By Atuna
A report on climate change implications for fisheries calculated the contribution of the world’s fishing fleet to it and stated that vessels are using as much oil as the entire nation of the Netherlands was using in 2005.
Fisheries activities contribute to emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2, which are responsible for human-induced climate change, both during capture operations and subsequently during the transport, processing and storage of fish.
The report, which was made by the Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) presents several estimations, but the only one that considers all the vessels is dated 2001 and the results are astonishing: 42 million tons of fuel consumed, releasing 134 million tons of CO2 in the atmosphere.
In addition, the FAO estimates the fuel costs as a proportion of total revenue represents, for pelagic fishing only, 33.4% in developing countries and 11% in developed ones.
Current estimates suggest that aviation and the world shipping fleet, including commercial fisheries operations, contribute each around the same amount of CO2 emissions.
The report recognizes that there has been a decrease in the total amount of the world’s fishing vessels between 2001 and 2005, but points out that reductions in some areas were compensated by increases in others.
For example, the number and total kW engine power of EU vessels declined by about 9% (10.000 vessels and about 1 million kW), while, in spite of plans to address overcapacity, the size and power of China’s fleet increased by 7% and 9% respectively (34.000 vessels and 1.3 million kW) during the same period. Korean vessels declined slightly in number but their considerable engine power increased by about 2 million kW, 14 % according to FAO calculations in 2007.
The authors of the report believe that increasing fuel costs are likely to continue to pressure the fishing industry to improve fuel efficiency in order to remain profitable. For example, switching to more efficient vessels or gears such as from single to twin trawls. However, according to FAO such practices are only estimated to offer a reduction in fuel use of up to 20%, which can be easily offset if the world’s fishing fleet keeps increasing.