Transboundary Marine Ecosystem and Living Resource
Problems in the North Pacific
Seong K. Park, Ph.D. and Jae M. Choi1
Pukyong National University/Faculty of Ocean Industry Policy
599-1 Daeyon-3dong, Nam-gu, Busan 608-737, Korea
Tel: 51-620-6511 Fax: 51-621-8168
Email: skpark@pknu.ac.kr
Presented for the Open Meeting of International
Science Planning Committee (ISPC)
October 6-8, 2001, Hotel Gloria
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1
Seong K. Park and Jae M. Choi are respectively professor and research assistant of the Faculty of Ocean Industry
policy, Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea.
I.
Defining Problems
The North Pacific region has witnessed profound technological, economic and social
transformations for the past fifty years. During the period North Pacific countries also
experienced the rapid development and diffusion of marine technological innovations with
regard to vessels, equipments, and fish farming that were accompanied by the emergence of
mass exploitation of coastal/marine living resources, mass mariculture production and mass
consumption.
Many experts on marine ecosystem and resources believe that ocean carrying capacity
may no longer allow overexploitation of marine living resources. In reality, North Pacific
coastal states and international fishery organizations have put much more efforts on resource
management over their jurisdictional waters as well as the high seas than ever before. This is a
clear sign that cheap marine fisheries operation in the oceans will be no longer possible
throughout the region.
Such global and/or regional trend naturally raises an important question on
fisheries/resources sustainability. That is to say, how can coastal states with limited but
transboundary2 marine living resources provide their people with seafood in a sustainable
manner under the restrictive conditions? Many North Pacific countries are facing the
challenging marine environmental/resource issues. One way to solve the problem is to transform
its fisheries into environmentally sound sustainable fisheries. However, most of the North
Pacific countries have a wide spectrum of socioeconomic development stage and cultural
background and are sharing transboundary marine ecosystems and living resources in the North
Pacific waters. Asian countries in the region are quite different from North American coastal
states in many respects. First of all, population density seems to be the most important element.
China, Japan and Korea are the coastal nations with the highest population density and account
for 13 percent of the world population. Second, they are among the largest
consumers/producers/traders of fish and fish products in the world. Japan is the biggest
importer, while China is the largest exporter. Third, their environmental/resource management
practices are not much advanced although some of them are highly industrialized. A main
reason for this is that they (particularly, China and Korea) have a large number of less developed
coastal communities, which have developed resource-use oriented technologies under the
massive government financial support.
Such unbalanced technological development strategy and competitive exploitation of
2
Marine transboundary issues arise from transmigration nature of marine living resources and pollutants across the
national ocean boundaries.
1
marine living resources showed a tendency of resulting in a treadmill phenomenon (a vicious
cycle) in many fisheries. For example, introducing new fishing technology with little
conservation concern induces higher fishing intensity, which leads to lowering resource
stock/environmental quality associated with higher marginal production/conservation costs,
followed by lowering income. This process tends to repeat itself. That is, newer technology
requires more investment, which, in turn, results in higher overcapacity.
In this regard there have been serious international debates surrounding world marine
environmental conservation and living resource management issues: (i) reduction in government
financial transfer (subsidies) to fisheries sector (OECD, FAO and WTO), (ii) fishing capacity
adjustments (FAO), (iii) lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers (WTO and APEC), and (iv) early
voluntary sectoral liberalization (APEC). The main objective of addressing these marine
fisheries issues is to explore ways that international communities can contribute to sustainable
marine fisheries and ecosystem management in the world and the Pacific Region as well.
However, in particular, a little attention has been given to human dimensions in the previous
international marine environmental and fisheries fora.
In this context, section two describes geographic setting of the North Pacific ocean.
Section three examines characteristics of Transboundary Marine Ecosystem and Marine Living
Resources in the region. Section four identifies and analyzes key driving forces including
human dimension, which affect North Pacific marine affairs and national/international responses
to the driving forces. Section five concludes this paper and makes some suggestions.
II. Geographic Setting of the North Pacific Ocean
The Pacific is the world’s largest, coldest and deepest ocean. It occupies about 166 million
square kilometers, or approximately one-third of the earth’s total surface area. Its mean depth is
about 4,000 meters (The Mariana Trench, off the island of Guam, is measured at a depth of
11,000 meters). The Pacific contains a volume of more than 576 million cubic kilometers of
water. The average water temperature of the Pacific is about 3.36℃, and the salinity content is
about 3.46 percent (Wang 1992).
The pacific is so vast that it could contain all of the world’s land masses or continents
within its area. Near the equator the Pacific extends and spreads to 17,700 kilometers-halfway
around the world. To the east of the Pacific lie the American continents, and to the west Asia
and Australia. To the north the Pacific is connected by the Bering Strait with the Arctic Ocean.
In many ways, the Pacific can be a violent ocean where fearsome storms occur and frequent
earthquakes, caused by erupting volcanic islands, disturb the tranquility of its waters. The
2
Pacific Ocean is commonly divided into North, Central and South Pacific segments.
Among the segments the North Pacific Ocean is a major world source of marine
organisms: harvests of these organisms play an important role in the economic and international
relations of the bordering nations. The region itself extends from the near-tropical waters off
southern Japan to the arctic waters of the Bering Sea. The Bering Sea contains one of the largest
and most productive areas of continental shelf of the world ocean, while the continental shelves
along the Pacific coast of Japan and the United States are relatively narrow and productivity is
variable.
Table 1. Bathymetry of the North Pacific and Adjacent Seas
Pacific Ocean
Bering Sea
Sea of
East Sea
Okhotsk
Area (km2)
Mean Depth (m)
Volume (km3)
Continental Shelf
Yellow and
East China Seas
22,000,000
2,261,000
1,392,000
1,013,000
1,202,000
4,188
1,492
973
1,667
272
92,180,000
3,373,000
1,354,000
1,690,000
327,000
1.6%
46.4%
26.5%
23.5%
81.3%
2.6%
6.0%
39.5%
15.2%
11.4%
95.8%
47.6%
44.0%
61.3%
7.3%
Area (0-200m)
Continental Slope
Area (200-1000m)
Deep Basin Area
Source: Edward Miles et al. 1994. The Management of Marine Regions: The North Pacific. University of California
Press. p. 19.
There are five marginal seas surrounding the North Pacific – the Bering Sea, East Sea,
Okhotsk Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Together, these seas constitute an area exceeding
all the other marginal seas of the world’s oceans. Comparison of bathymetery of the North
Pacific and marginal seas in table 1 shows considerable variation in the amount of continental
shelf, slope, and ocean basin.
In particular, the East Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea are the locales of important
marine activities, many of which can be expected to increase in scope in the future, as the
economic activities of the coastal states continue to expand. The semi-closed nature of the
waters and the market interdependence require a variety of cooperation among the countries.
The East Asian Seas are carrying more than 80 commercial marine species, which are of much
socio-economic significance. Most of these fish species have transboundary, straddling and
highly seasonal migratory characteristics.
3
III.
Characteristics of Transboundary Marine Ecosystem
and Marine Living Resources in the North Pacific
Marine Ecosystem
Marine organisms of the same species living in a specific area are populations of that particular
species. A population never lives in isolation but interact with other populations. A group of
plant and animal population living together in the same region is a community. For example, a
variety of marine animals in a food chain system coexist.
Communities of marine organisms that interact with one another, as well as with their
physical and chemical environment, in such a way as to sustain a system are found collectively
termed an ecosystem. These dynamically balanced systems are found from the tallest peaks to
the floors of the deepest oceans. Ecosystems come in many sizes, exhibit variations in life form
and have distinct chemical and physical properties, such as those found in sea, bay, tide pool,
stream and pond. The North Pacific Ocean has a multitude of naturally balanced ecosystems.
The many marine ecosystems coupled together sustain the larger, complex, and
intricately interlinked North Pacific and global ecosystem - ecosphere.3 Marine living resources
would not sustain themselves without healthy ecosystems which are necessary for marine living
organisms’ survival and regeneration. In the North Pacific, some sub-ecosystems (i.e., Yellow
Sea, Okhotsk Sea and Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, California Current, etc.) turn out to have been
seriously degraded by marine pollution and/or overexploitation of marine living resources
during the last three decades.
Reversing this downward trend will require, besides population stabilization, regional
cooperation in management and effort to repair, mitigate and minimize damages by adaptive
preventive policy measures to secure sustainable development of these resources. For this,
recently, large marine ecosystems (LMEs) approach4 has been introduced to regions of ocean
space.
3
Mackenzie, Fred T. and Judith A. Mackenzie. 1995. Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth system Science
and Global Environmental Change. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River. p. 94.
4 Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) are areas of the oceans characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography,
productivity, and trophic interactions. They annually produce 90 percent of the world’s fish catch. They are national
and regional focal areas of a global effort to reduce the degradation of coastal resources and environments from
pollution, habitat loss and overfishing.
4
Figure 1. World Map of Large Marine Ecosystems
Source: Sherman K. 1999. Large Marine Ecosystem: Assessment and Management in the Large Marine Ecosystems
of the Pacific Rim (edited By K. Sherman and Q. Tang). Blackwell Science. p. 444.
encompassing coastal areas from river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundary of
continental shelves and the seaward margins of coastal current systems. They are relatively large
regions characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophically
dependent populations.5
This approach to management, pertinent to LMEs, represents a paradigm shift from
highly focused short-term sector by sector resource assessment and management to larger
spatial scale, long-term management. This practice moves away from management of
commodities to management practices that are focused on ensuring the sustainability of the
productive potential for ecosystem goods and services. Now, 61 LMEs are designated around
the world oceans. Among them there are 12 LMEs in the North Pacific region. To obtain
information in support of improved management practices, a five module strategy, which is
called modular assessments, has been developed for assessing and analyzing ecosystem-wide
5
http://www.edc.uri.edu/lme. Large Marine Ecosystem: Introduction. This LME website provides a brief and
schematic information about the LME strategy.
5
changes in (i) productivity, (ii) fish and fisheries, (iii) pollution and ecosystem health, (iv) socioeconomics, and (v) governance (. In particular, for governance Costanza et al (1998) advocate
an integrated approach based on adaptive management embodying six principles: responsibility,
scale matching, precaution, adaptive management, full coast allocation and participation.
Marine Living Resources
While socio-economic and political interests of the North Pacific nations may be fragmented,
reliance upon shrinking ocean and coastal resources, international trade and foreign investment
capital are the most important factors that are common in all North Pacific economies. Through
international markets, investment and trade links these interdependencies will reverberate
throughout the region with consequences that must be addressed by all economies of the North
Pacific rim.
Exploitation of fishery resources has already exceeded sustainable levels in some parts
of the region and it has transboundary implications in such areas as Bering Sea, East Sea,
Yellow Sea, East China Sea and North American Pacific waters. Anadromous fish (i.e., salmon),
marine mammals (i.e., whales and dolphins), and seabirds have typical transboundary and
straddling characteristics.
All species of salmon have extensive migration patterns during their long growth
period in the marine waters. Various information sources have provided some indications of the
transboundary migration routes of the different species from various spawning grounds, but in
general the routes are not well-defined. The area between 175 degrees west longitude and 175
degrees east longitude is an area where the distribution of migrating stocks of Asian and North
American origin overlap, and the difficulty in distinguishing between stocks that spawn in
different rivers has been a major source of conflict in the management of salmon fisheries in the
North Pacific. It also should be noted that stocks originating in the rivers of the nations of Asia
intermingle with other stocks of Asian and North American origin and vice versa. Thus, highseas fishing and, to some extent, even coastal fishing can occasion significant interception of
stocks. Salmon feed on large zooplankton and small fishlike lantern fish.6
Over fifty species of marine mammals are found in the North Pacific. The polar bear
(Ursus maritimus) is largely an ice-living mammal, while seals and alruses spend time in
rookeries for mating and pupping. The whales, dolphins, and other mammals are exclusively
water-dwelling animals. One species of marine mammals, the Stellar’s sea cow (Hydroanalus
gigas) is known to have been exploited to extinction prior to 1800, and the Japanese fur seal
6
Hiroshi Kasahara, Fisheries Resources of the North Pacific Ocean, Part I and II, F. R. McMillan Lectures in
Fisheries, Norman J. Wilimovsky, ed. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1964). P. 12.
6
(Zalophus californianus japonicus) is thought to be extinct despite possible shifting off the coast
of the Republic of Korea. Not all species are considered to be of commercial importance. The
distribution of whales in the North Pacific is largely within several hundred miles of the
coastline of the continents, although some have been noted over much wider areas during
seasonal migrations.7 The sperm whale is found in the North Pacific from southern along the
coast of North America.8
Large numbers of seabirds exist in the North Pacific area. Among the most numerous
families are the Alcidae, such as murres and auklets, the laridae, or gulls and terns, and the
Procellariidae, such as fulmars and shearwaters. Most species are found in the coastal areas
during warmer months and migrate offshore or to more southerly latitudes in colder months.
Many species breed in the North Pacific but some breed in the southern hemisphere and visit
only during the summer. The food required and methods of capturing it differ greatly from
where one group of species to species even within families. One example of this variation is
seen in the Alcidae, exclusively on fish, and a third group on both.9
Overuse and/or by-catch of some marine living resources in the North Pacific waters
may irreversibly transform marine ecosystems in the intermediate and long run. Continued
human pressures and resulting deterioration of marine sub-ecosystems and resources have
caused significant losses of marine biodiversity and weakened the potential for long-term
sustainable development of the coastal areas (table 2).
IV. Human and Economic Dimensions of Marine Living
Resources: Key Driving Forces
The North Pacific experiences in marine environment and resource management over the
decades have shown that the conventional marine management did not work once the human
capacity of exploiting marine living resources approaches to or exceeds their ability to sustain
themselves. For example, ailing coastal fisheries in the region have been characterized by
declining total yields, sharp decreases in the yield per unit of fishing effort, the disappearance of
valued species, cut-throat competition among fishermen, in some cases the economic collapse of
the fishing industry and communities, and sociopolitical conflicts between domestic
/international fishing entities.
7
A. W. Erikson, Marine Mammology Notebook (course materials), College of Fisheries, University of Washington,
1978, p. 48.
8 A. A. Berzin, The Sperm Whale (Jerusalem: Isreal Program for Scientific Translations, 1972), p. 190.
9 Gerald A. Sanger, Preliminary Standing Stock and Biomass Estimates of Seabirds in the Proceedings of an
International Sypmposium for Bering Sea Study, Occasional Publication no. 2, (Fairbanks: Institute of Marine
Science, University of Alaska, 1974), pp. 589-611.
7
Table 2.
Country
Lengthof
MaritimeArea
Coast-line
(000sq.km)
(km)
Marine Biodiversity
TotalNumberofKnown
MarineHabitats
CoastalMarineSpecies{a}
Shelf to200-
Excl-usive
MeterDepth
Econ-omic
Zone
MarineProtectedAreas
(000hectares)
MangrovesCoral
Mammals
Number
Reefs
F
T
Tl
Th
Area
Regional
(thous
PrioritySites
hectares)
{b}(number)
Russ Fed
37,653
X
X
X
X
17
3
NP
NP
12
X
5
Canada
90,908
2,903
2,939
X
X
15
2
NP
NP
76
18,193
0
Mexico
9,330
442
2,851
X
6
7
3
525-
P
37
X
3
P
183
X
0
1,420
USA
19,924
1,871
9,711
X
5
17
3
190281
Chile
6,435
27
2,288
X
1
11
2
NP
P
X
X
X
Peru
2,414
83
1,027
X
2
5
1
5-6
X
2
X
1
China
14,500
870
1,356
X
1
4
1
20
P
41
X
0
Indonesia
54,716
2,777
5,409
X
5
4
1
4,251
P
30
3,739
2
Japan
13,685
481
3,861
X
3
9
1
P
P
113
X
0
S. Korea
11,542
245
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
6
338
0
Malaysia
4,675
374
476
X
4
4
1
630-
P
21
X
2
Philippines
22,540
178
1,786
~2.
2
4
1
232-
2,70
19
X
1
400
0
641
00
193
0
0
292
X
3
1
1
P
1
0.087
0
Thailand
3,219
258
86
X
3
4
1
196-
P
15
486
2
Viet Nam
3,444
328
722
X
2
4
1
P
X
2
30
1
Australia
25,760
2,269
4,496
X
6
11
1
1,162
P
244
X
7
N. Zealand
15,134
243
4,833
X
X
6
2
20
P
14
X
0
5,152
X
2,367
665
4-5
3
1
200
P
6
229
0
Singapore
269
PNG
Sources: World Resources Institute. 1997. World Resources 1997-98 – A Guide to the Global Environment, P. 268.
Notes: F = Fish, T = Turtle, Tl = Total, and Th = Threatened. a. Includes fish recorded in coastal waters, nesting
turtle species, and marine species restricted to coastal habitats. b. Regional priorities as defined by The Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority, The World Bank and the World Conservation Union. c. Species and habitat data for
Hawaii are not included in United States totals. NS = not significant. P = Present,. NP = not present. 0 = zero or less
than half the unit of measure. X = not available.
The North Pacific marine environment and fisheries may be described by a driving
force-state-response framework, which addresses a set of questions related to the linkages
between causes, effects and actions. What are the effects of fishing and other human activities
on the resources and marine environment, as well as on the economic and sociopolitical
8
conditions of the fishing industry, people and government? What actions could be taken to
respond to changes in the state of the resource and marine environment or in the state of the
industry and people/communities?
There are a number of important national/international driving forces arising from
changes in population, markets, technologies, and other factors, which affect and/or can affect
the current and future marine ecosystem/resource state. Now, North Pacific marine
industries/coastal communities, consumers and government began to respond to such driving
forces. National responses are emerging through changes in a variety of marine policies (i.e.,
TAC, fisheries co-management, regional cooperative fishery management, etc.). Canadian
experiences suggest that in order for fisheries co-management to be successful it is necessary to
have high-value species and appropriate technologies, that property rights should be established,
that there should be the reasonable number of participants involved, and that the participants
and the government should be able to share resource enhancement, management, utilization
responsibilities and associated fisheries management expenses. Among these, sharing of
Figure 2. The Driving Force-State- Response Framework10
Environmental
Markets
Marine
Environment
Fish Stocks
Technologies
Driving Forces
State
Response
Economic, Social,
Political
Other factors
Fishing Industry /
Communities
Consumers
Government
management cost based on the practical partnership is of particular importance because the
10
OECD, 2000, Outline for a Study on Economic and Social Fisheries Sustainability Indicators,
AGR/FI(2000)5/REV 1.
9
government must have a full responsibility for all co-management expenditure unless revenues
sufficient to guarantee fishers’ reasonable income and share management cost are generated
from the co-management.
International responses in the North Pacific region appeared in the form of multilateral
convention such as North Pacific Marine Science Organization (1992), North Pacific
Anadromous Fish Commission (1992), and Convention on the Conservation and Management
of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea (1994). Recently, new fishery orders based on
bilateral agreements between Korea, China and Japan were introduced in the far Eastern waters
so that old fisheries disputes between three neighboring coastal states have been brought to
settlement. Thus, national fisheries management became to be laid solely under individual
country’s responsibility and at the same time regional cooperative resource management is
getting more important mainly owing to the trans-migratory nature of most fish stocks and the
integrated marine ecosystems.
Human Population – Marine Ecosystem Interactions
Human population size is a key factor, which can and will affect profoundly not only human
well-being but marine living resource sustainability as well. During the last 50 years of the 21st
century, population of the North Pacific coastal states will grow from nearly 2 billion in the year
2000 to over 2.3 billion in the year 2025. The net increase will be over 320 million. China, US
and Mexico may be most important contributors to this growth.
The doubling time for the population is now about fifty years. One child is born every
five seconds. This doubling of human population may be an example of exponential growth.
The projected increase in the North Pacific population will be distributed unevenly among the
nations of the region. However, unlike the world trend the more affluent countries in the North
Pacific are not generally experiencing the greatest gains in population. 1995-2000 North Pacific
nations’ average annual population change was about 0.9 percent. Japan and Russian Federation
were far lower than the regional annual average population growth.
By the year 2025, the population of the North Pacific will be more than 2,300 million
people. This rapid increase in population growth will have serious ramifications for the North
Pacific in terms of food and energy production, distribution, consumption, and waste disposal.
Also, the disparity in population growth rates has important implications for any attempt to
develop a sustainable regional/global environmental and economic situation.
The North Pacific coastal areas are quickly becoming urbanized and more people
migrate to coastal cities. In 1950 less than 20 percent of the North Pacific population lived in
coastal cities. It is projected that by the year 2025 more than 60 percent of the region will live in
10
coastal urban areas. Many big cities with population 10 million, including Tokyo, Shanghai and
Seoul are located in the North Pacific. In the future, providing for food, water, health services,
pollution control, transportation, employment, and education in the coastal mega-cities will be a
staggering task (Fred Mackenzie and Judith Mackenzie 1995).
Production/Consumption/Trade of Fish and Fish Products
Production
The global patterns of fish production owe much to the activities of China, which reports
production in weight that accounts for 32 percent of the world total. Other major producers are
Japan, the United States and the Russian Federation. They are all located in the North Pacific
basin. Outside China, the North Pacific population has been increasing more quickly than total
regional production and the per capita domestic fish supply has much stagnated since the early1990s.
Table 3. Size of Population (North Pacific Region)
Unit: thousands
Country
1950
1998
2025
2050
13,737
20,194
36,385
36,352
China
554,760
1,255,091
1,480,430
1,516,664
Japan
83,625
125,920
121,348
109,546
Korea, North
9,488
23,206
30,046
32,873
Korea, South
20,357
46,115
52,533
52,146
Mexico
27,737
95,831
130,196
154,120
Russia, Fed
102,192
147,231
131,395
114,318
USA
157,813
273,754
332,481
347,543
North Pacific Total
969,790
1,987,342
2,314,814
2,363,562
2,523,878
5,929,839
8,039,130
9,366,724
Canada
World
Source: The World Resource Institute. 1998. The United Nations Environment Programme, The United Nations
Development Programme and World Bank, World Resources 1998-1999. pp. 244-2445.
11
Table 4. Average Annual Population Change (North Pacific Region)
Unit: percent
Country
1985-90
1995-2000
2005-2010
Canada
1.4
0.9
0.7
China
1.5
0.9
0.7
Japan
0.4
0.2
0.0
Korea, North
1.5
1.6
0.9
Korea, South
1.0
0.9
0.6
Mexico
2.0
1.6
1.2
Russian, Fed
0.7
0.3
0.4
USA
1.0
0.8
0.8
North Pacific
1.2
0.9
0.7
World
1.7
1.4
1.2
Source: The World Resource Institute. 1998. The United Nations Environment Programme, The United Nations
Development Programme and World Bank, World Resources 1998-1999. pp. 244-2445.
In contrast, China has reported increases in fish production and shows little sign of
slowing growth. There has been a major growth of aquaculture, which now dominates China’s
production, although capture fisheries have also seen increases. In fact, China’s aquaculture
production began to exceed capture fisheries production in 1993. Per capita fish supply, based
on reported production, has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, indicating the growing
importance of fish as food. This increased supply has been helped by China’s slowing growth of
population.
The Northwest Pacific had the largest reported landings in 1998, followed by the
Northeast Atlantic and the Western Central Pacific (Figure 2). Typically, high landings are
dependent on one or two productive stocks, such as Alaska Pollock and Japanese anchovy in the
Northwest Pacific. Alaska Pollock from the North Pacific had the highest landings in 1998. This
also is unusual, as anchoveta landings generally exceed this quantity and those of Chilean jack
mackerel equal it. However, the fisheries for both these species were severely affected in 1998.
Alaska Pollock catches have fallen by 0.5 million tones since 1996, continuing a general decline
in production since the mid-1980s when landings exceeded 6 million tones. It is worth noting
that production from the Northwest Pacific has shown a constant overall increase since 1950.
However, since 1992, this has continued only because China’s reported increases in production
have more than made up for combined declines of all the other countries in the region.
12
Consumption
During the last decades, per capita consumption of fish has expanded globally as well as in the
North Pacific region along with economic growth and increasing well-being. However, there is
a limit to how much food including fish each person will consume, and long-term ceilings for
consumption will be established. It is clear that the limit will be reached first wealthy economies,
and fastest in those where fish has been a staple or almost staple food since ancient times –for
instance in Japan.
Figure 2. Marine Capture Fisheries Production by Principal Fishing Areas in 1998,
compared with 1996
Source: FAO. 2000. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture-Part 1. pp. 5.
13
The image of fish is changing in rich industrialized economies. It is moving away from
being just the side food it once was and is becoming a culinary specialty. There are two main
reasons for this: the vast majority of the population in the North Pacific nations tends to be
much concerned about health. They, too, know that fish contain higher quality animal protein
and unsaturated fatty acids than livestock meats. Thus, marketing campaigns launched by
retailers/wholesalers/production firms for fish and fish products tend to affirm that the
consumption of fish is an appropriate means of satisfying the consumer’s need for variety and
for nutritious, tasty, healthy and fashionable foods.
Many studies forecast that per capita fish consumption will continue to increase
worldwide as well as in the North Pacific region over the next three decades, and that most of
this increase will result from economic prosperity. The existing positive income elasticity of fish
demand, which generally ranges between 1.0 and 2.0, supports this finding, although the manner
in which consumption responds to increases in wealth seems not only to depend on the level of
wealth attained, but also on the quantities of fish that are currently consumed by the average
consumer (FAO 2000). However, as seen in case of Japan for example, the correlation between
per capita fish consumption and wealth could mislead reality because supply (or production)
constraints often dictate consumption even if wealth continues to increase.
Table 5. Correlation Coefficient Between Per Capita Fish Consumption and GDP
Country
Correlation Coefficient
Canada (22.6)
- 0.574
China (9.7)
+ 0.998
Japan (72.1)
- 0.626
South Korea (30.9)
+ 0.857
The United States (21.3)
+ 0.005
Source: FAO. 2000. The State of world Fisheries and Aquaculture 2000 (Par 4). Rome. pp. 4-5
Note: The figures in parentheses denote the 1988-87 average consumption quantity per capita. South Korea’s
correlation coefficient was estimated in the same data period as other countries by the authors.
Trade
Fish and fish products are widely traded in the world as well as the North Pacific area – mostly
as frozen products and increasingly less as a canned or dried or salted food. Their trade has been
stimulated by the economic conditions prevailing in most consumer markets and by perceptions
about the health benefits of seafood consumption. In 1999 most North Pacific economies
14
realized a substantial amount of trade surplus, while Japan and the United States recorded a
large amount of trade deficit. However, international trade balance of payment for the North
Pacific economies has been pretty much stable at more or less minus 15 billion US dollars since
1997.
Table 6. Marine Capture fishery and Aquaculture production
Unit: metirc tones
Country
1980
1985
1990
1995
1999
Capt.
141,620
211,120
299,602
217,121
211,294
Aqua.
2,052
3,740
19,609
33,445
56,430
Capt.
2,780,280
3,696,706
5,838,383
11,067,333
15,105,419
Aqua.
1,748,966
2,159,295
3,308,715
10,532,257
15,653,607
Capt.
9,155,477
9,961,414
8,662,129.20
5,244,707.30
4,577,952.80
Aqua.
991,769
1,088,074
1,272,831
1,314,490
1,252,719
Capt.
1,323,933
1,583,500
1,255,000
307,083
190,000
Aqua.
344,099
741,000
895,000
732,917
478,000
Capt.
1,629,727
2,042,866
1,961,915
1,821,105
1,514,497
Aqua.
544,402
787,571
772,729
996,889
765,252
Capt.
.
.
.
.
.
Aqua.
.
.
.
.
.
Capt.
.
.
4,534,543
2,845,023
2,581,025
Aqua.
.
.
5,547
6,773
3,230
Capt.
626,068
1,585,417
2,907,319
2,743,274
2,334,784
Aqua.
24,306
31,826
37,250
37,750
37,582
North
Capt.
15,657,105
19,081,023
25,458,891
24,245,646
26,514,972
Pacific Total
Aqua.
3,655,594
4,811,506
6,311,681
13,654,521
18,246,820
Capt.
68,779,010
80,151,793
86,798,800
93,107,229.60
94,086,236
Aqua.
4,639,903
6,051,515
7,887,669
16,078,789
21,394,288
Canada
China
Japan
Korea, North
Korea, South
Mexico
Russian, Fed
USA
World
Sources: FAO/Statistics Web Site. Ftp.fao.org/fi/stat/windows/fishplus/aquaq.zip and
Ftp.fao.org/fi/stat/windows/fishplus/capdet.zip
Note: Mexico performs little fishing operation in the North Pacific.
15
Table 7. Import and Export values of Fish and Fish Products
Unit: thousands US dollars
Country
1980
1985
1990
1995
1999
Import
301,589
355,939
630,829
1,052,045
1,358,720
Export
1,082,397
1,343,496
2,256,088
2,327,286
2,631,777
Import
.
95,390
207,083
957,379
1,146,031
Export
263,000
267,916
1,301,690
2,926,479
3,064,160
Import
3,253,210
4,852,280
10,904,945
18,146,582
14,991,704
Export
937,067
854,365
854,170
754,930
745,812
Import
.
.
.
4,390
2,647
Export
29,290
27,954
65,230
70,223
72,310
Import
35,681
99,442
390,913
849,607
1,165,903
Export
681,607
858,620
1,480,707
1,712,570
1,508,621
Import
35,214
11,290
62,954
90,936
131,432
Export
580,038
378,299
359,829
710,733
655,203
Import
.
.
.
346,190
201,103
Export
.
.
.
1,635,145
1,247,638
Import
2,633,160
4,051,794
5,573,241
7,220,604
9,501,683
Export
1,001,725
1,162,372
3,019,861
3,493,612
3,003,763
North
Import
6,258,854
9,466,135
17,769,965
28,667,733
28,499,223
Pacific Total
Export
4,575,124
4,893,022
9,337,575
13,630,978
12,929,284
Import
16,562,177
19,490,617
39,860,064
57,075,093
58,329,489
Export
15,514,080
17,180,887
35,674,854
52,007,713
53,108,669
Canada
China
Japan
Korea, North
Korea, South
Mexico
Russian, Fed
USA
World
Source: FAO/Statistics. Ftp.fao.org/fi/stat/windows/fishplus/fishcomm.zip
The reason for this is that the global economic crisis, which began in the summer of
1997 and spread rapidly through East Asia to the Russian Federation and Latin America,
dominated the world economy and resulted in reduced trade and lower prices of seafood
products. In Japan, the world’s largest fish-consuming nation and import market, domestic
supply remained at more than 8 million tones with small fluctuations till 1995, but since then
the trend has been to decline.
16
Dilemmas: Treadmill Trap, Information Gaps and Entropy Pitfall
Treadmill Phenomenon
During the past three decades, remarkable technological progress has been made in the North
Pacific fisheries. It has shifted downward cost function in the short run, but sooner or later
upward shift. The total economic welfare or economic surplus, defined as the sum of producer’s
net profit Marshallian consumer’s surplus, invariably has continued to decrease.
The distribution of the total welfare gain between consumers and producers depends on
the market conditions (i.e., price elasticities of demand and supply). Since the demand curve is
downward sloping as normally, which is in general more elastic than supply curve, consumer’s
welfare has decreased through the consumption of a less quantity at a higher price. Fishermen
have also lost because they were unable to increase output as much as compensate the increased
cost. Such an adverse effect of technological progress on fishermen through the fish market is
most severe in case of commodities that are not internationally traded and characterized by low
demand elasticities.
When product prices go up under the pressure of less supply and in turn
overcapitalization results from continuous technological progress, fishermen tend to try to
reduce production costs by introducing newer technology. Early adopters of the innovations
enjoy entrepreneurial profits. But as the innovations are diffused among late birds over time, the
aggregate supply curve shifts to the left, leading to excessive investment.
The late birds are forced to adopt the new innovations so as to avoid incurring
economic losses. This process by which fishery incomes have been squeezed out or stagnated
can be called a “treadmill trap.” The fishermen who are unable to keep up with the treadmill
must be ground out of fisheries and tend to go into other economic activities. Thus, in market
economies, serious problem of technological progress in fisheries is that it works to facilitate
overcapitalization and rent dissipation.11 This is exactly the case of the North Pacific fisheries.
Information Gaps
Now, a single most important fundamental question facing the North Pacific marine
ecosystems and fisheries is whether they can be sustained beyond short-term economic gains
without sacrificing sound bases of marine environment and living resources. To address this
11
Hayami and Robet W. Herdt, 1977, “Market Price Effects of Technological Change on Income Distribution in
Semi-subsistence Agriculture,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 59: 245-56. Cochrane, Willard W., 1958,
Farm Price, Myth and Reality, University of Minnesota Press. Owen, Wyn F., 1966, “The double Developmental
Squeeze on Agriculture,” American Economic Review 56: 43-70. Hayami Yujiro and Vernon W. Ruttan, 1985,
Agricultural Development: An International Perspective, The Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 352.
17
problem, the North Pacific coastal states are asked to take measures to (i) increase the potential
of marine living resources to meet human nutritional needs, and social, economic and
development goals, (ii) take into account traditional knowledge and interests of local
communities, small-scale artisanal fisheries and indigenous people in development and
management programs, (iii) maintain or restore populations of marine species at levels that can
produce the maximum sustainable yield as qualified by relevant environmental and economic
factors, taking into consideration relationships among species, (iv) promote the development
and use of selective fishing gear and practices that minimize waste in the catch of target species
and minimize by-catch of non-target species, (v) protect and restore endangered marine species,
and (vi) preserve rare or fragile ecosystems, as well as habitats and other ecologically sensitive
areas.
In this regard, these critical tasks facing individual states address the measurement
issues. The natural resource accounts and other sustainability indicators are typical examples,
which can be used to assess depletion and degradation of ecosystems/resources and the potential
economic impacts of any intended policy measure, both direct and indirect. All North Pacific
economies never disagree that trans-migratory marine living resources in the region be shared in
a sustainable manner and also marine ecosystems be conserved with a higher jonit-policy
priority. However, individual state’s domestic socioeconomic political affairs often place serious
obstacles in moving from international to national plan of action or from international to
national plan of action.
our past experience leads to several observations on a variety of marine-related
information for relevant policy studies. First, the process of developing useful information and
research project on marine affairs at the multilateral level can take many years to bear fruit.
Second, because this process has been partly driven by concerns about trade, government
budgets and competition, they can be sensitive. Third, information is not perfectly consistent
across countries, nor complete. Fourth, there exists a problem of information gaps between data
requirement and marine environmental/resource state and between countries.
Entropy Pitfall
Other important elements to be brought to our consideration are the problem of ocean
biosphere’s overall degradation. The problem has a very nature of the first and second laws of
thermodynamics. The first law says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only be
transformed. The second law (so called the law of entropy) reads that energy can only be
transformed one way toward a dissipated state. Pollution is just another name for entropy. That
18
is, it represents a measure of the unavailable energy in a system (Rifkin 1981).12
It is a well-known fact that we, human being, can not stop the progress of entropy
phenomena facing our natural system, although it is no doubt that there have been much effort
around the world to slow down such physical downward trend. In this regard, we need note
what Whitehead (1958) pointed out: ‘history discloses two main tendencies in the course of
events. One tendency is exemplified in the slow decay of physical nature. There is degradation
of energy. The sources of activity sink downward and downward. The other tendency is
exemplified by the yearly renewal of nature in the spring, and by the upward course of
biological evolution.’ How can we, human being, make possible such upward tendency against
the downward (i.e., the law of entropy)? This is a critical question that has long been waiting for
our answer.
V.
Conclusion
The North Pacific Ocean is the most productive and diverse marine sphere in the world.
Socioeconomic dependency of the North Pacific economies on the ocean has much increased
over time. The North Pacific Ocean has traditionally been taken for granted as an important
source of wealth, opportunity and abundance. The vastness of the North Pacific Ocean space
that fueled our inspiration and curiosity, suggested that there could be few if any limits to its use
or abuse. Our growing understanding of the ocean has fundamentally changed this perception.
This has led to a growing appreciation not only of the importance of the ocean to social and
economic progress but also of their vulnerability. We now know that abundance is giving way to
scarcity, in some cases at an alarming rate, and to conflicts arising form their use.
Transboundary nature of the North Pacific marine environments and living resources is
a fundamental element that can and will affect the sustainability of humans themselves and
marine ecosystems/resources and that demands international cooperation for their conservation
and management in transcendence of individual nation’s interests. Another important element to
be brought to our consideration, in particular, is the second laws of thermodynamics, which is
called the law of entropy. As Whitehead mentioned, the function of man’s Reason would help us
make such downward tendency slowed down or reversed to upward tendency. More specifically,
by virtue of it we would be able to find new ocean visions and more feasible paradigms for
coexistence with other part of nature through international cooperative effort, which are
necessary for putting in place the marine socioeconomic problems in the North Pacific rim.
12
Entropy represents a measure of the unavailable energy present in a system. An entropy increase means a decrease
in available energy. Every time something occur in the natural world, some amount of energy ends up being
unavailable for future work. That unavailable energy is what pollution is all about. In fact, pollution is the sum total
of all the available energy in the world that has been transformed into unavailable energy. Waste, then, is dissipated
energy.
19
Searching New Marine Philosophy
Werner Karl Heisenberg, one of the world greatest figures in the 20th century, offered a new
vision of our universe, totally different from the Newtonian world, by publishing a monumental
article Principles of Uncertainty (1925), which provided the very first idea for the modern
theory of quantum mechanics. His quantum universe can be summarized as follows:13
There is no way of accurately pinpointing the exact position of a sub-atomic particle,
unless you are willing to be quite uncertain about the particle’s momentum. Also,
there is no way to pinpoint the particle’s exact momentum unless you are willing to be
quite uncertain about its position. To measure both accurately at the same time is
impossible.
Marine environment is a highly subtle and fragile universe with a high degree of
uncertainty. Even little shock or disturbance given to it by human being may destroy its intrinsic
orders irreversibly. Modern science and technology seem to have insufficient capability to
explore such subtle marine environmental machinery. Although Heisenberg’s Uncertainty
Principles provide a framework of describing physical phenomena, it might be extremely useful
for helping policy makers, researchers and fishermen better understand marine universe and
manage the marine ecosystems and living resources in a holistic manner under the joint effort.
Because ocean currents continue to move across national marine boundaries and
human interactions with ocean sphere have been rapidly intensified throughout the world,
observation results of socioeconomic events occurring in marine communities are quite
relative to observer’s objectives and locations. In particular, oceans and marine economic
activities are subject to a high degree of uncertainty, dynamism and diversity and thus they
lead to necessitating multilateral (not to speak of interdisciplinary) marine socioeconomic
researches.
Developing Regional Cooperative Research Program
The main conclusion of the International Conference on Impacts of Population and Markets on
Sustainability of the Ocean and Coastal Resources: Perspectives of Developing Economies of
the North Pacific Rim, Seattle, June 2-3, 1999 was that there is an urgent need to start a regional
13
Heisenberg’s original paper was published in1925 and he won Nobel prize in physics in 1932. For Quantum World
Vision, see “J. P. McEvoy and Oscar Zarate. 1999. Introducing: Quantum Theory. Icon Books Ltd.” which is written
in plain language for laymen.
20
study on impacts of population and market pressures on environmental health of the ocean and
coastal resources of the region.14
Significant components of such cooperation would be an exchange of information,
sharing of data and experience as well as preparation of the policy study with recommendations
that would help assure sustainability of the ocean and coastal resources of the North Pacific.
This joint effort will not only contribute to a better mutual understanding between all countries,
improvement of information on regional trends but also provide information to resource
managers and public policy makers so that they could design more coordinated, responsible and
transparent country measures for sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources in this region.
To make this cooperative research program successful, it is necessary to hold
international workshops like the 1999 Seattle Conference in other countries every year or every
two years. It will help the governments realize necessity for this cooperative research project in
the region. However, it will be worthwhile to note that there may be research overlap problems
with APEC for example.
Information Networking and Data Base Construction
Effective information networking and data base construction will be the most important
component of this research project. Any integrated marine socioeconomic data bank and
network specialized in the North Pacific does not exist. Establishing such a North Pacific
database and information network through the Internet would make great contribution to
addressing a variety of marine socioeconomic issues in the region. In fact, however, the use of
the Internet as a mainstream tool in marine environmental and resource management is in its
infancy.15
The project headquarters will be receiving continuously the relevant data from all
14
Vlad M. Kaczynski, Integrative Analysis of Human Impacts on Oceans and Coasts in the Asia-Pacific, p. 10.
Presented at the Pukyong National University - University of Washington Joint Seminar: Impact of Population and
Markets on Marine Environment: Perspectives of the Asia-Pacific Economies, March 13, 2001, Busan, Korea.
15 There are some key research questions which, if answered, could substantially improve our understanding of how
the role of the Internet in marine environmental and resource management develops. Perhaps the most important of
these questions are: (i) What is the influence of increased use of the Internet on the collection and sharing of data
related to marine environmental and marine resource management? (ii) What is the effect of the establishment of
virtual communities interested in specific marine environmental and marine resource management issues on the
overall practice of marine environmental and marine resource management? (iii) What role will the Internet play in
enabling two-way interaction between marine environment and marine resource managers and users? (iv) Will the
Internet shift power to marine environment and marine resource users through increased ability to interact with likeminded users and through heightened access to information ? (v) Will the current dominance of English on marine
environmental and marine resource management websites continue? If so, what are the implications of continued use
of English in non-English-speaking countries? (vi) Will technological leapfrogging occur in developing countries,
enabling them to increase Internet use to the same or greater level than in the developed world? (vii) Will heightened
access to information on marine program outcomes around the world lead to a marine environmental and marine
resource management monoculture devoid of cultural and social diversity? (viii) What Internet communication
technologies are most appropriate for different contexts and tasks? (Robert Kay and Patrick Christie 2001)
21
project country team. The data will be processed and stored in the Data Bank on relevant
socioeconomic variables in the North Pacific rim. Project teams will agree on methods and
timing of data collection, electronic transfer routines and on cross-accessibility of these data for
country teams. It is assumed that each country team will have full access to all available data
and use it to produce their own studies and reports. All data received by the project headquarters
are to be used for preparation of the marine policy studies.16
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24