In a recent interview Daniel Pauly called for a total ban on open-ocean fishing. He argues that such a step is essential for rebuilding badly depleted global fishing stocks and preventing the demise of the fishing industry itself. “People assume that with 59% of the ocean closed, you will have no place left to fish. But it’s not the case at all. All of the species that are taken from the high seas — like tuna — regularly move between the open ocean and nationally controlled coastal waters. So they could still be caught. But, instead of being caught by, say, a dozen countries on the high seas, the harvest could be more equitably shared. “
Two decades ago, the UN General Assembly agreed to ban drift nets. In other words, what seems to be impossible now will look different shortly. The UN has already begun to talk about a high-seas fishing ban, and I can easily imagine that in 10 years this will be seriously on the agenda”.