23 Oct
2006 - Hobart, Tasmania – Twenty-five years on
from a global commitment to protect and manage
the Southern Ocean, government scientists and
decision-makers from more than 30 nations are
meeting to decide the future of the ocean’s wildlife
and marine resources.
Delegates to the Commission
for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living
Resources (CCAMLR) will discuss a range of issues,
including the protection of threatened seabirds
and marine species, as well as illegal fishing.
As a reminder to how serious
illegal fishing is, just down the road from the
meeting venue in Hobart’s harbour one finds the
impounded illegal fishing boat Taruman, a 76-metre
Cambodian vessel seized by Australian fisheries
officers last year after it was suspected of fishing
illegally in Australian waters. The Spanish captain
and fishing master of the ship were recently prosecuted
in Australia and fined after being found to have
illegally taken Patagonian toothfish.
“The Taruman serves as a reminder
of the need for governments around the world to
close the holes that allow pirates to slip through
the net,” said WWF-Australia’s Constance Johnson.
“Unregulated fishing impacts
heavily on migratory fish stocks and continues
to result in the death by drowning of thousands
of seabirds and other non-target species every
year, and remains the number one threat to endangered
albatross.”
CCAMLR has already introduced
measures that have reduced seabird mortality from
legal fishing practices by about 90 per cent,
but WWF is asking CCAMLR delegates this year to
further the conservation achievements made over
the past few years, and to act to address the
growing threats, which include increasing demand
for fish, the introduction of invasive species,
and climatic changes to ecosystems in the Southern
Ocean.
“CCAMLR has demonstrated the
scale of achievement that is possible by dramatically
reducing the numbers of albatross and petrels
dying in its regulated fisheries,” Johnson added.
“However, given the threats still facing habitats
and wildlife in the Southern Ocean, we’re urging
CCAMLR to reinforce and further its conservation
achievements.”
In particular, WWF is calling
on delegates attending the CCAMLR meeting to:
commit to the development of high seas marine
protected areas; improve existing mechanisms and
eliminate the threat of illegal, unregulated and
unreported (IUU) fishing; introduce stricter monitoring,
control and surveillance mechanisms for all fishing
activity; introduce stringent management measures
for harvesting of krill (the staple food of the
Southern Ocean’s great whales, seals, seabirds
and fish); and seek greater protection for endangered
albatross and other seabirds.
END NOTES:
• The Convention on the Conservation
of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
came into force in 1982 to conserve marine life
in the Southern Ocean. Despite extreme climatic
conditions, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
support a vast and productive marine ecosystem.
Many species of seabirds, seals and whales, together
with fish, krill and seabed communities, are part
of an extremely diverse and highly productive
environment.
• Although CCAMLR has made significant
progress in reducing seabird mortality, between
80,000 and 160,000 albatross, petrels and other
seabirds are caught as bycatch in the Southern
Ocean every year. This represents over 300 seabirds
killed as bycatch every day.
• WWF’s Antarctic & Southern
Ocean Programme addresses the over-exploitation
of fisheries, illegal fishing, climate change,
incidental bycatch of wildlife and the introduction
of invasive species through programmes seeking
to: eliminate illegal, unregulated and unreported
fishing; introduce ecosystem-based management
for fisheries; adopt climate change adaptation
strategies; establish a network of Southern Ocean
marine protected areas; and improve protection
for seabirds from bycatch and invasive species.
Charlie Stevens, Press Officer
WWF-Australia
