| Home
>> Conservation Education
>> Sustainable Practices >>
Conservation Actions for Kalinzu Forest Reserve
Acquario di Genova (Genoa Aquarium)For Sustainable Fishery
by Stefano Angelini,
Head of Education, Genoa Aquarium, Italy
Due to the increasing need for food and technology evolution, FAO Data on fishery says that in the last two years the maximum global fishery production has been reached. The amount of global wild fish caught, has grown 500% in the second half of the last century, which is an indication of the decline of stock in the past five years.
In 2003, 52% of the world marine stocks was fished to capacity, 16% was over-exploited (35% in the Mediterranean Sea) and 7% was commercially exhausted. Since China recently gave public information about fishery data on the country, the situation became (if possible) more alarming.
The global market, managed by the developed Countries, uses a few species as the most popular for consumption. This causes a large amount of fish to be discarded: more than 25% of good fish are dumped back in the sea (dead!) because the fish have no commercial value. As a collateral effect, this market attitude is causing a progressive deterioration of the seafood culture, particularly in the younger generations.
Other species are also harmed by fishing, such as being caught in nets. Each year several thousand marine mammals, some 40,000 turtles, 300,000 seabirds and millions of sharks are harmed. This means not only big genetic losses, but also an important influence on the marine food chains variations, a lack of natural selection made by the predators, spread of parasitosis and fish diseases, growth of necrophagous and detritivorous communities.
 We will explain why the Genoa Aquarium has chosen to work on this big challenge, with the aim of promoting responsible fishery and creating an awareness of seafood consumption. We have also joined sustainable international campaigns such as the Sensible Seafood Campaign, as part of the World Ocean Network (WON) Action Grid.
We did find that it was not so easy for an Aquarium to talk about fish to eat! No possible living displays to demonstrate it. After reading these reports, we cannot ignore the threat to our species and the educational challenge that faces us. The human population is rapidly increasing and so is the demand for food, and seafood is extremely important for mankind. This means that we must learn to manage natural resources. As a matter of fact there is a substantial difference between land and sea in terms of farm food: the major quantity of meat has breeding origin but for seafood we are still far from a satisfactory improvement of farming.
So, since 2001 the Genoa Aquarium has been conducting some activities to increase knowledge and awareness about the many different problems related to the dramatic collapse of the fishery resources: 
- we opened a temporary exhibition on fishery and aquaculture, which was visited by 1.5 million of people;
- we organized several public conferences in our Auditorium and we printed a booklet reporting popular information on seafood properties and many suggestions about species and related recipes;
- for the last two years we have presented dedicated educational activities for students of all ages, showing the pupils several fish species that nowadays are part of fishery discards even if they are good to eat. We talk about fishery problems and sustainable actions, showing samples of different fishing nets and instruments to increase their understanding of how they work;
- the last four years we have been participating in an international popular fair on seafood with our special stand, distributing materials to invite people in making the best choice for the future of the marine resources.
- related to all these projects we edited a leaflet, reporting basic information about the seafood crises and indicating the “good” species to buy and how to eat them, and we printed also a ruler, indicating the minimum size allowed for the main seafood species sold in the markets.
Due to the exhausting of European fish stocks, fishermen from European Union started exploiting West African stocks, which decreased by 50% in the last 20 years. The increasing rarity of fish in West Africa seems to contribute to the bushmeat trade (see Jonathan Stein - motherjones.com): this affects not only people that work in Aquariums, but all of us.
A mutual challenge for a global problem: fishermen, traders, sellers, restaurateurs, consumers, media and educators (that means each one of us!) are involved.
Let’s act together to help the sea life!
Stefano Angelini
Head of Education
Acquario di Genova
tel: 0039 010 2345257
e-mail: sangelini@acquariodigenova.it
www.acquariodigenova.it
|
|
