1. Managing the global ocean as a system: role of the high seas
U. Rashid Sumaila
Fisheries Economics Research Unit
Sea Around Us project
Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
Conference in Honour of Ivar Ekeland, June 18-20, 2014

2. Ivar and Me We can communicate in Norwegian:
The story of how we met Ivar.
We both love the ocean and fish:
Norse, Ekeland, Sumaila & others (2012). Sustainability of deep sea fisheries. Marine Policy, 36, 307–320.
We believe we need to find better ways to discount the future:
Ekeland, Karp, and Sumaila (forthcoming). Equilibrium resource management with altruistic overlapping generations. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

3. Outline of talk Our oceans: How important are they to us?
Are our interactions with them sustainable?
What is the economic cost of unsustainability?
Managing the global ocean requires a system approach.

4. Our oceans are our lives
60% of the world’s population lives within 60 km of the coast;
50% of the oxygen we breathe generated by the ocean;
Regulation of earth’s climate;
Crucial for the Earth’s environmental balance & survival.

5. Our oceans are our lives
Cultural and spiritual values;
Transport/shipping;
Playing grounds for many of us;
Support jobs; livelihoods & incomes;
Source of animal protein for many.
L.Teh
D. Varkey 5

6. Fish as base for many activities
Capture fisheries
Aquaculture
Fishing ports and jetties
Seafood processing
Fish stocks
Marine research
Management
Marine manufacturing & services, boat building
Recreational fisheries & tourism

7. Importance of fish to food security
Annual ocean fish catch is ~80 million t;
Fish is a good source of protein, micro-nutrients, minerals and essential fatty acids;
Provides 3 billion people up to 15% of dietary animal protein;
For low-income food-deficit countries, the contribution of fish to total animal intake is nearly 20%.
3 billion people depend on fish for more than 15% of their dietary intake of animal protein.
But, there are some regions where diets are lacking in protein. Here fisheries can have an impact in improving quality of life.
FAO, State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (2009)

8. Economic contributions of fisheries
Gross revenues from marine capture fisheries worldwide are estimated at between US$ 80 and 85 billion annually
(FAO, 2009);
Total impact throughout the global economy is between US$ 220 and 235 billion in 2003 (Dyck & Sumaila, 2010).
To us, fish and invertebrates are a source of fascination. But to many, it is a source of revenue. Currently, gross revenues from marine capture fisheries world wide are estimated….

9. Marine fisheries employment
260 million people worldwide involved in marine fisheries, including direct and indirect sector
To us, fish and invertebrates are a source of fascination. But to many, it is a source of revenue. Currently, gross revenues from marine capture fisheries world wide are estimated….
Top 10 countries providing marine employment
Teh and Sumaila (2011): Fish and Fisheries 9

10. Human-ocean interactions unsustainable

11. Climate change impacts
Physical/Chemical changes in the ocean
Biological / ecological changes in the ocean
↑ Sea temperature;
↑ acidification;
Δ ocean current pattern;
Δ salinity;
retreat of sea ice;
↑ coastal hypoxic & oxygen min. zone;
↑ sea level.
Physiology;
Growth; &
Body size.
Individual
Distribution;
Abundance; &
Recruitment.
Population
Species composition;
Invasion/extinction.
Community
Productivity; &
Species interaction.
Ecosystem
----- Meeting Notes ( :12) -----
one sentence
Cheung, Watson & Pauly (2012): Nature

12. Examples of unsustainability
About 20% of the original area of coral reefs lost (Wilkinson, 2008);
Sea grasses are disappearing at a rate of 110km2 yr-1 since 1980 (Waycott, 2009);
Seaweeds in Zanzibar dying as I speak – climate change blamed; huge economic and social consequences for many on the island especially women;
Habitat destruction from bottom trawling.
3 billion people depend on fish for more than 15% of their dietary intake of animal protein.
But, there are some regions where diets are lacking in protein. Here fisheries can have an impact in improving quality of life.

13. Global fish catch and effort
Catch (million tonnes)
Year 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
Catch
Effort is in Gigawatts (per year). Watt is a SI unit of power and is Joules per second. The solar constant includes all types of solar radiation, not just the visible light. It is measured by satellite to be roughly 1.366 kilowatts per square meter (kW/m²) which on average for the whole earth is 1.740×1017 W (or 1.74 x 108 GW or 174 Million GW)

14. Global fish catch and effort
Effort (GW or watts x 109)
Catch (million tonnes) 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
Catch
Effective effort*
Effort is in Gigawatts (per year). Watt is a SI unit of power and is Joules per second. The solar constant includes all types of solar radiation, not just the visible light. It is measured by satellite to be roughly 1.366 kilowatts per square meter (kW/m²) which on average for the whole earth is 1.740×1017 W (or 1.74 x 108 GW or 174 Million GW)
*Effective effort indexed on 2000 based on average 2.42% increase annually
Watson et al. (2012): Fish and Fisheries

15. Company financial data
Dataset contains information on:
1000 top global fishing companies operating in 43 countries, including many leading maritime countries;
Total annual sales value for all companies is about $21 billion or 25% of estimated landed value worldwide.
We analyzed pre-tax profit.
Plimsoll (2011)

16. Summary of pre-tax profit data
Percent 80 60 40 20
0.02
-0.02
-0.01
0.01
A: Pre-tax profit share of sales for 1000 fishing
companies
B: Pre-tax profit share of sales for 43 fishing countries
Sumaila et al. (2012): PLoS One 16

17. Subsidies Beneficial subsidies (‘investment’ programs in fish stocks);
Capacity-enhancing (harmful) subsidies (‘disinvestment’ programs in fish stocks);
Ambiguous subsidies (programs may benefit or harm fish stocks).
Khan et al. (2006); Sumaila & Pauly (2006)

18. Global subsidy estimate
Sumaila et al. (2010): J. Bioeconomics

19. Gains from global fisheries
The current picture:
Overcapacity in world’s fishing fleets
Negative economic benefits when full cost of fishing is accounted for
(Sumaila et al., 2012: PLoS One).

20. Global Potential Catch Loss (in million metric t)
Srinivasan et al. (2010): J. Bioeconomics

21. Food security implications
Loss of million t of fish per year due to overfishing and other impacts has huge food security implications;
It is estimated that more effective management of global fish stocks could create food to avert undernourishment for about 19 million people worldwide.
Srinivasan et al. (2010): J. Bioeconomics

22. Managing the global ocean requires a system approach

23. Strong human-ocean connection
Ocean Environment
L.Teh
Human well-being

24. Nudge stakeholders to cooperate
Annual shared fisheries catch and landed value across all countries (Teh & Sumaila, in submission.)
Munro (1979): Canadian J. Economics; Sumaila (2013): Book

25. Climate change fisheries & aquaculture
Cheung et al. (2009) Fish & Fisheries 10:

26. Buy insurance by protecting a sizable portion of the ocean (e. g
Buy insurance by protecting a sizable portion of the ocean (e.g., Lauck et al., 1996)

27. High seas vs. Exclusive Economic Zones
Exclusive economic zones (light blue) and high seas (dark blue)

28. Highly connected nature of marine ecosystems & their fisheries
Very brief slide. Fisheries – we had a good scientific basis to suspect that many fish stocks are targeted on the high seas and in EEZs.
Block et al (2011) Nature
Doi: /nature10082
April 15, 2017
Why the ocean is important.

29. Coastal vs. high seas fisheries
Breakdown of high seas and EEZ fisheries (annual average over the period )
A) Number of species
B) Catch
C) Landed Value
Implication – close high seas to fishing?
Sumaila et al. (In submission.)

30. Carbon sequestration versus fish value
High seas sequesters about billion tonnes of carbon annually;
Equivalent to million tonnes of CO2;
Using the social costs of carbon we can estimate a rough value of this ecosystem service;
$148 billion per annum (range of $74 - $222 billion);
High seas fish catch value $16 billion (10 million tonnes).

31. The high seas & intra-generational equity: 70% of LV by top 10

32. Valuation & equity between generations
“Egoism is the law of perspectives as it applies to feelings
according to which what is closest to us appears to be large and
weighty, while size and weight decrease with our distance
from things” (attributed to Nietzche, ).
Future benefits from today’s perspective
Value
Present
Future
Discounting in economics

33. Concluding remarks President Obama announced:
Came from D.C. where I attended Sec. John Kerry’s
Ocean Conference: Our Ocean You can find
the Secretary’s opening remarks here:
President Obama announced:
the creation of ~ 2 mil. km2 of marine protected areas;
that his administration is to ensure that all fish sold in the US is legal and traceable
The President of Kiribati: his country will ban commercial fishing in its waters;
The President of Palau: his country will create a National Marine Sanctuary that encompasses 80% of its waters.

34. Merci! Gratulere Med Dagen, Ivar!