Scientific research is providing increasing evidence that marine mammals
consume huge quantities of marine resources and that this consumption is
often in direct competition with fisheries. The matter of competition
between marine mammals and fisheries is now of serious concern for nations
dependant of fisheries as well as for a number of global and regional
fisheries management organizations including the United Nation’s Food and
Agriculture Organization.
The pamphlet produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce ignores
recently published scientific findings and over-simplifies ecosystem
considerations. Their simplistic and scientifically inaccurate arguments
are presented as "facts" to justify inappropriate measures such
as moratoria and sanctuaries that provide total protection of marine
mammals for emotional or political reasons.
Rather, fisheries management regimes must be based on science and on the
principle of sustainable use as reflected in the UNCLOS, UNCED, the Kyoto
Declaration and, FAO’s International Action Plans and Code of Conduct for
Responsible Fisheries. (See Morishita and Goodman, 2001 for a detailed
discussion of these issues.)
Recent calculations show that approximately three to five hundred
million tons of marine food resources are consumed annually by cetaceans,
some 3 to 5 times more than are fished for human consumption. While in 1998
the FAO called for a 30% reduction in the number of fishing vessels or
fishing effort as part of urgently required improved fisheries management
measures, the demands of an increasing human population require that we
consider integrated ecosystem management for the use of all marine living
resources.
This means that we must study the role of whales in the ecosystem
including their impact on fisheries resulting from the consumption of huge
volumes of fish and other marine resources. It also means that the
sustainable use of resources at all levels of the ecosystem (including
whales) is a more appropriate approach to the management of marine
resources than the total protection of one component of the ecosystem
(whales) irrespective of their conservation status.
