{"id":200758,"date":"2025-06-20T20:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T20:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/200758\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T20:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T20:22:12","slug":"tackle-industrial-fishing-but-local-inshore-fleets-deserve-support-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/200758\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackle industrial fishing, but local inshore fleets deserve support | Fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to George Monbiot, fishing is \u201cthe most destructive of all private industries\u201d (Attenborough\u2019s Ocean is the film I\u2019ve been waiting my whole career for \u2013 now the world must act on its message, 13\u00a0June<\/a>). Have fossil fuel lobbyists finally got to him?<\/p>\n

Monbiot is right to highlight our complacency with overfishing, but\u00a0in our attempts to tackle industrial fishing\u2019s worst abuses, especially unchecked bottom trawling, we should not demonise small\u2011scale fishers \u2013 our ocean\u2019s most powerful custodians.<\/p>\n

Across the globe, small\u2011scale fishers using low\u2011impact gear in coastal waters are on the frontlines against industrial overfishing. They\u2019re the first to feel the impacts of ocean decline and the best-placed to propose solutions.<\/p>\n

Is it true that \u201cthe fishing industry trashes everything\u201d? No. Some gears, like bottom trawls, are indeed destructive and should be restricted. But small-scale fisheries using low-impact gears are the opposite. They use environmentally friendly\u00a0methods to provide healthy, low-carbon food to coastal\u00a0communities.<\/p>\n

Is fishing really \u201cthe most destructive of all private industries\u201d? No. Fossil fuel, mining and chemical lobbyists will be smiling as readers direct their ire towards the local inshore fishing fleet.<\/p>\n

Should the UK government redirect funding away from fishing and let the industry fade? No. Current subsidies unfairly favour industrial vessels with outsized impacts. Redistributing funds and rapidly scaling investment in small\u2011scale fisheries would deliver dividends through resilient food systems, enhanced food security, sustainable livelihoods and greater climate resilience, alongside healthier ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Should the oceans be closed to fishing, bar a few gazetted areas? No. Coastal waters should be fully co\u2011managed with small-scale fishers to ensure they are stewarded for future generations.<\/p>\n

The world is awakening to the impacts of bottom trawling. Now it must wake up to the vital importance of small\u2011scale fisheries\u00a0\u2013 and fast.
Tom Collinson<\/strong>
Advocacy manager, Blue Ventures<\/p>\n

I read George Monbiot\u2019s article with interest. I am one of the producers of Rupert Murray\u2019s 2009 film The End of the Line<\/a>, which was about marine destruction, was funded in part by Channel\u00a04, and broadcast by it. This film did not \u201ccarefully avoid\u201d blaming the fishing industry, and an independent study showed that it had an impact on public attitudes, corporate behaviour and political\u00a0policy.<\/p>\n

That film drew heavily on the previous work of Charles Clover<\/a>, who appeared in the film and whose 2004 book of the same title was a milestone in the campaign to save the world\u2019s oceans.<\/p>\n

It is not just a question of making good and powerful programmes. Today, those have to have a celebrity at the front of them, and a lasting impact is achieved by a sustained and continuous campaign from civil society groups\u00a0and journalism \u2013 in George\u2019s words \u201cthose whose job it is to inform us\u201d. My concern is that after Ocean<\/a>, the BBC will think\u00a0\u201cjob\u00a0done\u201d and everyone else\u00a0in the media will agree.
Christopher Hird<\/strong>
Dartmouth Films<\/p>\n

Many of us echo George Monbiot\u2019s \u201cAt last!\u201d in response to David Attenborough\u2019s film. But I was disappointed that the names of the trawlers plundering the oceans were blurred. It is about time the international companies plundering our oceans\u2019 ecosystems were publicly shamed.<\/p>\n

Environmental NGOs, especially local ones using citizen scientists to gather data in their own time and often unpaid, have amassed millions of pieces of relevant data, especially from inshore waters. Yet we still have long \u201cconsultations\u201d on marine protected areas, usually resulting in nothing changing. I have completed four in recent years about Scottish inshore waters. There is collusion between UK governments and their national scientific and nature conservation organisations in this, and environmental NGOs, in fear of losing finance, grants etc stay silent.<\/p>\n

The government has procrastinated in ratifying the 2023 UN high seas treaty<\/a> agreeing to put 30% of these waters into marine protected areas. Ecosystems are the lifeblood of our oceans and ultimately us. Overfishing, short-term greed and financial returns are the name of this game. Stop the\u00a0politics of delay \u2013 do it now!
Dr Sally Campbell<\/strong>
Lamlash, Isle of Arran<\/p>\n

Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/strong>email<\/strong><\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/strong>letters<\/strong><\/a> section.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to George Monbiot, fishing is \u201cthe most destructive of all private industries\u201d (Attenborough\u2019s Ocean is the film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-200758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114717559530156848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}