Sustainable Fisheries Accord

Due to aggressive over-fishing, island building, coral reef destruction and militarization the fragile ecosystem of the South China Sea is at risk.

Fishing stocks have been depleted by 70%–95% since the 1950s and catch rates have declined by 66%–75% over the last 20 years.

The Sea is home to one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth. It includes around 600 species of coral reef, 3000 species of fish, and 1500 species of sponge.

If the current approach to the South China Sea continues the ecosystem will collapse with devastating humanitarian implications.

A top priority for the region should be the creation of a Sustainable Fisheries Accord. Countries who depend upon this fragile ecosystem including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia should be a part of this partnership and all participating countries should agree to certain principles including respecting the July 2016 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) tribunal ruling and respecting the sovereign territories of the other countries involved.

The Philippines Foundation, building on its existing work with fisherfolk, has begun to advocate for a new approach to protecting the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

Philippines Foundation co-founder Trevor Neilson first called for the creation of a Sustainable Fisheries Accord in a series of interviews in September, 2020.

The concept has gained the support of the world’s leading conservation biologists. Dr. Gerardo Ceballos, an internationally renowned expert on ecosystem collapse and species extinction has endorsed the concept saying;

“The South China Sea is an extremely important region of the world, both in terms of biodiversity and fisheries. Unfortunately habitat degradation and overfishing it into ecological and social collapse. The creation of a Sustainable Fisheries Accord, spearheaded by Trevor Neilson, is a clever proposition that could lead to the recovery and conservation of the ecosystem and fisheries of the region with significant positive social and economic implications.”

Hundreds of millions of people’s lives and livelihoods depend on this fragile ecosystem. The time is now to protect it.

A recent report from James Cook University in Australia showed the damage is even more severe than previously thought

According to the lead author, Professor Eric Wolanski, Chinese dredging to construct man-made islands has permanently destroyed many reefs and on top of that the region is massively overfished. There are typically between 100 and 150 Chinese fishing boats working each reef that China controls. For comparison, in the Great Barrier Reef –which is managed sustainably — has between 0.1 and 0.5 fishing boats are working per reef.

“Reefs degraded or killed by island-building and overfishing produce less fish and coral larvae for those downstream. The levels vary, but in the most extreme cases there are no more new coral and fish larvae getting through, due to all its sources of larvae being destroyed,” he said.

The Philippines Foundation, building on its existing work on Fishing, has begun to advocate for a new approach to protecting the West Philippine Sea.

One of the first priorities in this work should be the creation of a Sustainable Fisheries Accord for the region. Countries who depend upon this fragile ecosystem including Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia should be a part of this partnership and all participating countries should agree to certain principles including respecting the July 2016 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) tribunal ruling and respecting the sovereign territories of the other countries involved.

China should be welcomed into the partnership — as long as it agrees to abide by international law.

This new Sustainable Fisheries Accord should be grounded in science with marine biologists and sustainable fisheries experts guiding its planning.

There is no time to waste. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies the sea “accounted for 12 percent of global fish catch in 2015, and more than half of the fishing vessels in the world operate there. Fishing in the region employs over 3.7 million people.