Moderation in times of greed

Dear organizers, fellow speakers and fellow delegates.

It is a pleasure for me to speak to you at the opening of this year’s North Atlantic Seafood Forum. The four previous events have proven to be great successes as an important meeting place for everyone involved in the North Atlantic seafood industry.

Moderation 
I want to begin my opening address by sharing some views from a book I read during my winter vacation. It is called “Moderation in times of greed”. In this book the Norwegian philosopher Henrik Syse takes Plato’s virtue of moderation as his point of departure.

The virtue of moderation is one of Plato’s four cardinal virtues; wisdom, courage, moderation and justice. Plato claims that human beings as individuals and society as a whole can be divided into parts. Different virtues are important for each part – and the ideal individual or state are in possession of all four virtues working together.

In his book, Syse makes the point that three of Plato’s four virtues - wisdom, courage and justice are well established and indisputable – while the virtue of moderation does not have the same position in our modern society. On the contrary, the largest houses and the most expensive boats are symbols of success rather than excess. The financial crisis reminded us that growth must be balanced with control, and put the virtue of moderation back on the agenda.

While reading the book, I found Plato’s ancient theory surprisingly applicable on today’s environmental challenges and modern resource management. Old thoughts – nevertheless if launched when human footprints were still negligible – might appear very worthwhile in the evaluation and solving of current global issues and problems.

Syse’s assumption is that a society that incorporates – and practices - moderation will be able to meet the future with much more confidence and assurance than a society that practices unreflective enjoyment.

Plato’s moderation, the pre-Christian version of the precautionary principle, should be the core of everything we do. 

Moderation is the ability to hold back, to find the balance and the ability to examine oneself critically. Or simply doing things a bit more caring than one instinctively or ideally would like to do – this especially applies if the side-effects of the actions have the potential to be severe.

Eagerness is a prerequisite to any production at all, and desire is a basic necessity for innovation and problem solving. I will therefore continue to applaud the enthusiasm for development in the seafood industry. However, a one-sided focus on growth might be blindfolding. If eagerness is not balanced with sober moderation, sustainable growth will fail.

Moderation does not mean banning the use of resources; it means responsible and sustainable use. I believe we have a duty to utilize our natural resources to the benefit of all. This means to create jobs and values in the communities along the coast, as well as to supply a growing world population with healthy and nutritious food. At the same time we have a duty to make sure that the next generations can continue to utilize the same natural resources.

According to Plato a state needs to possess all four cardinal virtues. In the management of natural resources wisdom becomes important in order to find the point of balance that the modern society demands in terms of what we do on one hand and the consequences this has for nature and the environment on the other.

We also need courage to stand up against criticism and pressure. The world’s fisheries and aquaculture industry are closely examined by environmentalists, the press as well as the general public. Many express strong opinions of what we do. The government is on one hand met by demands for increased utilization of natural resources, while others advocate stricter conservation of the same resources. We need to believe in, and communicate what we are doing with respect to use, responsibility and sustainability.

Justice, the last of Plato’s four virtues is described as the basic and preserving virtue because only once we understand justice we can gain the other three virtues, and once we possess all four virtues it is justice that keeps it all together.

Justice is needed in the state’s distribution and allocation of common resources. By also applying control and enforcement, the goal is to secure a level playing field.

Overexploitation of a common pool resource might be seen as injustice at the most grave. If we are privileged to utilize a common and renewable resource, we are required to do it in a way that is beneficial to everyone – both to the users, society and the next generations. Justice must be sought both at a local, regional and a global level – if we want to be understood as the representatives of a fair industry. 

Resource management
It is my opinion that Norway together with some of our partners in managing shared stocks has developed a resource management system based on the virtue of moderation. After several years practicing the precautionary approach, or more correctly practicing the virtues of moderation, wisdom, courage and justice, we are registering the highest biomass of fish in decades in the northern parts of Norwegian waters. Cod is on its highest since the 1940ies.

Nonetheless, we have been moderate when adjusting the quotas upwards, instead of fishing at the “edge” of sustainability from year to year. By this approach we have avoided becoming used to maximized quotas in peak years, and we are better suited to handle reduced stocks due to natural fluctuations.

Stability and long term yields have grown stronger as a consequence of moderation. As managers we are obliged to stand firm when the pressure to optimize year-to-year quotas is growing, and I hope that this mode of moderation can be implemented as part of a long-term strategy within the fishing industry itself.

While the condition of the Norwegian spring-spawning herring is at almost record breaking levels, and the North Atlantic mackerel has been improving for several years as well, blue whiting has been decreasing significantly. Despite appropriate management of each single stock, it is probably not possible to maximize yields from all stocks at the same time. We need an ecosystem-based perspective when operating, and moderation might not always result in larger yields from each single part of the ecosystem. However, the moderate and sustainable way of approach is by all appearances profitable when looking at the picture at large.

Regarding Arctic cod and haddock, the joint Norwegian–Russian Fisheries Commission has adopted a rule for setting the annual total allowable catch for these species. The rules are based on a moderate level of fishing mortality. The Norwegian Arctic cod stock appears to be the cod stock which is in the best shape globally. The stocks of haddock and saithe in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea are also in very good conditions. This is proof that we are doing something right.

[For 2010, on the basis of stock assessments from ICES and agreed management strategies, the TAC for cod is 607 000 tons, and the TAC for haddock is 243 000 tons.]

I have asked our marine scientists to estimate the trend in the population and the quota for the next years, under the assumption that we stick to the management strategy. Such simulations show that the spawning stock of Norwegian Arctic cod will be over a million tons in 2010, and approximately one and a quarter million tons in 2011. This is a dramatic development in relation to the end of the 1990s, when the spawning mass was assessed to be approximately 200 000 tons at the very least.

The haddock stock is also in a very good condition. Actually the biomass is the greatest ever recorded. If the assessments are repeated after this year’s winter survey, the management rules of 10 % for cod and 25 % for haddock will be valid for 2011. Again I asked the scientists to estimate the population development under the precondition that we stick to the management rule. Their estimates show that the spawning stock will increase from just over 300 000 tons in 2009 to 500 000 tons in 2010, and almost 700 000 tons in 2011.

My vision is stable and highly productive ecosystem-based management regimes for all of the North-Atlantic fish stocks, to the very best both for you, the consumers and the future.

Aquaculture
While “sustainable fisheries” is an established term, the concept of sustainable aquaculture has become increasingly important as the impact of the industry has grown. In April last year, the Norwegian government launched a strategy for an environmentally sustainable aquaculture industry. Environmentally sustainable aquaculture was then defined as an industry “which is run with consideration for the environment, and adapted to the marine environment and biological diversity”.

In cooperation with the aquaculture industry and other stakeholders, the Ministry of fisheries has identified five areas in which the industry impacts the environment. These are escapes, pollution, diseases and parasites, zoning and the use of feed resources. The strategy sets goals and initiates measures. Aquaculture, like any other industry, will have impact on the environment. But what is acceptable influence? We are now in the phase of operationalising the concept of sustainable aquaculture, which means developing specific effect-indicators.

The rapid growth of the industry over the last years has undoubtedly caused a more demanding situation. It has become clear that the one factor that will determine future growth is environmental sustainability. Obviously, food production in the sea requires clean water. But it is also crucial in order to legitimate aquaculture operations in the coastal zone and to obtain suitable areas for fish farming. Last, but not least, there is consumer demand. Consumers around the world want to know how their food is produced, and how its production affects the environment.

We – the authorities – have an ambition to utilize the potential for aquaculture, but without unacceptable consequences to the environment. One can ask what the driving forces in the industry are when it is perceived as a problem that the market is regulated by market pull rather than production push?  And why is lack of growth in production capacity seen as a problem even when the profit is increasing?  Is it because when the quarterly figures are to be presented, strategies for long-term investments in environmental sustainability are not valued? From our point of view, environmental sustainability is a prerequisite for future development and growth in the aquaculture production – In the long run competitiveness and environmental sustainability are two sides of the same coin.

Conclusion
Seafood is a renewable resource subject to continuously growing demand. The potential is tremendous. Sustainable growth, which will serve society and the industry in the long run, depends on wise, just and moderate choices taken with courage. I advice that we do use Plato’s thinking when we systematically allocate huge economical resources in order to build new knowledge connected to knowing consequences to the environment,  critical levels and monitoring stocks.  I trust that we through our management system can handle such knowledge in a wise way. 

Wisdom is also applied in order to create a level playing field. To monitor and control the use of resources in order to create a just system that ensures the allocation of resources, the possibilities of value creation as well as the interests of future generations.

Our political leaders continuously exert courage within the dilemma of opposing perceptions, interests and values.

I have argued that Plato’s virtue of moderation has been a structuring principle for our management choices. Why then is the fisheries and aquaculture industry so disputed? Why do the NGOs perceptions of fishery and aquaculture management have such great impact – not only on consumer – but on all other stakeholders as well?  Is this because the value chain amongst the general public is perceived as representing greed – not moderation? If this is the case – and I think it might be – an important question you need to answer is how you want to be perceived. The value chain should use their surplus and resources to contribute to solutions to the underlying challenges of sustainability.

Thank you for your attention!