Posted on 10 November
2010
Rome, Italy: New data seen by conservation
organisations WWF and Greenpeace reveals
that documentation for 2010 bluefin tuna
catches in the Mediterranean Sea is
as riddled with rule-flouting and inadequacies
as ever before.
Cases include catches
totally escaping documentation, fishing
vessels being misidentified and numerous
violations in transferring catches to tuna
fattening cages. A majority of the observers
newly allocated to Spanish and French vessels
noted that they were forced to accept skipper
and company diver estimates of the amount
of tuna confined to cages.
The analysis of the
shortcomings of new and supposedly improved
systems to document catches introduced by
the International Commission for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), was made on data
provided to contracting parties who are
scheduled to gather in Paris next week for
the ICCAT annual meeting. The body, which
has failed to live up to its charter of
managing the fishery in accordance with
scientific advice for more than four decades,
is under severe pressure to take drastic
steps to stave off its fishery collapse.
The analysis also follows
revelations this week from a major investigation
released by the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showing
a $US 4 billion black market in bluefin
tuna was flourishing annually by 2007.
Little has changed,
with the analysis suggesting subsequent
rule changes have been more cosmetic than
real, and the industrial purse seine fishery
and the tuna fattening industry it supplies
both remaining out of control.
In one case studied,
deliberate misreporting enabled a catch
of 18 tonnes of bluefin tuna made by a Turkish
vessel to entirely escape ICCAT’s documentation
system. Key information was duplicated on
compulsory ICCAT catch and transfer declarations.
The skipper of the purse seine vessel also
provided false information on the identity
of the towing vessel receiving the fish.
A formal inspection carried out on the same
fishing vessels reports “serious violations”
of the ICCAT rules, including lack of authorisation
for delivery to towing vessels which transport
the fish to farms.
Of 23 observers in Spanish
and French purse seine vessels 15 encountered
difficulties in estimating the amount of
tuna in the cages, in most cases acknowledging
this was “simply impossible” and were left
having to accept an estimate by the vessel
skipper or divers on tugboats. Of the eight
who did not report such problems, three
were on board vessels that did not make
any catch.
In another example of
many irregularities, observers have reported
cages not being empty before new transfers
of bluefin tuna from purse seiners – with
farm operators claiming this practice had
been found to attract the incoming tunas.
“It’s easy to find evidence
of fraud by just looking at public documents,
which makes one wonder what is not being
documented. A handful of governments in
Europe, among them France, are backing the
short-term profits of a corrupt and dying
industry over the survival of a species.
All the evidence is pointing to a tragic
situation for bluefin tuna stocks and a
fishery out of control,” said a Greenpeace
spokesperson. “The EU’s chief fisheries
official has insisted that the bluefin tuna
fishery needs to be downscaled. But to give
bluefin stocks the best chance of recovery,
EU governments should go further and close
this fishery altogether.”
“These are cowboys of
the oceans who think they can just plunder
a natural resource for their own short-term
gain and get away with it – such a free-for-all
simply cannot be tolerated,” said a WWF
spokesperson. “ICCAT must stop this situation
of incredible rule-flouting. Under no circumstances
must the quota exceed 6,000 tonnes per year
– as advised by scientists – and the industrial
purse seine fishery and farming must be
immediately suspended, before we are talking
about just one more marine legend disappearing
from our seas.”
These fresh data on
the table reinforce the widespread rule-flouting
in the fishery exposed in the findings of
a comprehensive investigation launched last
weekend by the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The
ICIJ investigation exposes a black market
between 1998 and 2007 worth US$4 billion.
The new data underline that this disturbing
panorama of violations is still firmly in
place in 2010.
Greenpeace and WWF strongly
urge ICCAT member countries, meeting in
Paris 17-27 November, to establish a science-based
recovery plan for eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean
bluefin tuna which ensures the recovery
of the species – including a drastic cut
in the quota and establishing no-fishing
zones in spawning areas.
+ More
Singapore and Malaysia
asked to close ports to toothfish pirates
Posted on 09 November
2010
Hobart, Australia: An international request
that Malaysia and Singapore take action
to ensure their ports are closed to blacklisted
fishing vessels which are illegally poaching
in Antarctic waters has been applauded by
WWF.
According to the 25
nation Commission for the Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR
) vessels known to illegally fish for toothfish
have been returning to Singapore and Malaysian
ports after filling their holds with Patagonian
toothfish in the southern oceans.
“These poachers have
been able to continue harming the Southern
Ocean ecosystem because they have been able
to find ways to get illegally caught toothfish
to market”, said Rob Nicoll WWF’s Antarctic
and Southern Ocean Initiative Manager. “These
fishers will continue to cause harm to the
Southern Ocean as long as some gaps exist.”
The fish are repacked
for the Chinese market, sometimes in packaging
purporting to mark premium legally caught
fish.
Exploiting the Hong
Kong loophole
It is believed that
some of the toothfish landed in Malaysia
and Singapore are coming to Hong Kong, which
did not accede to CCAMLR together with the
rest of China – meaning there is no obligation
to ensure toothfish coming into Hong Kong
are not from illegal, unreported or unregulated
(IUU) fishing.
Patagonian toothfish,
also known as Chilean sea bass, can fetch
up to $20 US dollars per kg landed and the
equivalent of $US 75 a kg for fish fillets
at the retail level. The fish have long
been a favoured target of fishing pirates.
"Unregulated operators
are using loopholes in international law
to fish outside the framework of CCAMLR,
which negatively impacts on legal operators"
said Coaltion of Legal Toothfish Operators
President, Martin Exel. "We're pleased
that CCAMLR has taken such rapid action
to alert the governments of Singapore and
Malaysia to the IUU operations of these
boats."
Governments can close
markets to illegally caught toothfish by
developing their cooperation with CCAMLR
or closing ports to boats, or products from
boats, on CCAMLR’s IUU blacklist.
WWF is urging governments
to sign, ratify and implement the UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation Agreement on
Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and
Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated
Fishing (FAO Port State Agreement), which
sets consistent standards for the use of
ports by foreign flagged fishing vessels,
catch verification, transshipment guidelines
and for the exclusion of blacklisted vessels.
CCAMLR has closed a
number of toothfish fisheries in the Southern
Ocean due to the impact of illegal fishers
– but despite the best efforts of CCAMLR
and legal fishers to implement a catch documentation
scheme and other measures to eliminate IUU
fishing for toothfish it remains a significant
problem.
CCAMLR estimates of
IUU fishing for toothfish have been revised
upwards by 30 to 50 percent, for two of
the last four years – with even these numbers
still considered as underestimates in some
quarters.
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