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Study shows steps being taken to curb overfishing

AP File Photo

Scientists warned two years ago of a potential collapse in seafood stocks by 2048.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 31, 2009

WASHINGTON

Crab cakes and fish sticks won't be disappearing after all.

Two years after a study warned that overfishing could cause a collapse in the world's seafood stocks by 2048, an update says that the tide is turning -- at least in some areas.

"This paper shows that our oceans are not a lost cause," said Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the lead author of both reports. "I'm somewhat more hopeful ... than what we were seeing two years ago."

It's personal as well as scientific.

"I have actually given thought to whether I will be hosting a seafood party then," Worm said, meaning 2048.

Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington challenged Worm's original report, leading the two -- plus 19 other researchers -- to begin the study that led to the new findings. They are being published in today's edition of the journal Science.

The news isn't all good.

Of 10 areas of the world that were studied, significant overfishing continues in three, but steps have been taken to curb excesses in five others, Hilborn and Worm report. The other two were not a problem in either study.

Hilborn noted that 63 percent of fish stocks remain below desired levels. It takes time to rebuild after steps are taken to reduce the catch.

Michael Fogarty of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted a dramatic recovery of haddock on Georges Bank, off New England, as well as improvements in redfish, scallop and other fish. But such others as cod and flounder remain vulnerable, he said at a briefing.

"We feel confident that the tide of overexploitation can be reversed on a global basis," Fogarty said, citing such steps as exclusion areas, changes in fishing gear, assignments of rights to harvest, and incentives for fishermen to take a long-term view.

Two areas, Alaska and New Zealand, have led the world in terms of management success by not waiting until drastic measures are needed to conserve, the report said. These areas were not a problem in either study.

Regions where excess exploitation has halted are Iceland, southern Australia, the Northeast U.S., the Newfoundland-Labrador area and the California Current, which flows south along the U.S. West Coast.

Still being overfished, the report said, are the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Biscay region. And a newly developing problem is the movement of major fishing efforts to the developing world, with foreign fleets operating off east and west Africa under access agreements with local governments.

These fleets compete with local fishers, and almost all the fish they catch is taken to industrialized countries.

A separate study, also in Science, reports that researchers have successfully restored populations of native oysters to the Chesapeake Bay.