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Fate of the Big Fish

Aired May 14, 2003 - 13:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We turn our attention now to the report in the scientific journal "Nature" concerning the fate of the oceans. The authors of the study are warning that some of the world's biggest fish are alarmingly close to distinction, and that transcends all the oceans. And no, we're not just talking about whales here.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa has the details of the study. And she's in a place where they know an awful lot about commercial, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Hello, Maria.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.

Well, what we're talking about right now is this report that took over 10 years and -- with 50 years of research. They're saying now that these large fish, like swordfish, shark, tuna, also smaller fish as well, halibut, cod, may now be at only 10 percent of their original populations. And as you said, Miles, this is a worldwide study.

Now here in Gloucester, Massachusetts, obviously this is an area where -- people will remember this is where the movie "The Perfect Storm" was based. And this is actually part of the country where they've felt already the reality of these fisheries depleted. So here, starting in about 1995, they've already starting putting restrictions on the fishermen here, because they said certain kind of fish that they were getting here, flounder, cod, monk, were already at very, very drastic low levels.

So there's a real concern now that on the worldwide scale, what happens when you've got what some people are calling the lions and bears of the fish population, these large fish that are being depleted now, mostly because of these commercial fisheries, what happens when the big fish are gone? What happens to the ecosystems of the marine life? We really don't know. But there's some sense here it will have some level of impact here.

On the ground with me is Paul Vitale.

Paul, you are a local fisherman, you're a commercial fisherman. When you hear this report that says these big fish, the population may be reduced now by 90 percent, your reaction is what?

PAUL VITALE, FISHERMAN: It's a little hard to believe, because they're 90 percent -- it's down by -- where do they come up with the number, how much there was originally? We don't know. We weren't here a thousand years ago. We really, truly don't know. And fish go in cycles, and for so many years, we have a low abundancy of certain fish, and then all of a sudden, they're back and you can't figure out where they came from.

HINOJOSA: You here have been on restrictions, the number of days that you're able to go out fishing on your boats have been reduced. And you say that when you go out, now you're actually seeing more fish than you were seeing five years ago.

VITALE: Yes, we're seeing anywhere from three to four times as much fish now than we were five years ago.

HINOJOSA: So it seems to be then that putting these restrictions on commercial fishermen and commercial fishing companies seems to work.

VITALE: Some restrictions, I think. We're at a point now, more restrictions on top of what we have is overkill, and are only being put in place to put the weaker fishermen out of business, the guy who can't get out as much as another guy because he's got a smaller boat, or he's got trouble or whatnot. We do not -- definitely do not need any more restrictions. I think we need a time frame of having a moratorium on regulations, saying, OK, we have these. Let's keep these same rules for four years and see what happens after that, instead of every year -- as soon as they make a law, the next week, they're like, well, nothing happened, so we have to make another low. So it's the ocean, it's Mother Nature, it takes time. It's like planting a tree. Plant a tree today, 100 years, and it's huge, you know.

HINOJOSA: Well, thanks, Paul. Thanks for talking with us. Paul Vitale, who's one of the local fisherman here.

Now, obviously, Miles, what's going to happen with this report it will create quite a bit of controversy, where you're going to have fisherman like Paul Vitale, who are saying we don't need any more restrictions.

But when you've got these large fisheries, these commercial fisheries that do these kind of scouring, where you've got big boats with long lines, they've got the helicopters, and they're dragging in everything that they can get, they're dragging in the bigger fish, that means one of the things that came up with the report, is they're showing that the bigger fish are actually now coming up smaller than they were supposed to be genetically. That means these bigger fish are being caught. What's left to reproduce are the smaller fish. That means that we're seeing in general smaller, bigger fish.

It's a little bit complicated. But as you know, miles, you'll certainly see a lot of discussion here, as soon as this report comings out, a lot of talk among the fishermen and the fisheries about what to do next -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Maria, when you talk about these regulations, that would apply to just the U.S. fleet. What about other countries in international waters? I mean, there is a big jurisdictional issue here, isn't there? HINOJOSA: Absolutely. And they have international meetings about this. This is something that someone like me who never fishes is not involved with, but this is a big topic of conversation. You've got international observers of this, in terms of the ecologists, but you've also got those fishing companies that want to be able to go out and cash these fish. So a lot of conversations. What those restrictions will end up being once this report is released, we'll just have to wait and see -- Miles.

HINOJOSA: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired May 14, 2003 - 13:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We turn our attention now to the report in the scientific journal "Nature" concerning the fate of the oceans. The authors of the study are warning that some of the world's biggest fish are alarmingly close to distinction, and that transcends all the oceans. And no, we're not just talking about whales here.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa has the details of the study. And she's in a place where they know an awful lot about commercial, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Hello, Maria.

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.

Well, what we're talking about right now is this report that took over 10 years and -- with 50 years of research. They're saying now that these large fish, like swordfish, shark, tuna, also smaller fish as well, halibut, cod, may now be at only 10 percent of their original populations. And as you said, Miles, this is a worldwide study.

Now here in Gloucester, Massachusetts, obviously this is an area where -- people will remember this is where the movie "The Perfect Storm" was based. And this is actually part of the country where they've felt already the reality of these fisheries depleted. So here, starting in about 1995, they've already starting putting restrictions on the fishermen here, because they said certain kind of fish that they were getting here, flounder, cod, monk, were already at very, very drastic low levels.

So there's a real concern now that on the worldwide scale, what happens when you've got what some people are calling the lions and bears of the fish population, these large fish that are being depleted now, mostly because of these commercial fisheries, what happens when the big fish are gone? What happens to the ecosystems of the marine life? We really don't know. But there's some sense here it will have some level of impact here.

On the ground with me is Paul Vitale.

Paul, you are a local fisherman, you're a commercial fisherman. When you hear this report that says these big fish, the population may be reduced now by 90 percent, your reaction is what?

PAUL VITALE, FISHERMAN: It's a little hard to believe, because they're 90 percent -- it's down by -- where do they come up with the number, how much there was originally? We don't know. We weren't here a thousand years ago. We really, truly don't know. And fish go in cycles, and for so many years, we have a low abundancy of certain fish, and then all of a sudden, they're back and you can't figure out where they came from.

HINOJOSA: You here have been on restrictions, the number of days that you're able to go out fishing on your boats have been reduced. And you say that when you go out, now you're actually seeing more fish than you were seeing five years ago.

VITALE: Yes, we're seeing anywhere from three to four times as much fish now than we were five years ago.

HINOJOSA: So it seems to be then that putting these restrictions on commercial fishermen and commercial fishing companies seems to work.

VITALE: Some restrictions, I think. We're at a point now, more restrictions on top of what we have is overkill, and are only being put in place to put the weaker fishermen out of business, the guy who can't get out as much as another guy because he's got a smaller boat, or he's got trouble or whatnot. We do not -- definitely do not need any more restrictions. I think we need a time frame of having a moratorium on regulations, saying, OK, we have these. Let's keep these same rules for four years and see what happens after that, instead of every year -- as soon as they make a law, the next week, they're like, well, nothing happened, so we have to make another low. So it's the ocean, it's Mother Nature, it takes time. It's like planting a tree. Plant a tree today, 100 years, and it's huge, you know.

HINOJOSA: Well, thanks, Paul. Thanks for talking with us. Paul Vitale, who's one of the local fisherman here.

Now, obviously, Miles, what's going to happen with this report it will create quite a bit of controversy, where you're going to have fisherman like Paul Vitale, who are saying we don't need any more restrictions.

But when you've got these large fisheries, these commercial fisheries that do these kind of scouring, where you've got big boats with long lines, they've got the helicopters, and they're dragging in everything that they can get, they're dragging in the bigger fish, that means one of the things that came up with the report, is they're showing that the bigger fish are actually now coming up smaller than they were supposed to be genetically. That means these bigger fish are being caught. What's left to reproduce are the smaller fish. That means that we're seeing in general smaller, bigger fish.

It's a little bit complicated. But as you know, miles, you'll certainly see a lot of discussion here, as soon as this report comings out, a lot of talk among the fishermen and the fisheries about what to do next -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Maria, when you talk about these regulations, that would apply to just the U.S. fleet. What about other countries in international waters? I mean, there is a big jurisdictional issue here, isn't there? HINOJOSA: Absolutely. And they have international meetings about this. This is something that someone like me who never fishes is not involved with, but this is a big topic of conversation. You've got international observers of this, in terms of the ecologists, but you've also got those fishing companies that want to be able to go out and cash these fish. So a lot of conversations. What those restrictions will end up being once this report is released, we'll just have to wait and see -- Miles.

HINOJOSA: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com