a super trawler said.

Recently, the "ark, association of responsible krill harvesting companies", the world's largest krill fishing alliance, took the initiative to delimit no fishing areas. On December 11, 2020, ark officially announced that it will implement an annual autonomous fishing ban in the hope Bay area of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The full name of ark seems very awkward, but it is no stranger to many fishermen, because it controls 90% of the krill catch in Antarctica.

It is reported that the newly announced annual autonomous fishing ban is an upgraded version of the "seasonal autonomous fishing ban measures" implemented by the krill Enterprise Association since 2019.

Antarctic krill, as the basis of Antarctic food chain, is the direct food source of penguins, seals, cetaceans and other organisms. As the survival of krill depends on sea ice, the distribution and quantity of krill will also be affected with climate warming, which will affect the penguins, whales and other organisms at the top of its food chain.

Some companies have taken action. In the forefront, such as ark and fiskeb ? t fishery enterprise alliance in Norway have set a good example. We believe that it is the understanding and support of enterprises and fishermen that can lay a solid foundation for the ban on fishing; it is countries that put high seas ecological and environmental protection on the agenda, and the ban on fishing and the closure of fishing can continue to upgrade.

But a series of figures also remind us: in recent years, the Antarctic Circle is not optimistic. During the breeding season in 2017, only two of the 18000 pairs of Adelie penguins gave birth on pertes island in the east of Antarctica survived.

According to the monitoring results of Argentine scientists on hope Bay, the total number of penguins in hope Bay has decreased by 16% in the past 27 years. Annual monitoring of breeding populations in hope Bay shows that the number of these populations has decreased by about 38% in the past 18 years. In early 2020, another study on Elephant Island in Antarctica found that in the past 50 years, the number of Hooded penguins on Elephant Island has decreased significantly, and some populations have even decreased by more than 70%.

It's not just cold numbers that remind us that Antarctic krill is declining; it's not just shopping carts that remind us that bluefin tuna is almost disappearing from the Gulf of Maine. Although the ocean can hold hundreds of rivers, the living things in the ocean can't stand the net thrown at them any more. The prohibition of fishing on the high seas is in urgent need of attention and implementation.

Source: China Environment News