MARINE FISH STUDY SPAWNS SEA OF CONTROVERSY

LIZA B. ZIMMERMAN

NEW YORK -- "Hook Line & Sinking: The Crisis in Marine Fisheries," a National Resources Defense Council report detailing the depletion of U.S. marine fish populations, has stirred up a sea of controversy since it was released at press conferences here, in Washington and San Francisco earlier this month.

"Marine fish are in crisis," announced Sarah Chasis, the NRDC's senior attorney, echoing the central conclusion of Hook Line & Sinking.

Some prominent members of trade and government organizations beg to differ.

According to the NRDC's findings many commonly eaten marine fish -- including populations of swordfish, red snapper, black sea bass and sea scallops -- are being stripped from the ocean.

Chasis said that almost 50% of nationally assessed marine fish populations are currently overfished, meaning that they are being fished faster than they can replenish themselves.

In the Northeast, where the NRDC claims the situation is particularly grave, the report's findings put the percentage of overfished species at two-thirds of the total population.

The problem, according to the study, is not limited to local waters. "Seventy percent of the world's marine fish are fully fished, overfished and depleted," said Chasis.

The species at risk, according to the report, are being depleted for a number of reasons. Chasis stated that the growing demand for fish has brought about an increase in the number of boats, which she said has doubled since 1970, and led to the development of more sophisticated technology.

The report asserts that these factors, coupled with what Chasis defined as "a poor job of controlling and regulating fishing practices," have actually put some fish species in danger of disappearing.

Support for the report's findings and concerns has been less than unanimous.

"There are no species of marine fish listed as endangered or threatened," said Gary Matlock, the director of sustainable fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service, in response to NRDC concerns about limited fish stocks. Lee Weddig, the executive vice president of the National Fisheries Institute, remarked, "I don't know where they got 50%," referring to the NRDC study's reported percentage of overfished species in U.S. waters. He noted that the NMFS assessments differed greatly, citing a 45% rate of overfishing in 1992, which dropped to 35% in 1994.

Weddig also said that "over the last three assessments that the government has made in [the National Marine Fisheries Service publication] Our Living Oceans, both the number and the percentage of stocks classified as overfished is declining," explained Weddig.

The disparity of the two assessments may come from two very different interpretations of the current implications of overfishing. While the NRDC views some of the overfished species as being in immediate danger of depletion, the NFI's Weddig sees their placement on the overfished list as just a warning signal.

Classifying stocks as overfished "is an indicator of potential problems," said Weddig. "If you say that a stock is overfished it doesn't necessarily indicate that it's in trouble but that you have to take some action or you're going to reduce the stock to the point that it can't be maintained."

Weddig also differed with the NRDC over the extent to which the Sustainable Fisheries Act, passed in October 1996, was actually affecting the status of overfished stocks.

In Weddig's view, the "weaknesses that existed in the system were corrected by Congress through the Sustainable Fisheries Act. A number of things were added to it that scientifically addressed these concerns."

But the NRDC, beyond just lobbying for what it sees as a more complete implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Act, is also advocating other methods -- some of which involve supermarkets -- for helping to restore overfished stocks until the situation is rectified.

"We are asking retailers to provide customers with a choice of sustainably caught fish," explained Chasis. She said that the NRDC is working through groups, like Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet, that have worked to get organic foods more shelf space in supermarkets.

"We have talked about providing point-of-purchase material," said Betsy Lydon, the outreach director at Mothers & Others, about its plans with the NRDC as to what can be done in supermarkets.

"We are trying to work with supermarkets to develop case scenarios to see what kind of materials we can develop that would be a comprehensible aid to shopping," said Lydon. One of her ideas was to post a list of overfished stocks in supermarkets.

"We have been talking to seafood department managers about the report," said Lydon, who declined to mention specific names. She said that Mothers and Others was using much the same "very proactive approach" as they have with organic food, "because you don't want to make it so terrifying that people stop buying fish."

Chasis hopes these steps will work against the price increases that may accompany the continuing depletion of overfished stocks.

Weddig didn't see the need for retailers to inform consumers about which stocks are overfished. Since "retailers are buying fish that's legally caught," he saw no reason to take any other measures. The "$300 million a year the country is spending to implement this law," Weddig noted referring to the requirements placed on the NMFS, including the Sustained Fisheries Act, seemed a sufficient investment of time and money.

There were some points in the NRDC's report with which Weddig agreed. He shared the Council's opinion that "we haven't done well as a nation to protect coastal habitats." He also concurred that "the pressure on fish stocks in the lower 48 states has been pretty intense and some stocks have been beaten down pretty badly." He also believed that too much fish has been wasted and that "overall we are probably at the limits of what we can take out of the ocean."