Blue Planet 2: Sir David Attenborough calls for global deal to tackle overfishing
TELEVISION naturalist Sir David Attenborough has called for a global deal to tackle overfishing as he warned of three major challenges facing the world's oceans.
Sir David Attenborough has called for a global deal to tackle overfishing
The veteran presenter, whose new series Blue Planet 2 looks at sea life, said climate change and pollution were also having an impact.
Sir David said an agreement similar to that which outlawed most whale hunting was needed to prevent fish stocks being depleted.
Action could also be taken to combat the dumping of pollutants including plastic, but there was little that individuals could do to prevent the rise in sea temperatures.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The sea is being hit in three different ways.
Sir David said an agreement similar to that which outlawed most whale hunting was needed
But we can do something about what we tip into the sea - there are some tragic stories to be told as to the effect this is having, not only to the creatures that live in the sea, but by the sea
"There's nothing which we, or anybody listening to this, can do much about the raising of the temperature because the die is already cast.
"But we can do something about what we tip into the sea - there are some tragic stories to be told as to the effect this is having, not only to the creatures that live in the sea, but by the sea."
He highlighted the plight of albatross chicks which were sometimes left starving as a result of their parents collecting plastic instead of food.
Sir David highlighted the plight of albatross chicks which were sometimes left starving
Their parents "come back after flying for a week or 10 days with crops full of what they think is food and it turns out to be plastic"
On overfishing, he said: "What you need is international agreements to deal with that.
"There is a precedent. The fishing nations of the world got together some years ago and decided that whales were on the way out because they were being hunted so intensively and agreed on a policy to stop hunting whales commercially, except for a very few exceptions."
Action could also be taken to combat the dumping of pollutants including plastic
Sir David said he hoped that US president Donald Trump's declaration that he would pull out of the Paris climate change deal would not turn out to be as dramatic as first thought.
He said: "We can't give up hope, we've got to keep at it.
"There are signs that maybe that won't be as black as it looked when Trump first said it."