Diver in Costa Brava, Spain. Helmut Corneli / Alamy Stock Photo.
The ocean is the planet’s largest ‘carbon sink’, absorbing around one quarter of annual global carbon dioxide emissions. This is not simply a chemical process; but a phenomenal biological pump filled with trillions of active carbon engineers, namely plankton, fish and whales, who cycle and recycle energy and carbon throughout the ocean every day. This carbon sink – the ocean’s biological pump – relies on mangroves, seagrasses and seabeds to store the carbon away for hundreds or thousands of years. A healthy ocean is clearly of critical importance to the functioning of Earth’s planetary systems, not least of which is the climate. Despite this staggering reality, the ocean is one of the most overlooked tools we have for mitigating the impact of climate change.
This amazing oceanic system, however, is in danger of collapse, largely due to unrelenting pressure from fishing. In particular, destructive fishing, like bottom trawling, is driving the loss of marine biodiversity, weakening the biological pump, and diminishing the resilience of marine life to the effects of climate change.Above the surface, fishing fleets belch out millions of tonnes of CO2 every year, fuelled by state subsidies, while bottom-trawlers plough up and disturb carbon-rich seabeds, habitats and wildlife.
These impacts on the ocean provide yet more evidence that we are stressing the limits of planetary boundaries, the potential consequences of which threaten societal collapse. We need to educate, organise and act in ways commensurate with that threat. In December at the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework governments committed to protecting 30 percent of the planet’s ocean and land by 2030 and to ensuring that “agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the sustainable use of biodiversity”. They must now follow these commitments with immediate action.
We have seven years – that’s seven harvests, two Olympic Games, two football World Cups, seven Eurovision song contests. This time will pass quickly and we have limited opportunities for decisive action. However, the ocean and fisheries management are intertwined and provide a scarce opportunity to take action for climate, biodiversity, and the wellbeing and livelihoods of dependent communities.
The scientific evidence and experience of those working on the ocean is clear: reducing fishing pressure most often results in rebuilt fish populations, which deliver as much or more fish, with less effort (and burn less fossil fuels). This is a rare and desperately needed win-win for the ocean and for fishers.
The European Commission has been struggling to realise this reality for over ten years. Its latest attempt – published recently – is neither ambitious nor comprehensive enough – it outlines baby steps when we need giant leaps. However, it does outline how to transition the fishing industry to one that is low impact and low carbon, including the mapping of seabed carbon stores and the impact of bottom trawling on them; removing trawling from Marine Protected Areas; and applying transparent environmental, social and economic criteria when allocating access to fishing resources. Faced with the current climate and biodiversity emergency, these measures should be within the scope of EU member states to adopt.
For too long, fishing and the fishing communities have been out of sight of senior EU decision-makers and have not featured in their decision-making. They, along with the ocean and all of its many carbon engineers, deserve to be in the spotlight as governments deliver decisive and significant action while ensuring a just transition to a low impact, low carbon, resilient future. By working with the European Commission and member state governments, civil society must cut through the thick layers of rhetoric to deliver for the ocean, its engineers, fisheries and communities. We do not have time for anything less.
Our fish at European Institutions, 7-8 November 2022, ahead of launch of Fish are Carbon Engineers paper at COP27 in Egypt.
Every fish that swims through the ocean is a carbon engineer. Along with whales and the billions of tiny ocean-dwelling organisms called plankton, fish are keystones of the ocean’s biological pump, the system constantly at work capturing carbon from Earth’s atmosphere and taking it deep beneath the waves.
Every day, the Earth’s largest migration carries carbon – including whale and fish poo – from the sea’s surface to the ocean floor, where its stored in marine sediments – twice as much as is stored in soils on land. Fish and other marine animals are the carbon engineers of this cycle, taking this carbon to the depths, and protecting us from the worst impacts of climate change.
Yet we’re not giving these intrepid engineers the respect they deserve. Every year, an incredible 80 million tonnes of fish are taken from the ocean – removing significant amounts of “blue carbon”. Our demand for fish has halved fish’s biogeochemical impact on the ocean, weakening its capacity for climate mitigation. While the fight is on to end humanity’s harmful fossil fuel emissions, we’re in danger of squandering an important tool for keeping the planet cool.
It’s not all bad news. Good fisheries management can help to conserve the ocean pump. Good fisheries management is carbon management – Our Fish is on a quest to plant this idea firmly in the heads of policy makers – and to ensure they not only grasp thatfish arecarbon engineers, but take real political action using that knowledge to protect the ocean, to protect the climate, and to protect people.
We want governments to implement ecosystem-based fisheries management – this means restoring fish populations, conserving the ocean’s interlacing food webs, and banning activities that wreck the seabeds and marine ecosystems. More simply, end overfishing, and end destructive forms of fishing like bottom trawling.
And that, dear reader, is how we found ourselves outside a November morning, offering Egyptian cakes and coffee to people outside the European Parliament, and how Our Fish surfaced at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt to present a short briefing on the idea – Fish are Carbon Engineers
Brussels – Our Fish Returns
As another round of battle for the climate kicked off in Egypt, the Our Fish team was in Brussels, setting up fake palm trees, a tent and outsized postcards, for our COP27-themed Fish are Carbon Engineers extravaganza near the European Commission and European Parliament, puzzled commuters made their way to their offices.
Lured in the tent with baklava and Egyptian spiced coffee, we asked people to help us build pyramid representing the ocean biological pump, and to send a COP27 postcard to European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, urging him to deliver effective fisheries management as good carbon management. Many of those who stopped to talk with us told us they hadn’t thought of the link between fish and carbon before.
Thanks to everyone who came to support us – including our friends from many other NGOs campaigning for the oceans, and to Green MEP Grace O’Sullivan from Ireland who stopped by.
Our fish at European Institutions, 7-8 November 2022, ahead of launch of Fish are Carbon Engineers paper at COP27 in Egypt.
MEP Grace O’Sullivan stops by to send the message – Fish are Carbon Engineers
Before we left Brussels, we delivered a giant COP27 postcard, covered in over 2,000 personalised messages from our supporters, to Commissioner Sinkevičius’s office, where it was accepted by his deputy head of cabinet, Carmen Priesing.
The postcard calls on the Commission to deliver the EU’s Ocean Action Plan without further delay – and demands EU leadership and urgent action on minimising the climate and ecosystem impacts of fishing. The Ocean Action Plan was supposed to be delivered in 2021, but has not yet seen the light of day. We’re still waiting.
On the final day, we delivered a giant COP27 postcard, covered in over 2,000 personalised messages from our supporters, to Carmen Priesing, Deputy Head of Cabinet to the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Carmen Priesing.
Our Fish at the Red Sea
Our shenanigans in Brussels were barely over before Our Fish’s Program Director, Rebecca Hubbard was again spreading the good word: that fish are carbon engineers – this time at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.
In recent years, the ocean has become a stronger force at UN climate summits, leading to countries agreeing on an annual Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue at COP26 in Glasgow. That is a major recognition of the crucial role of the ocean, which covers a full 70% of the planet’s surface, in addressing climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience. “Dialogue” alone, however, won’t be enough. The ocean’s role must provide a basis for real, tangible action.
The role of the ocean, and nature in general, needs to be mainstreamed and recognized within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but not in a way that undermines and threatens the natural carrying capacity or even risks to push us further to a planetary boundary.
Rebecca Hubbard, Programme Director for Our Fish explains – at the COP27 Nature Positive Pavilion – the crucial role that fish play as the ocean’s carbon engineers and calls for UNFCCC & UN to mainstream good fisheries management as good carbon management
Bec shared this message at a high level event hosted by the Ocean & Climate Platform and French Agency for Development on November 10th, which focused on accelerating ocean-based climate action.
With our guests, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientist Professor Hans-Otto Pörtner and Dr Emma Cavan of London Imperial College, we launched our briefing – Fish are Carbon Engineers. The ensuing discussion featured speakers from the scientific community and civil society discussing evidence in support of good fisheries management as effective carbon management, and opportunities for maximising this to deliver on climate action commitments.
The next morning – November 12th Bec joined the Seas At Risk event “What shipping and fishing must do to avert climate disaster” at the EU Pavilion online. The event brought together speakers engaged in EU shipping and fishing policy to discuss the need for an urgent and transformational shift in the maritime industry to raise ambition, meet climate targets and protect blue carbon. They also discussed the risks of climate tipping points and the need for both shipping and fishing’s green transition, as well including support mechanisms for climate-vulnerable and the least developed countries. Check out the video here.
So what exactly happened at COP27?
The United Nations climate change conference, also known as COP27 (Conference of the Parties) took place in the appropriately semi-abandoned resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on the shore of the Red Sea in Egypt – for two gruelling weeks. Tens of thousands of attendees, including the highest number of fossil fuel lobbyists ever seen at a COP, held events, lobbied, protested, networked and negotiated. With the latest IPCC reports warning that we are heading toward societal collapse as a result of breaching multiple planetary boundaries, the stakes were high.
Yet COP27 failed to deliver the level of ambition and ‘implementation’ necessary to avoid climate chaos. Commitment by governments to limit warming to 1.5 degrees was restated, but as recent reports show, actual real action to deliver these commitments is tragically slow – putting us on track for warming of around 2.5 degrees. This would create a world that will be unlivable for millions (possibly billions) of humans and contribute to the extinction of many other species. Likewise, commitment to phasing out ALL fossil fuels was watered down from the text.
This is where the buck stops – whatever else we do, we must halve CO2 global emissions by 2030. There were also intense calls for putting our trust in carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which is considered by many as unproven, highly concerning, risky technology that the fossil fuel industry is using to continue business as usual and avoid the dire need to slash CO2 emissions.
On the upside, the COP finally agreed to create a specific Loss and Damage Fund to support those nations worst affected, however all of the details on what, who, where & how have been kicked down the road to COP28 (next year). And to make this Loss and Damage financing make sense, we still need to drastically slash emissions.
The good news is that the ocean featured strongly in the final text of the “Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan”, welcoming the outcomes of the ocean and climate change dialogue in 2022, adding specific details for its future functioning, and more importantly encouraging parties to implement more ocean-based climate actions in their national action plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
As we said – we’re looking to further mainstream the ocean within the UNFCCC process – the inclusion of the ocean in COP27’s final text responds to Our Fish’s demands in our Fish are Carbon Engineers paper.
What’s Next?
Ahead of December’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15 meeting in Montreal, Our Fish is calling on the EU to demonstrates that it is not just full of hot air – and that it will walk the talk and deliver the action necessary to halt the climate and biodiversity crisis, by accelerating a transition to low-impact, low-carbon fishing.
Handover of artwork signed by 3,400 EU citizens to Virginijus Sinkevičius at European Commission by Aleksandra Kuźnia, Our Fish. Photographs Our Fish/Dieter Telemans.
On Monday, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius received a framed picture by acclaimed Spanish street artists Boa Mistura, signed by over 3,400 EU citizens, who are calling for urgent action to end over-exploitation and save the ocean to save the climate.
Our Fish delivered a print of Boa Mistura’s Heartbeat of the Ocean to the Commissioners responsible for our ocean and climate – Commissioner Sinkevičius and Executive Vice President Timmermans – as a reminder that the ocean is the beating heart of the planet, and Europeans depend on them to turn words into action. Right now, the EU Commission is drafting its Ocean Action Plan, which is a critical opportunity for Commissioner Sinkevičius to protect our ocean and restore its health.
The EU has signed up to the Leaders Nature Pledge and signed off on the EU Climate Law, but these promises and laws amount to nothing, if everyday decisions continue to wreak havoc on our fish populations, ocean ecosystems, and the climate. We are killing the ocean from fishing too hard and too fast in pursuit of short term profits of a few. This narrow-minded, short-term view overlooks and undermines the ocean’s capacity to store carbon, provide food, be resilient to warming waters, and fight climate change. This artwork, and the support of thousands of Europeans, are calling for urgent action from EU Commissioner Sinkevičius and Vice President Timmermans to save the ocean to save the climate.
Earlier in February, Boa Mistura published an open letter to Commissioner Sinkevičius calling on him to take the lead in ending EU destructive and over-fishing and restore the health of the ocean.
A giant colourful pop-up book depicting the devastation caused by destructive bottom trawling – and how the marine environment thrives in its absence – was delivered to European Union (EU) Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius by NGOs this morning, on behalf of more than 150,000 Europeans who have signed a petition calling for the EU to phase out destructive fishing practices, starting with an immediate ban of bottom trawling in all Marine Protected Areas.
The tens of thousands of signatories are demanding that EU Commissioner Sinkevičius (responsible for the environment, ocean and fisheries) and EU Commission Executive Vice-president Frans Timmermans (responsible for the EU Green Deal) include a ban on bottom-trawling in the upcoming EU ‘Action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems’ (Ocean Action Plan), to be adopted next spring. Bottom trawling, the most harmful fishing method for the environment and climate, is widely used in Europe where it impacts more than 50% of the seabed, and even takes place inside Marine Protected Areas.
Oceana, Seas At Risk, Our Fish, WeMove Europe, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, and Environmental Justice Foundation, delivered the 1.5m by 2.5m pop-up book, which features both Commissioners Sinkevičius and Timmermans embarking on an ocean adventure modeled on The Life Aquatic, a popular film which references the work of famous ocean explorer and conservationist Jacques-Yves Cousteau, outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. The book presents a story on how the EU has the chance to turn the tide on destructive fishing by banning bottom-trawling, through a journey from current underwater devastation to a healthy, thriving and resilient marine environment.
Vera Coelho, Senior Director of Advocacy at Oceana in Europe said “Marine Protected Areas, as the name suggests, are supposed to afford protection to marine life, yet in 2020 over 2.5 million hours of bottom-trawling took place inside them. It is unacceptable that the EU continues condoning the destruction of the very places it has committed to protect. This madness can and must be fixed now, for good.”
Tobias Troll, Marine Policy Director at Seas At Risk added“European citizens start to realise that the seas are fragile ecosystems that need protection because they are the life support system of the planet. Destructive fishing techniques like bottom trawling must end, inside marine protected areas but also beyond. We need a just transition to low impact fisheries to protect biodiversity and allow future generations of small scale fisherfolk and coastal communities to have a good life.”
Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director, Our Fish said“We can’t just continue with pledges and promises forever – we are running out of time and every ton of carbon counts. It’s time that the EU got serious about transitioning out of destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling, which produces CO2 emissions through burning fuel, releasing carbon stored in the seabed, and depleting fish populations, and instead secured a sustainable and resilient future for our climate, ocean and coastal communities.”
Giulio Carini, Senior Campaigner, WeMove Europe said: “Almost half of the EU population lives within 50 kilometers of the sea, and no one wants to have a devastated and dead ocean for decades to come.”
Steve Trent, CEO, Environmental Justice Foundation said: “As well as destroying ocean ecosystems, endangering wildlife, and threatening coastal livelihoods, bottom trawling is also hastening climate breakdown. This practice churns up the seabed, releasing vital stores of carbon that have lain safely locked away for centuries. It is gravely disappointing that the EU, which has led progressive efforts to improve sustainability in fisheries, still allows bottom trawling within protected areas. This must end now.”
Background
– Bottom-contacting gear, including dredging and bottom trawling, is the most unselective and destructive fishing gear. The method involves dragging heavy weighted nets across the sea floor, indiscriminately catching all types of living creatures and habitats that happen to be on their way. Such trawling can strip up to 41% of invertebrate life from the sea-bed, and the ocean floor can take many years to recover. Its continuous use has led to drastic, and in some cases irreversible, degradation of marine ecosystems including habitats like corals and seagrass, as well as sensitive species like sharks, turtles and dolphins. Moreover, bottom trawling disturbs the seabed and releases large amounts of carbon stored in sediments into the sea – novel, early-stage research suggests a level of released carbon that would put it on par with the aviation sector (study).
– Recent data by Oceana revealed how EU countries continue to allow destructive fishing in Europe’s Marine Protected Areas, with over 2.5 million hours of bottom fishing occurring in 2020 inside areas supposedly designated to protect Europe’s most valuable and threatened marine species and habitats.
– A socioeconomic analysis commissioned by Seas At Risk has revealed that a ban on bottom-contacting gear (bottom trawling and bottom dredging) in Marine Protected Areas would yield net benefits as soon as four years after the ban comes into force.
– The EU Action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems, announced in the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, is expected in 2022. An EU public consultation is open until December 20th..
Our Fish today presented a stunning mural, “Heartbeat of the Ocean” – painted on a nine-floor apartment building in Vilnius, Lithuania by the world-renowned team of Spanish artists Boa Mistura – to the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, as an early Christmas gift; the mural send a strong reminder that not only is the health of the ocean in his hands, but that the Commissioner must act with urgency to protect it and the climate.
“Save the Ocean to Save the Climate” is the message of the 300 square metre fresco, created during freezing temperatures by the artists of Boa Mistura, on the entire wall of a nine-storey apartment building at Sausio 13-osios st. 7, near Vilnius’s famed TV tower.
“Save the Ocean to Save the Climate” – message to Virginijus Sinkevičius in Vilnius, Lithuania. Our Fish/Dalius Pacevičius
“Our Fish wishes to send the people of Vilnius and European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, a Christmas gift that lasts – a bold and beautiful mural that reminds us that the health of Europe’s ocean life is in our hands, and we must act with courage and commitment to protect it for future generations,” said Rebecca Hubbard, Program Director of the Our Fish campaign, which works to end overfishing and restore a healthy ocean ecosystem.
The mural, which features fish, whales and other ocean creatures, aims to invite Vilnius’ residents, guests and decision-makers to pay more attention to protection of the ocean, and the importance of a healthy ocean to climate action.
“European seas have been heavily overfished and the ecosystems degraded over many decades. This not only destroys wildlife and diminishes the ocean’s ability to provide us with food and jobs, it undermines its capacity to store carbon and adapt to the climate emergency,” said Hubbard.
“Commissioner Sinkevičius must use his power, and act with inspired urgency to phase out destructive fishing and ensure a just transition to low-impact fishing, so that we can restore the ocean’s health and ensure it can keep defending us from the worst of climate change”.
The Boa Mistura Team. Our Fish/Dalius Pacevičius
The mural has been painted by four members of the Boa Mistura team, Pablo Ferreiro, Juan Jaume, Pablo Puron and Javier Ballesteros. Boa Mistura’s huge colourful works adorn buildings and streets, in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, USA, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, China, and in other countries.
“We have created this mural of sea creatures in Vilnius, representing how the Ocean is the heart of planet Earth. Without a healthy ocean, we cannot have a healthy planet – no heart, no life”, said Pablo Puróne, a member of Boa Mistura. “Our mural in Vilnius is our message to the world: message ‘Save the Ocean to Save the Climate’”.
The European Commission is developing an Action Plan to make fisheries more sustainable, and protect marine ecosystems and their biodiversity, as a key part of their European Green Deal and Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The European Commission is currently asking people for their feedback on the Action Plan in a targeted consultation until December 20.
“I’m happy that the old Vilnius district of Karoliniškės just became more colourful. But even more – I’m delighted that this mural will remind passengers every day that ocean and sea creatures depend on our everyday choices. The seaside is quite far from Vilnius – we tend to remember it only in summer. But actually, our daily habits add up to climate change, or on the contrary – help to stop it. How we drive past this huge painting, what we eat each day – it’s time to pay more attention to these things. Oceans are warming and becoming uncomfortable to live in. We must pay attention to our carbon footprint, also to the fish species we eat if we want them to also stay in the oceans, not only in the mural,” said Inga Labutytė-Atkočaitienė, from the Lithuanian Fund for Nature, who spoke at the launch of the mural.
The world-renowned team of Spanish artists Boa Mistura is this week creating a reminder of how important healthy oceans are to our wellbeing, by creating a huge mural in Vilnius, Lithuania. Work began this week on the 300 square metre fresco, Heartbeat of the Ocean, which will soon adorn the entire wall of a nine-storey apartment building at Sausio 13-osios st. 7, near Vilnius’s famed TV tower. The mural intends to inspire action to reverse deterioration of the ocean – and negative impacts on the climate.
Fish and other ocean creatures are the heroes in the painting, commissioned by Our Fish, a campaign working to end overfishing and restore a healthy ocean ecosystem. The mural aims to invite Vilnius’ residents, guests and decision-makers to pay more attention to legal protection of the oceans and other water bodies.
“We chose Vilnius for the Heartbeat of the Ocean mural, as it is the home city of the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius. His mission to rebuild healthy fish populations and thriving ecosystems will not only ensure the oceans’ abilities to continue supporting life on the planet by providing all of us with oxygen and food – it will also contribute to sustaining the oceans’ protective powers against the worst effects of climate change”, Rebecca Hubbard, Our Fish Program Director, says.
According to Hubbard, the European Commission is currently preparing an action plan to conserve fishery resources and protect marine ecosystems. “It is crucial for this plan to set out a pathway for reducing the devastating impact of overfishing on marine life and for bolstering the ocean’s capacity to store carbon. This pathway should outline a transition from destructive bottom trawling towards sustainable fisheries that will also benefit the marine environment and support the livelihoods of our coastal communities”, adds Hubbard.
The mural will be painted by four members of the Boa Mistura team. These artists’ works, mostly huge, coloured paintings on buildings or streets, are visible in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, USA, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, China, and in other countries.
The Boa Mistura team start work: Photo: Our Fish/Dalius Pacevičius
“This mural in Vilnius is a new symbol representing awareness and care of the ocean. We have created a heart made of different marine species. It reminds us that every heartbeat of the planet comes from the bottom of the sea, and protecting and caring for marine biodiversity is of vital importance,“ Boa Mistura team members say.
The slogan “Save the ocean to save the climate” will appear on the bottom of the mural. The nine-storey building was chosen for its strategic location providing great visibility for a large flow of residents and tourists. It’s on a lively avenue, next to the headquarters of the National Social Insurance, large supermarkets, and a polyclinic. The Boa Mistura team will complete their work in the next two weeks.
Save the Ocean to Save the Climate: Illustration by Boa Mistura.
By Emma Cavan, Erica M. Ferrer and U. Rashid Sumaila
We are three scientists from different life backgrounds and professional pathways: female and male; Latin-American, African and Anglo heritage; student researcher, doctor and professor; biogeochemist, marine biologist, and economist. But as diverse as our fields of study may seem, two things unite us: we have known for a long time that a healthy ocean is critical to life on earth; and, more recently, we’ve learned that healthy fisheries are a crucial and deliverable part of climate action.
We want the world to know that conserving fish, fisheries, marine ecosystems, and the carbon services they provide, will help us secure the environmental future we need. Ocean issues, including but not limited to fishing, should hold a greater place front-and-center when it comes to drafting climate policies, and we view the UN climate conference, COP26 in Glasgow, as a prime opportunity to make that happen.
Humanity is nothing without the ocean. It is the source of all life on our planet, it produces half the oxygen we breathe, provides a reservoir for biodiversity, and is the second largest store of carbon on Earth. Currently, the ocean takes up (“sequesters”) 20-30% of global emissions, and has absorbed over 90% of the excess heat generated since the start of the industrial revolution. Without the cooling effect of the ocean, the global temperature would be, by some estimates, 35°C degrees warmer, making life on unearth untenable for most species, ourselves included.
Evidence that burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and is bad for the climate has been apparent now for decades, but the data and understanding of fish and fishing’s influence on the ocean’s capacity to store that carbon is less well known. Fortunately, this knowledge has been rapidly advancing in recent years.
We are members of a group of scientists working to understand how ending overfishing would improve ocean health, and in turn, contribute to improving the ocean’s ability to store carbon. The ocean may be the source of all life on our planet, but it is also on the frontlines of what the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, describes as “humanity’s war on nature”. In the case of the ocean, this war is fought in part with industrial fishing vessels, designed to track down and capture massive amounts of fish.
If we continue on this path, we might trigger irreversible changes to the ecological conditions under which humanity has evolved and thrived. To navigate ourselves out of this mess, we must turn the political landscape that equipped and enabled this war into one which recognises ocean biodiversity, and the preservation of healthy fish populations, as integral to climate and ecological “success”. In order to achieve this, countries must demobilise and redirect, retool and re-equip their fisheries; instead of racing to catch shrinking fish populations, we need to fish less, and in ways that respect marine food webs, while ending the obliteration of so-called ‘unwanted’ species, and supporting human livelihoods. At the same time, we must acknowledge and support the efforts of fishing operators striving to fish sustainably, and support small-scale fishers and coastal communities in becoming more resilient to climate change. Research shows that this way is possible, it absorbs more carbon, has lower carbon emissions, and is good for both people and profits.
A recent paper by Enric Sala and colleagues outlines how all marine sediments combine to form the largest pool of organic carbon on the planet, however, destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling cause the release of CO2 stored in marine sediment. By their estimates, approximately 1.47 billion tonnes of carbon are released by bottom trawling every year, a similar volume to emissions from the global aviation industry. For Europeans, this is especially relevant because new research shows that European seas are some of the most heavily trawled but carbon-rich. The ocean is a fantastic source for solutions, but to unlock them, evidence shows that we must lock out destructive fishing practices.
Ocean solutions to climate change can provide up to one-fifth of the necessary emissions reductions we need if we are to limit climate change to 1.5°C, and leaving fish in the ocean can contribute to these efforts. This is new, it’s exciting, and it’s climate action that we can (and we desperately need to) deliver quickly.
At the COP26 negotiations in Glasgow, nature will be discussed as central to strategies on lessening climate change. And although the third ‘Because the Ocean’ declaration will be launched by coastal/island nations from across the globe, and other blue carbon events will explain the incredible benefits of ocean-climate solutions, these are likely to play second fiddle to the nitty gritty of carbon counting that goes in the official negotiations.
On the eaves of this year’s conference, that is the 5th COP since the signing of the Paris Agreement, many big-emitter countries are struggling to demonstrate how their promises to reduce emissions will be enough to substantively curb the climate emergency we’re in. And in some cases, even our language is lacking, where for example any mention of the ocean during negotiations has been few and far between.
We have known for decades that ending overfishing is the right thing to do for fishers and for biodiversity, and increasingly so, we see how protecting the ocean and its many inhabitants offers us real, decisive and essential means to partake in “climate action”. As scientists who study fish and fisheries, we contend that every country with an ocean-going fleet can take steps to enact ocean-climate action today by phasing out destructive fishing practices (including overfishing), and counting fish as part of their national inventories of carbon emissions and storage. A healthy ocean isn’t a sideshow to climate action, it is essential, and we need to start treating it as such.
Emma Cavan is a Research Fellow at Imperial College, London
Erica M. Ferrer is a PhD candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
Rashid Sumaila is a University Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Activists took a chilly swim in the North-East Atlantic Ocean this morning to demonstrate the importance and value of the ocean in mitigating the effects of climate change, at Ardrossan Beach, near Glasgow where the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, is currently being held, on 4 November 2021.
The event was organised by the Our Fish campaign, which works to end overfishing in European waters, which apart from securing fish populations for the future, is essential to address the biodiversity and climate crisis.
“Freezing our asses off in the Atlantic this morning isn’t just a great way to fortify yourself for the coming days of COP26, it’s a hardy reminder that we need to save the ocean to save the climate”, said Our Fish advisor Mike Walker, who was one of the swimmers. “Decision makers at COP26 must embrace the power of the ocean to fight climate change – and as the largest carbon sink on the planet, climate action plans must include ending destructive activities like bottom trawling and overfishing”.
At COP26, world leaders – including the UK and the EU – must agree on actions to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. This action must include drastic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions AND action to deliver a healthy and resilient ocean.
We need fisheries – in the EU, UK and internationally – to transition from destructive fishing- and overfishing, which exacerbates CO2 emissions and undermine ocean health, and instead move to low-impact, low-carbon fishing that can restore ocean health and its capacity to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The ocean must be fully integrated into the climate process. The ocean regulates our climate and buffers us from the full force of climate change by absorbing over 90% of our excess heat and over a third of our CO2 emissions. By making ocean action a core part of climate action, we can help it help us.
This means we need to start counting the contribution that fish, marine life and marine habitatsmake to storing carbon – “blue carbon” – as well as the full carbon emissions from the fishing industry.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Take a photo of yourself with the poster “Save the Ocean to Save the Climate” and post it to twitter or Instagram with #oceanclimateaction and tag your favourite politician. The most creative photo will win a free Our Fish t-shirt!
