Every time an environmentalist uses the words "chaos," "collapse" or "destruction" we need to think of the opportunities these words hold.
Globally, commercial fisheries are expected to collapse around 2050 unless we radically change how we manage fish stocks. In T&T we may have already reached this point. Consider that as an island in one of the most productive parts of the ocean, our fishery is not able to feed our nation.
T&T's fisheries could provide sustainably-sourced food, jobs and export dollars. Instead, the near shore fishery has collapsed under the weight of mismanagement.
T&T imports seafood to meet its needs. The fish in T&T's most famous dish, bake and shark, is sourced from as far away as Fiji; and a fish in a strong-back fish broth is as likely to have been imported from Guyana, as been caught in Guayaguayare. T&T has gone from being a seafood exporter to an importer. This means a loss of income but also a loss of sovereignty and food security.
Internationally, the European Commission has warned that T&T it is in danger of being targeted for trade sanctions on fisheries imports. For some reason, the European Commission calls this fisheries warning a "yellow card." If it is not resolved a "red card" is issued and trade penalties kick in. Before a red card is issued, the European Commission will encourage T&T to adopt a robust fisheries management plan.
The good news is that no jobs will be lost. The bad news is, that there were no jobs to be lost. The European Commission's trade data shows that T&T seafood exports to the EU amounts, statistically, to $0. Any seafood trade sanction by the EU will be ineffective as there is nothing to sanction.
T&T is home to a large, foreign owned and foreign flagged fleet of longliners that fish in international waters. When these vessels come to port in T&T, authorities rarely inspect these vessels. The result is that T&T facilitates what is called IUU, or Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing.
There is probably a lot more going on in such an unregulated industry, as well. If there is illegal fish, there are probably also going to be illegal drugs and other merchandise. IUU is not just a fisheries or ocean conservation issue, it is also a national security issue.
One line of thought can be: "So what? Let's ignore the EU market. We do not export there." This plays directly into the hands of the existing importers in Asia who can now monopolise fish shipped via T&T, and pay a low price, because nobody else will touch it. IUU means that fish is stolen.
Fenced goods never command a good price. Additionally, fisheries management is in the international spotlight and allowing the laundering of fish makes T&T look bad.
To give an example of how poor stewardship of fisheries is, in 2012, T&T was the number six exporter of shark fin to Hong Kong. In 2013 the figure was 418,000 lbs of shark fin to Hong Kong, good for a 9th place, but by 2014 there was a sudden and unexplained drop to 59,400 lbs. This was around the same time that Papa Bois Conservation started the conversation about shark conservation and T&T's role in the shark fin trade.
Fisheries Division had no clue this export was taking place. Consider that T&T is an important landing site and re-export hub for not only shark fin, but also commercially important tuna. Tuna is regulated by international treaty organisations. The tuna trade is worth many millions and T&T has as little oversight over that as it has on shark fin. This lack of accountability is what draws the ire of the European Commission.
Fisheries Division has been the target of budget cuts. A better approach would be to strengthen it so that it can live up to its international obligations and create a sustainable fishery with a value added for T&T seafood products. The industrial trawlers must be banned. Buy out the owners, if that is the politically acceptable option. To allow them to continue to rape the seabed is more costly and prevents the repair of local fisheries.
The local pirogues must find ways to give up their gillnets and use more selective gear. Fisher folk need public funds to help them do this. Rather than focus on oil companies and seismic surveys alone, local ocean conservation NGOs can better join hands with fisher folk to solve the problems of overfishing. This must be a bottom-up, community based effort based on consensus and science. There is a lot of opportunity in this collapsed fishery.