Fishing: "Time is not on our side"

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32886, 8 April 1972, Page 17

Fishing: "Time is not on our side"

I N.Z.P A.-Rcvter —Copyright; ROME, April 7. World fisheries face total destruction unless techniques already avail* able for saving them are properly used. This warning comes in a paper prepared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation for presentation to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June. Written jointly by Dr Henry Regier, of the University of Toronto, and Mr Donald Kelly, of Sacramento, California, who formerly worked with the F.A.0., the paper criticises human failure to identify emotionally with fishery life. , The authors say that a tendency to regard the water environment as alien and hostile has hindered public

understanding and action; and that while public awareness has not increased, the rate of all forms of pollution of lakes, streams and oceans, and the exploitation of fisheries, has. The F.A.O. attaches to the paper a series of recommendations for action. These note that while the harvest of proteins from the sea increased by about 6 per cent a year over the last quarter of a century, yields from fish-farming and of certain fish stocks are now decreasing because of over-fishing, pollution and other manmade changes in the water environment. The recommendations urge the expansion of scientific research and the use of unconventional and so-far-unex-ploited fishery resources, such as the krill—a small shrimp-like creature found in Antarctic waters and virtually unused by man. To allow a greater yield of

; proteins from fisheries, fish stocks should be managed i rationally through controls, i including monitoring and . periodic assessments of fish ' catches, the development of fish-farming, and limits on 1 wasted disposal. The paper calls on the i F.A.O. and other. United : Nations agencies to support ■ action and recommendations i aimed at carrying out such proposals, and at promoting i exchanges of information. i The authors give a wam- ■ ing that the effects of some , of the longest-lasting pollu- ■ tants, such as zinc, lead and ■ D.D.T. are not always immediately apparent. > But the report says that ■ rivers and lakes, once the • source of pollution is re- ■ moved, do gradually recover , their earlier state of health. I “Thus, not all biological I communities in environments I once polluted are necessarily condemned to death,” the 1 authors say. "The future of

fisheries seems to be one of endless monitoring experimentation, refinement of theory, and careful management practices. “Time is not on our side. Tn spite of growing environmental and economic awareness, we have grave concern about the future ecological state of the freshwater and inshore marine communities from the viewpoint of fisheries. “Yet the technology exists that would maintain environments in a reasonably healthy state, and permit the partial recovery of others for purposes of increased fish production. “The immediate and pressing challenge is for humanity to define its long-term objectives with respect to the aquatic environment. Given an adequate commitment by the world’s people, progress should be prompt, and, hopefully, rapid enough."