MUN BRIEFING PAPER

Fishing Trawlers

Hello Environment Committee Delegates! My name is Abbie Anderson; I will be one of your chairs at this year’s GWC MUN conference! Armin and I are very excited to meet you all and I hope this briefing paper will help you understand some aspects of the debate! Don’t be worried if this is your first debate- it’s my first GWC MUN one, so I’m just as nervous as you- but there is lots of helpful information on the GWC website-so check it out!

Fish Trawlers are the type of subject, which may not affect the majority of the world; yet there is still a great deal to debate. A majority of the world obtains a supply of fish by this method thus making it an exciting subject and I’m looking forward to hearing your opinions on the matter.

A basic start to the history will hopefully help you all build upon your own resolutions. In the 15th century, a type of seagoing herring was developed by the Dutch, it was further known as the . This was the first real step towards a greater interest in the industry. Although, the first type Buss was believed to be developed in 1415 in Hoorn and the last one in Vlaardingen in 1841, these were said to be around 20 meters long and used long drifting gill nets to catch the herring. The fishermen retrieved the nets at night and the crew would set to gibing, salting and packing the catch on the deck. Each fleet of around 400 to 500 ships would stay at sea for long periods of time, bringing in thousands of fish at one time.

During the 17th century, the British developed the dogger, more commonly known now as a ‘Dragger’ was an early version of a modern day trawler which, most often, was located in the . Doggers were a slow way to catch fish yet they were very reliable as they could catch fish in the rough conditions that were supplied by the North Sea.

In modern days, a Dragger, more commonly known as fishing trawlers, is a commercial . is a method of fishing which entails fishing nets being pulled along the seabed of in midwinter to catch and obtain fish. A trawler can operate two or more trawl nets simultaneously. The trawling gear varies according to how powerful a certain boat is local traditions and bottom conditions. The shipping vessel can vary from 30 horsepower to 10,000 horsepower thus meaning there is a drastic contrast in the trawling gear required.

George Watson’s College MUN Conference 2014 MUN BRIEFING PAPER

As our global population expands, so too does the amount of food we consume. One of the main areas of this food is fish, thus meaning more fish is gradually being pulled out of the sea causing uproar with environmental campaigners. is one of the main threats to our world’s population of fish at the moment. Overfishing occurs due to the fact that when fish are caught faster than they can reproduce the populace of fish as a whole is steadily decreasing. Pavan Sukhdev, from the UN Environment Programme stated that, “We are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are out of fish.” Further showing just how much of a problem this is becoming due to the amount of fish which are currently being trawled. Due to many fish being caught and taken out of the sea illegally, campaigners around the world believe that the poor management of is enabling fishermen to supply more fish than should be allowed.

Another widely debated disadvantage would be the damage to the sea bed. “Almost 1500 scientists from 69 countries have called for protection for marine ecosystems from bottom-trawling”. Trawl nets are dragged along the seafloor. The disturbance of the nets mean that the sediment which is layered at the top of the seabed is churned up until it settles back to the bottom, this changes the turbidity of the water further damaging the environment. According to the website amnh.org “By displacing accumulated top layers of organic sediment, trawling can expose barren clay or rock, which is unlikely to be recolonized by local species”. Furthermore, “the displaced sediment can resettle on very different areas of the seafloor where the organisms carried within the sediment can't survive”. This emphasises the ultimate damage caused by the trawlers as it can be seen from space, furthermore the environmental damage caused by shipping vessels provides a great deal of debate for the MUN conference.

Another aspect of the environmental damage that is caused by the trawl nets is that although many technical improvements have been made, there are still a huge flaw due to the amount of other animals, which are being injured and then dying. Once a catch has been made fishermen are left to sort through the fish and sometimes within the catch of fish are undesirable animals such as dolphins, whales, porpoises and sea turtles. All these animals are, to the fishermen, unwanted compared to animal right campaigners who believe that they were deeply important to our sea environment. “In heavily fished areas around coral seamounts off southern Australia, 90% of the surfaces where coral used to grow are now bare rock.” This, as stated on the WWF website, continues to show just how dangerous and damaging trawlers are. The environment that animals live in has been destroyed leaving ‘bare rock’ instead of a habitat, which was fit for the purpose required.

George Watson’s College MUN Conference 2014 MUN BRIEFING PAPER

Although there are many disadvantages, which I have discussed, the advantages do play a key role in this debate. One advantage would be the amount of money each trawler brings in with their catch of fish. Due to high levels of demand of , the amount of fish being caught supplies a lot of food to consumers all over the world. This further boosts countries circular flow of income, meaning a country will have greater spending power to contribute to other areas of the world’s exports. Another advantage would be that the traditions being upheld by each continue to show just how popular fish trawler is and always will be. Furthermore, fishing communities are benefiting and deem trawler fishing to be an essential part of their livelihood. This is because communities are able to continue creating income and further spending money on other areas in society; this as a whole would benefit economies.

These are just a few issues that I have touched on, there is a lot out there for you to research and discuss! Please submit your position paper to me ([email protected]) by the 14th of February 2014. I wish you every luck in developing your resolution and I look forward to meeting you in March. Happy MUNing!

Abbie Anderson

P.S. Here are some very helpful websites; this is a tiny amount of information. which you could use. Good luck! Please

Read more:

http://www.ehow.com/list_6738503_problems-trawl-net- fishing.html#ixzz2ikWnUacv http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/ destructive_fishing/ http://saveourseas.com/ http://www.jacksontrawls.co.uk/news.html http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/problems/bottom-trawling

George Watson’s College MUN Conference 2014 MUN BRIEFING PAPER

For general country information: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/country_profiles/default.stm

For issues of current international debate: http://www.newint.org/ http://www.idebate.org/ http://www.amnesty.org/

George Watson’s College MUN Conference 2014