Undersea Domain

Details: Written by Jelena Belamarić

Essential - in few points

The whole section Undersea domain is built around a basic idea of “no take zones” or “no take reserves” – renewal of world fisheries in harmony with marine conservation.

Main premises:

Most of the world’s fisheries is in an advanced stage of deterioration; we have already eaten 90% of the fish on the planet. Many maritime countries are forced to provide huge subventions for fisheries. Worldwide there is a merciless rule: bigger the number of fishing boats and better their equipment – smaller the amount of fish.
Everybody accepts and considers "normal" that in the mainland nature reserves nothing is allowed to be disturbed or taken away – especially not killed. But that is not the case with the marine reserves (or with the marine parts of the reserves); in most of them, worldwide, the fishing is limited but allowed.
No take zones NTZ, have started being established during the last two decades. Typically, local fishermen protested initially – but as typically they became passionate NTZ supporters just in a couple of years, because of the fact that their catch and size of the fish started to increase steadily. This was due to the "spill-over" principle: undisturbed fish grow fast, larger fish produce more eggs and with their exponential reproduction the competition for food and shelter also grows – so many individuals tend to swim away from the NTZs.
The world marine experts suggest establishing of a network of no take zones throughout all the seas and oceans, so that it would cover about 20% of all marine ecosystems. That would enable a recovery of the fish stock and other marine life. The rest of 80% could be thus be exploited sustainably. At this point in time only about 1% of world’s marine ecosystems are partially or completely protected.
For the sustainable exploitation of anything we must know how much of what could be found where and in which moment – a thorough monitoring is indispensable. With the digital technology and accessibility of the Internet, almost everybody can be engaged in monitoring of the Adriatic undersea: from fishermen and divers to tourists.
A two year pilot no take zone, chosen expertly on a devastated undersea area (which has at some point in the past been rich with fish) could be the first step in that direction in Croatia – in order to deal with the scepticism.
This could be followed by the Croatian turnabout towards its greatest treasure: the Adriatic sea. For the consistent conservation of 20% of undersea ecosystems, at least 20% of locals should be employed. The marine conservation up to this point has been inconsistent, due to the lack of personnel and means. Besides the locals were significantly limited in their traditional activities – but they got next to nothing in exchange. Many of the people employed in NTZ would work as rangers. Many other could be included in the monitoring and in well thought-through educational and spiritually enriching ecotourism (recommended example "Caput Insulae", island of Cres).
The funds needed for establishing of the NTZ, including the new employments, are calculated to be smaller then the subventions for supporting the sinking fisheries – as it turned out to be the case in USA.
For the initial phase of a thoroughly elaborated project in that direction in Croatia, a substantious funds could be obtained from the European Union, no doubt.
It is about the time to shift the views on marine conservation of our publics, polititians and governemnt – it should be seen as an investment. The establishing of no take zones could be compared to a long term bank account with the most secure and largest interest – granted by the Law of Nature itself. That would creale a range of benefits for all the marine creatures, including us, human inhabitants of the Adriatic sea.