Various government officials, fishing industry leaders, investors and conservation groups met today to discuss new ways to finance more sustainable fishing, in a meeting organized by the U.K.’s Prince of Wales.
The Prince met with the participants at St. James’s Palace in Westminster, England, where he revealed a new report from his International Sustainability Unit and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The report offers a framework for investing in more sustainable fisheries, and describes how sustainable fishing can provide significant financial return.
"Economy and ecology do not have to be locked into an irreconcilable struggle,” the prince said in his address. “We know from many examples around the world that the transition toward sustainability can deliver a wide range of economic, social and ecological benefits. The transition to sustainable fisheries, therefore, should be seen as a 'no regrets' investment. It requires capital today to ensure that these benefits exist tomorrow."
As proof, the prince cited the Pacific Halibut fishery, where new sustainable management led to an increase in revenues by 200 percent, and a clam fishery in the Ben Tre province in Vietnam, which used sustainable management to boost value by nearly 50 percent.
“Oceans are the single most important resource in human history,” said Fred Krupp, President of EDF. “We have an opportunity to restore our oceans to abundance by putting new tools in place to spur public and private investment in fishing communities and sustainable fisheries.”
