Nature provides us with many valuable services, including the
use of wildlife for food, clothing, building materials and other
provisioning services. Yet the use of biodiversity at rates
greater than those that can be replenished – namely by
over-exploitation – is a major direct driver of biodiversity
loss. This is especially so in the marine environment where
the
Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment considered that the most important driver
of biodiversity loss has been over-exploitation by fishing.
Such over-exploitation does not always result from targeted use of
a resource but may also arise from unintentional by-catch of
non-target organisms and from the deliberate killing of species
perceived as pests or competitors with human interests.
To ensure species’ populations remain healthy
in the future and remain able to provide the services upon which we
depend, it is important that any exploitation takes place in a
sustainable and responsible manner. This may mean adapting harvests
to take account of population fluctuations, providing protected
areas or refugia from harvests, seeking means to mitigate
human-wildlife conflicts, developing mechanisms to avoid bycatch,
or, for some species, preventing their exploitation all
together.
JNCC invests in surveillance to assess the state of UK
biodiversity in response to pressures such as over-exploitation,
upon which, along with other available evidence, our advice to
government is based.
Marine
Charting Progress (2005), an integrated assessment of the state
of the UK’s seas, reports that “widespread commercial fishing
practices threaten many fish stocks by over-exploitation and damage
sea floor areas". The report notes that most fish stocks or the
fishing pressure exerted upon them is outside of safe biological
limits. In addition, the survival of some marine mammal populations
is threatened due to unintentional bycatch.
JNCC provide advice on fisheries and have been involved in
objective setting work through the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and
OSPAR.
Terrestrial and Freshwater
A recent
review by JNCC concluded that the impact of direct
exploitation in the terrestrial and freshwater environments in the
UK is currently low and localised in scale.
Legislation has been successful in reducing the
pressure of over exploitation in the UK. For example, the Wildlife
and Countryside Act 1981 lists plant and animal species that are
protected. JNCC provide recommendations on the species to be
covered in this legislation through bringing together advice from
the country conservation agencies during Quinquennial
Reviews. We also maintain a collation of species conservation designations on our website,
available to download as a spreadsheet .
International
Over-exploitation is addressed through a
number of Multi-lateral Environmental Agreements. The Convention on
Biological Diversity agreed a set of guidelines – the
Addis Ababa
Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of
Biodiversity – at their 7th Conference of the
Parties. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) provides a mechanism
to protect migratory species and to encourage cooperation in their
management between range states. The Convention on Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) provides a mechanism to regulate
international trade in species listed on its appendices. A
fundamental premise of CITES is that trade should only be permitted
if it is not detrimental to the survival of the species. JNCC
contributes to such assessments of sustainability in our role as UK
CITES Scientific Authority (animals).