If we want the oceans to continue to sustain life on this planet and mitigate the consequences of our reckless climate change, we must stop viewing them as a resource for (excessive) exploitation and start seeing them as a solution to climate change.

The importance of the world's oceans cannot be overstated: they provide 50% of the oxygen we breathe, feed billions of people, and provide a livelihood for millions more.

The ocean is a great biological pump that regulates global atmospheric and thermal regimes, as well as being the driving force for water and nutrient cycles. The ocean is one of our most powerful tools for mitigating the effects of climate change, which makes it a crucial ally, and we must do everything possible to protect it. This is even more important given the unprecedented and unpredictable threats we currently face. Although the ocean has been instrumental in slowing climate change by absorbing more than 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and 90% of the excess heat generated since the Industrial Revolution, the price has been enormous.

Ocean acidification and warming are occurring at an alarming rate and are already seriously affecting some of our most valuable marine ecosystems, and these impacts will only intensify.

As a journalist, author, Member of the European Parliament, Minister for the Environment and Deputy Prime Minister, I have spent many years advocating for the conservation of the oceans and the well-being of communities dependent on fishing. I remain deeply committed to stopping the destruction of the ocean upon which we depend and supporting the social justice that we, as a global society, so desperately need.

This took me to the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in June, where there was much to applaud, including a call from French President Emmanuel Macron for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. But there was also cause for sorrow.

As someone who has had a seat at the table of power, in fact, several seats at several tables, I have always done my best to represent all the voters who want to protect our planet, and I know that politicians sometimes prioritize other interests.

Macron's “explanation”

This was evident both in Lisbon and afterwards, as evidenced by the “clarifications” from French officials regarding their president’s comments – that he did not, in fact, mean a moratorium on deep-sea mining.

It is said that in the 11th century, the Nordic King Cnut demonstrated his inability to stop the tide (forbidding the waves to roll in during high tide) so that his supporters would have more realistic expectations of him... And with the biodiversity and climate emergency, we too have triggered a wave of catastrophic change that will not be stopped by the noble promises of decision-makers about what needs to be done.

I know that to achieve transformative change, we need strong words followed by bold action. Words alone will not suffice; we need informed and active citizens to vote for and reward those decision-makers who take action to ensure a healthy and viable future.

Fisheries management has a crucial impact on the state of marine ecosystems and, consequently, on the health of the oceans. If we want the ocean to continue to sustain life on this planet and mitigate the consequences of our reckless climate change, we must start treating the ocean not as a resource for (excessive) exploitation, but as a climate action and nature-based solution.

In Lisbon, I learned how this can be achieved in the European Union by becoming acquainted with the work done by a group of scientists led by Dr. Rashid Sumaila from the University of British Columbia.

These scientists have published several papers revealing how more responsible fishing could restore ocean health and thereby contribute to the mitigation of climate change. The scientists have studied how overfishing shortens the food chain and weakens the system, making it more sensitive to shocks such as climate change. Fish are similar to humans in this regard; just as a healthy person is better able to survive Covid, a healthy ocean will be better able to mitigate the impacts of climate change and adapt to them.

The impacts of climate change are expected to significantly reduce fish stock biomass, so to ensure the ability of marine ecosystems to adapt to climate change, specific, conservation-oriented management is required to rebuild stocks.

The European Union lacks action

However, the European Union has been lax in meeting its targets for ending overfishing. This is not good enough, and it is not taking measures as if we were in an emergency – it is more like it is simply telling the “tide not to come in” (the so-called King Cnut approach).

Studies have found that by reducing the capacity of the European fishing fleet, we could catch more fish: this means fewer vessels, which burn less fuel, produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and provide better economics for fishermen.

In the coming months, the European Commission will publish an action plan described in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 and the forthcoming evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy. This must be bold and must counter the short-term economic interests that are destroying the ocean.

Just as King Cnut was frustrated by the blind faith of his followers, the European Commission must stop talking about all the things it could or will do, and simply do them.

Climate change and biodiversity loss have begun, and there is no point in talking about what can be done to stop it; we must act, and fisheries management is of critical importance.