CONCEPT 11-4 265
choosing seafood in markets and restaurants, consum-
ers can make choices that will further help to sustain
fisheries (Concept 11-3).
One way to enable this is through labeling of fresh
and frozen seafood to inform consumers about how
and where the fish and shellfish were caught. In the
United Kingdom, the Waitrose supermarket food chain
provides such information for all of the seafood sold at
its fresh fish counters. See information on more sus-
tainable seafood choices and download a convenient
pocket guide at http://www.seafoodwatch.org.
Another important component is certification of
sustainably caught seafood. The London-based Ma-
rine Stewardship Council (MSC) was created in 1997
to support sustainable fishing and to certify sustainably
produced seafood. It operates in more than 20 nations.
Only certified fisheries are allowed to use the MSC’s
“Fish Forever” eco-label. This certification shows that
the fish were caught using environmentally sound and
socially responsible practices. By 2007, some 21 wild
capture fisheries worldwide were MSC-certified, 18
more were being assessed, and more than 600 seafood
products were available with the MSC eco-label. Even
so, by 2007 only about 6% of the world’s wild capture
fisheries were certified.
In 2006, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest food retailer,
pledged to sell only “MSC-certified” wild-caught fresh
and frozen fish in North America within 3–5 years. If
implemented, this will have a significant impact on the
sustainability of the fresh and frozen seafood market.
Figure 11-12 summarizes actions that individuals,
organizations, and governments can take to manage
global fisheries more sustainably and to protect marine
biodiversity and ecosystem services.92% of its original coastal wetlands, and Italy has lost
95%.
People have drained, filled in, or covered over
swamps, marshes, and other wetlands for centuries to
create rice fields and to make land available for grow-
ing crops, expanding cities, and building roads. Wet-
lands have also been destroyed in the process of ex-
tracting minerals, oil, and natural gas, and in order to
reduce diseases such as malaria by eliminating breeding
grounds for disease-causing insects.SOLUTIONS
Managing Fisheries
Fishery Regulations
Set catch limits well below the
maximum sustainable yield
Improve monitoring and
enforcement of regulations
Economic Approaches
Sharply reduce or eliminate
fishing subsidies
Charge fees for harvesting fish
and shellfish from publicly
owned offshore waters
Certify sustainable fisheries
Protect Areas
Establish no-fishing areas
Establish more marine
protected areas
Rely more on integrated
coastal management
Consumer Information
Label sustainably harvested fish
Publicize overfished and
threatened speciesBycatch
Use wide-meshed nets to
allow escape of smaller fishUse net escape devices for
seabirds and sea turtles
Ban throwing edible and
marketable fish back into
the seaAquaculture
Restrict coastal locations for
fish farms
Control pollution more
strictlyDepend more on
herbivorous fish species
Nonnative Invasions
Kill organisms in ship ballast
waterFilter organisms from ship
ballast water
Dump ballast water far at
sea and replace with deep-
sea waterFigure 11-12 Ways to manage fisheries more sustainably and pro-
tect marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. Question: Which
four of these solutions do you think are the most important? Why?Coastal and Inland Wetlands
Are Disappearing around
the World
Coastal and inland wetlands are important reservoirs
of aquatic biodiversity that provide vital ecological and
economic services. Despite their ecological value, the
United States has lost more than half of its coastal and
inland wetlands since 1900, and other countries have
lost even more. New Zealand, for example, has lost11-4 How Should We Protect and Sustain Wetlands?
CONCEPT 11-4 To maintain the ecological and economic services of wetlands, we
must maximize preservation of remaining wetlands and restoration of degraded
and destroyed wetlands.▲