Habitat is Where the Heart Is
New Report Findings Show Progress, but More Protections Needed for Fish Habitat
WASHINGTON – A new report from the Marine Fish Conservation Network released this Valentine’s Day finds that although federal fishery managers have made some progress toward protecting essential habitat for fish populations, inadequate action nationwide has left many depleted fish populations "looking for love in all the wrong places" because quality habitat is hard to find. Largely, the report finds that fishery managers are leaving sensitive habitat areas open to severe damage by destructive fishing gear. The report points out that greater habitat protections will increase survivability for many fish, or at least give them a place to go have a roll in the seagrass.
The Network issued this report, Ray of Hope, subtitled, Successes and Shortcomings in Protecting Essential Fish Habitat, to Members of Congress who are reviewing the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the nation’s main ocean fisheries law. It takes a much-needed look at steps taken by fishery managers to protect fish habitat over the last five years since the enactment of the Sustainable Fisheries Act, a law passed in 1996 to implement greater conservation measures in fishery management, including protections for essential fish habitat.
"While Congress is engaged in the debate over conserving essential fish habitat," remarked Lee Crockett, executive director of the Marine Fish Conservation Network, "there needs to be a better marriage between professing its importance and taking actions to protect it. With Congress expected to renew the Magnuson-Stevens Act this year, lawmakers should take a vow to strengthen protections for essential fish habitat because of its fundamental role in sustaining healthy fisheries."
The Network is releasing three in-depth reports this year that look at successes and failures in implementing key conservation measures in fisheries management to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the 10th Anniversary of the passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act. Ray of Hope is the first installment of these reports.
"Essential fish habitat" is, as the name suggests, habitat that is crucial for maintaining healthy fish populations. This home is essentially the heart and soul of a healthy fish population because habitat provides food, shelter, and when the mood is right (or at least the water temperature), places for fish to spawn and reproduce. However, as American seafood consumption rises, and technology advances, potentially destructive fishing gear subjects these habitats to increasing levels of damage, which in turn affects the number of fish that survive to maturity. Without essential fish habitat, the old saying "there’re other fish in the sea" may no longer ring true.
Ray of Hope
The Marine Fish Conservation Network is a coalition of more than 175 national and regional environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing groups, aquariums, and marine science groups dedicated to conserving marine fish and to promoting their long-term sustainability. For more information, please visit
www.conservefish.org.
Yet, Ray of Hope reveals that fishery managers often avoid developing plans to protect essential fish habitat and find ways to evade implementing better practices that protect these critical areas. Some common methods include:
• Hiding behind scientific uncertainty ~ Instead of erring on the side of precaution, fishery managers postpone habitat saving action and wait for more scientific information, even when threats of long-lasting damage exist.
• Maintaining that existing measures are sufficient ~ Fishery managers rely heavily on measures already in place. While these measures help to an extent, other critical tools such as closed areas and fishing gear modifications, designed specifically to protect habitat, remain unused.
• Prohibiting gear where it currently is not a threat ~ Some fishery managers have taken proactive measures to limit damage to sensitive habitats where fishing is not occurring, but these efforts do little to protect fish habitats that are currently impacted by damaging fishing gear.
• Providing protection for some vulnerable habitat types while ignoring other important areas ~ Recent essential fish habitat protections reflect growing scientific recognition of the importance of coral reefs, deepwater corals, and hard bottom surfaces. Habitat types such as gravel bottoms, however, are important to a variety of managed species, yet they receive little or no protection.
The report also highlights that not all fishery managers have neglected their duties to conserve underwater homes for ocean wildlife. As frontrunner in fish habitat protection, managers in the South Atlantic have shown the most love toward habitat protections by applying fishing gear restrictions to sensitive areas and developing fishery management plans that consider impacts on habitat and the wider ecosystem.
"Ray of Hope is a good reminder that protecting essential fish habitat is at the heart of effective fisheries management," stated Gerald Leape, vice president, Marine Conservation at National Environmental Trust, and co-chair of the Network. "We call on all fishery managers to follow their heart (and the law) and implement truly effective measures to protect essential fish habitat."
