Members of the North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA) are committed to its pledge to source alternative species if Northeast Atlantic coastal states can’t end long-term overfishing of mackerel, NAPA Mackerel Subgroup Chair and Thai Union Ambient Sustainability Director Chris Shearlock told SeafoodSource.
NAPA recently released call-to-action film “Mackerel Maths” as part of a new campaign that’s urging the coastal states of Norway, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland to reduce the overfishing of mackerel and to collaboratively ensure total catches are in line with scientific advice. It has also warned that for the last 15 years, the total annual catch has been on average 40 percent more than these recommendations, and the stock has been on a declining trajectory for the past 10 years.
As a result of the ongoing issues, multiple pelagic stocks have lost Marine Stewardship Council certification and have had sustainability metrics downgraded by environmental organizations – with the most recent instance being the Marine Conservation Society downgrading Northeast Atlantic mackerel.
NAPA was formed to advocate for reforms to fishing pressure on the pelagic stocks, and Shearlock said the blame for overfishing lies solely with the coastal states’ inability to reach an agreement, not the fishing industry itself.
“Enforcement of science-based quotas is crucial for effective fishery management. While those fishing for mackerel are highly compliant, the challenge lies with the coastal states managing the fishery,” Shearlock said. “For instance, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s “fishsource” scoring for the fishery notes ‘Fishers Compliance’ at 10/10, but rates ‘Managers Compliance’ at only 4.6/10.”
NAPA has initiated what it calls policy fishery improvement projects (FIPs) through which its members have independently made sourcing commitments tied to sustainable stocks. Many of those members said they will stop sourcing from Northeast Atlantic pelagics unless full sharing agreements are reached by the FIP deadline, which now just has 12 months to run.
“We are fully committed to the NAPA FIP and want to see coastal states bring catches of Northeast Atlantic mackerel back in line with the scientific advice,” Shearlock said. “Through [Thai Union’s] SeaChange2030 sustainability strategy, our goal is to ensure that all our wild-caught fish is responsibly sourced by 2030. We will continue to review the situation and also monitor and evaluate alternatives.”
Those alternatives would come into play if the coastal states can’t reach an agreement by NAPA’s deadline.
Shearlock said there is only one solution to the ongoing overfishing issues facing the Northeast Atlantic mackerel stocks, and that is for coastal states to finally reach an agreement in line with scientific advice.
“This will take compromise on all sides and won’t be popular with every party,” he said. “What we would get though, is the much greater prize of a sustainably managed fishery that can then regain its MSC certification. In the shorter term, NAPA has proposed interim measures that coastal states could agree immediately such as limiting banking and borrowing to 10 percent of the annual total or prioritizing human consumption for whole mackerel.”
The solutions, while they may be unpopular with some, are also extremely simple to understand, Shearlock said. Its recent film “Mackerel Maths” is an example of how easy it is and uses six schoolchildren – representing the six coastal states debating over the mackerel stock – to showcase that children can understand and reach a solution in minutes.
In the video, the children are given a set amount of “fish” for each of them to catch, and they independently come up with ways to divide up the catch. Over time the number is reduced, and the children have to talk out who gets to catch how many and how to share.
“The ‘Mackerel Maths’ film is really to demonstrate the simplicity of the solution we need – that catches are brought down in line with the scientific advice. Hopefully this will catch coastal states’ negotiators’ attention,” Shearlock said.
If it doesn’t catch their attention, and coastal states continue to overfish, NAPA members are committed to abandoning mackerel and finding alternatives, Shearlock said.
“Clearly, any movement to other, similar species is a time consuming and relative painful process for all involved,” Shearlock said. “We would much rather see the Northeast Atlantic mackerel stock managed sustainably with catches brought down in line with the scientific advice. However, alternatives do exist, and our customers have high standards for responsible sourcing of their fish.”
