When scientists talk about the oceans, things can get really depressing real fast. Coral reefs are dying all over the world. The cod fishery off Newfoundland fell apart in the early 1990s, costing thousands of people their jobs. And the pollock catch in the Bering Sea, one of the biggest fisheries in the United States, has fallen sharply in recent years.But at this year's AAAS meeting, fisheries scientists are getting together to tell fish tales with happy endings. There's good news about fish? You bet there is, says Joshua Cinner, who studies marine reserves at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. And he and other scientists are realizing that they need to start talking that up. "If people get bombarded all the time with this bad news, they're going to stop caring," says Cinner. "We've seen some good decisions, and we want to make people aware of them."
So what's the good news?
Marine ecologist Jeremy Jackson of the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography in San Diego, California, points to the coral reefs of the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a success story. Those corals haven't
been immune to bleaching events that have swept the rest of the world's
reefs, but they have more diversity than do reefs in other places,
thanks in part to limits on fishing. And he wants to tell people about
it. "I think we're seeing a wave of change in that the kids we teach
want to hear good news," says Jackson.
In the northeastern United States, haddock stocks have made a giant comeback. In 1994, fishermen had to struggle to catch their limit of 400 pounds of haddock in a day --"and 400 pounds isn't very much fish," says biologist Andrew Rosenberg of the University of New Hampshire, Durham. After a decade of restrictions on fishing, haddock have bounced back; now the daily limit per ship is 30,000 pounds.
Success stories like the haddock's make it clear that the world's fisheries problems aren't all insurmountable. "I'm personally not a fan of the idea that you can take a success somewhere and replicate it somewhere else," says Cinner--one solution does not fit all. But he does think it's useful to look for lessons and patterns of effective management.
Above all, though, he wants the public to hear the happy news. If you believe that all fish are doomed, says Cinner, "you just want to loot everything." If people know that some fish have been saved, there's a reason to hold back.
--Helen Fields
In the northeastern United States, haddock stocks have made a giant comeback. In 1994, fishermen had to struggle to catch their limit of 400 pounds of haddock in a day --"and 400 pounds isn't very much fish," says biologist Andrew Rosenberg of the University of New Hampshire, Durham. After a decade of restrictions on fishing, haddock have bounced back; now the daily limit per ship is 30,000 pounds.
Success stories like the haddock's make it clear that the world's fisheries problems aren't all insurmountable. "I'm personally not a fan of the idea that you can take a success somewhere and replicate it somewhere else," says Cinner--one solution does not fit all. But he does think it's useful to look for lessons and patterns of effective management.
Above all, though, he wants the public to hear the happy news. If you believe that all fish are doomed, says Cinner, "you just want to loot everything." If people know that some fish have been saved, there's a reason to hold back.
--Helen Fields
