BIOPHILIA SUMMARY: Rewilding the Sea
REWILDING THE SEA, Charles Clover
Easy bedtime reading. A nice narrative overview of the status quo and some rewilding rays of hope. Now seeking a Vaclav Smil-type follow-on.
— — —
TLDR
The sea and its wildlife is in extreme decline.
Ocean ecosystems regenerate if left alone.
To regenerate, we need large areas where fishing is not permitted. Phase out bottom-trawling and dredging, reduce quotas and enforce them, get rid of subsidies.
— — —
There used to be way more fish. For every hour fishing today, even with best equipment, fisherman land 6% of what they did 130 years ago [1890].
Some types of fishing are worse than others. Bottom-trawling and dredging are the worst for biodiversity loss and carbon release.
Some marine species are more important than others in helping the ecosystem regenerate and thrive. These should be nurtured and protected. Atlantic cod, Oysters and Kelp, amongst others.
Great examples of regeneration are Chagos Islands, Acsension Island and Lyme Bay .
— — —
The most important things I can do in Ireland:
Avoid Cod, scallops and Bluefin Tuna.
Lobby against bottom-trawling and kelp forest destruction.
Support creation and policing of large marine reserves.
— — —
Managing the Oceans.
The oceans are the last place where modern society depends largely on hunter gatherers. Fishermen depend for their living on catching wild animals.
There can be no ‘individual re-wilding efforts’ as there is on land.
The seas are hard to police.
The most harmful fishing practices are subsidised. They do not make economic sense, let alone environmental sense. The big players: China, EU, US, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea all subsidise fishing.
A barbell strategy for sustainable fishing:
It is ecologically and economically beneficial to only have artisanal fishing methods within 3, 6, 12, 40 miles of the coast. This should be our aim.
Phase out trawling, bottom-fishing, dredging. No hyper-targeted fishing. Stricter quotas.
Fishing has a big part to play in climate change. Trawling is as carbon-contributing as aviation (2021 Sala et al.).
Mesopelagic fish help with carbon capture. There is a risk that we will increasingly start fishing them.
Kelp can take 20x carbon than a landforest. Let’s protect and re-wild Kelp Forests.
— — —
Sources
Rewilding the Seas, Charles Clover