DWT and Fishing

DWT's Position on Commercial Fishing

Dorset Wildlife Trust supports the sustainable harvesting of some marine species for food - this is a legitimate use of marine resources, providing employment opportunities and high-quality food.

At the same time, commercial fishing has been identified as one of the most significant pressures on the world’s oceans, leading to a massive reduction in world-wide fish stocks, spin-off impacts on the wider ecosystem and considerable incidental damage to the seabed.

Dorset Wildlife Trust believes that it is possible to relieve the pressure on the environment from fishing, allowing ecosystems to recover, while continuing to provide a living for local commercial fishermen. This can be achieved by shifting to more selective, less damaging capture methods and by reducing overall fishing effort, allowing stocks to recover to a more resilient and productive level which can then be fished more lightly.

Marine Protected Areas also have an important role to play and DWT is looking forward to the establishment of a network of Marine Conservation Zones in the near future. We believe the more damaging fishing techniques (e.g. scallop dredging, beam trawling) are incompatible with Marine Protected Areas. We also believe that some areas should be fully protected from all human activities that alter the ecosystem, including fishing. These will be known as “reference areas” as they should eventually recover to a more natural state, which we can compare with other areas to assess human impacts.

We believe that fish-buying consumers care about the state of the oceans and the people of Dorset care about Dorset’s marine environment. Given the right information, consumers can make choices which can encourage these positive changes.

Much of the fishing going on in Dorset today is relatively low-impact and we want to give credit where fishermen are making an effort to minimise their environmental impact and to manage their stocks well. The Great Dorset Seafood Campaign aims to identify well-managed, low-impact Dorset fisheries, promote the sale of such seafood and encourage local retailers to stock it.
 

 Definition of terms

Many terms are used to describe fisheries, associated seafood or the method of capture. Sometimes these terms are used incorrectly and we have detailed a description to help you source your seafood correctly.

Sustainable:

There are several elements to sustainability. The target fish population needs to remain resilient and productive. Most fish stocks globally are well below this level but by easing off fishing effort and allowing stocks to recover it should be possible to catch more fish in the future using less effort. The impact of the fishery on the wider ecosystem is also part of sustainability ­ if the target stock is healthy, but the fishing method is unacceptably damaging the seabed, the fishery cannot be deemed sustainable. The wider effective management of the stock also comes into play, and this is where local fishermen can get a raw deal. It doesn’t matter how sustainably you are fishing if someone else is overfishing your stock elsewhere in its range.

Bycatch:

This covers any species caught in fishing gear that was not the target of the fishing method (including juveniles of the target species). Bycatch can be landed and sold as long as it is above any minimum landing sizes and the fisherman has quota for that species. If it can’t be landed it becomes ‘discards’ ­ meaning it is discarded back into the sea.

Local:

In this case means caught in Dorset sea area and/or by Dorset fishermen

Environmentally sensitive/low impact:

This refers to fishing methods that have little environmental impact beyond the removal of the target species, this wider impact could be physical damage to the seabed or high levels of bycatch.

Great Dorset Seafood Directory:

This is specific to Dorset only, listing all species targeted in the county, along with the methods used to catch them. Each combination is scored for overall “goodness” which Dorset Wildlife Trust will be examining and publicising soon.
 

Pot caught brown crab by Emma Rance

Rod and line caught seabass
by Emma Rance

Dive picked scallop by Emma Rance

Rod and line caught mackerel
by Emma Rance