Illegal fishing operators at it again

Researchers with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) recently set out to explore an "unexplored" region of the Southern Ocean, only to find deep, straight gouges in the ocean floor. The gouges are the likely result of illegal toothfish fishing in the area. The Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is the body that manages this region, and although in recent years it seemed to have had success in cracking down on the IUU free-for-all for toothfish that started in the 1990s, it clearly has not eliminated the problem. I hope the perpetrators of this fishing, which is described as very extensive by AAD researchers, are discovered. CCAMLR simply can't manage legal fisheries appropriately if there's such extensive IUU fishing going on.

Shame on the fishing operators who stole these fish and tore up the seafloor so they could sell a vulnerable species to the well-to-do.

Illegal fishing rears its ugly head

On December 16, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) intercepted a vessel illegally fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean. Using gillnets, which incidentally are banned in the area and were described by Glenn Sant of TRAFFIC as "invisible curtains of death." This comes on the heels of the October discovery of 130 kilometers of gillnets in areas under the jurisdiction of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). And these are just the ones that were discovered. Furthermore, this not the first vessel spotted in the Ross Sea region and even licensed vessels have been associated with IUU activity.


The Volna was an alleged IUU vessel that was accepted by all but one CCAMLR members as an IUU vessel but because of consensus decision making, its listing as an IUU vessel was blocked by one member. The next year it was licensed by CCAMLR to fish but in the end did not fish that year.

In 2008 a licensed fishing vessel the Paloma V was linked with IUU fishing. The vessel wanted to unload toothfish in Auckland in May (2008). When the boat was examined, New Zealand Fishery Officers found information linking it to vessels involved in IUU fishing (MFAT 2008). Vessel owner Omunkete Fishing (Pty) Ltd took the New Zealand Government to court claiming the vessel search was unlawful. It also tried to stop the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from reporting the information to CCAMLR, and nominating the vessel to CCAMLR’s IUU Vessel blacklist (MFAT 2008 and Omunkete Fishing vs Crown, NZ High Court 2008).

In 2008 New Zealand sighted the IUU vessel Triton-1 during a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Orion patrol in January (2008). The vessel was never arrested or intercepted.

Since 2007 there has been a recognition by CCAMLR that IUU vessels have moved to using gill nets rather than more traditional longlines. That has added impact on the environment and is prohibited method by CCAMLR. At this year’s meeting of SC-CCAMLR agreed it was highly uncertain what the catches were due to the use of gill nets and “gill net catches are likely to be much greater” than estimated (para 7.4, SC-CCAMLR 2009).

Patrolling the entire CCAMLR area is a monumental task and it's rare that a patrol happens to intercept an illegally fishing vessel. Add to that tolerance of known lawbreakers and you've got a serious problem that no one really has the resources or will to solve. It's great that this one ship was caught, but who knows if it will be much of a deterrent? What really needs to happen is that national governments get serious about enforcing laws and stop looking the other way. It seems that for some governments it's less embarrassing to allow IUU vessels to operate than it is to take action and thus admit that some of their citizens are breaking the law. Ridiculous. Anyone who has surveyed the world of illegal fishing knows that it's as complicated to prosecute and contain as organized crime - there's no dishonor in admitting you've had trouble eliminating it. It is far more shameful to allow international resources to be plundered than to admit that you've given fishing licenses to some less-than-savory characters. Containing illegal fishing, particularly in areas outside of national jurisdiction like the Southern Ocean, requires a consistent and good-faith effort by all governments.

Therefore, while I'm always glad to see an illegal vessel stopped, I'd rather see headlines about how governments have finally started enforcing laws.

The Coast Guard

Author and Blue Frontier campaign founder David Helvarg was on the Diane Rehm show today talking about the U.S. Coast Guard and their exemplary record in protecting human life and the marine environment. You can listen to the segment here.

The Coast Guard also does a lot of great international work at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), taking an active role in promoting the global implementation of rules that enhance safety and curb environmental damage. These include some rules that ASOC believes would help protect the Antarctic environment by minimizing the risk of oil spills. Closer to home, they help protect endangered species and crack down on fish poachers. Anyway, the more you learn about the Coast Guard, the more you'll realize that they are, as Helvarg asserts, "forgotten heroes." They've done a fantastic job despite having an incredibly broad portfolio - I only wish we could dispatch them to the Southern Ocean to roust out illegal fishing operations!

The EU Takes on Vidal Armadores

A while ago, I wrote about Greenpeace's efforts to pressure the Spanish government into ending its subsidies and other support for Vidal Armadores S. A., a Spanish fishing company blacklisted by CCAMLR for pirate fishing. It looks as though their efforts have paid off, as a recent story (use Google translator if you can't read Spanish) reports that the government plans to take legal action against the company. The European Union has also gotten involved, with Joe Borg, Commissioner of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs for the European Commission (executive branch of the EU) stating that he would take action against Spain if their authorities do not fulfill their EU obligations with respect to illegal fishing.

This is obviously good news, and I hope that it is just the start of the international community taking pirate fishing at least half as seriously as the recent Somali pirate attacks. Pirate fishing (or, somewhat less glamorously, Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported/IUU fishing) in the Southern Ocean and other areas flourishes because governments either look the other way or, in Spain's case, provide overt support to known violators. CCAMLR blacklists are exactly kept secret.

Given that fish stocks worldwide are severely depleted, it is appalling that we've heard more about Somali piracy from major media sources in the last month than we usually do about IUU fishing in a year. Somali piracy is a serious but relatively localized problem. Pirate fishing, on the other hand, has had a negative effect on global fish stocks, accelerates the collapse of the populations of high-value species, and deprives local fishers in developing countries of an important source income and nutrition. Furthermore, fish populations do not always recover after years of overfishing - inaction now only increases the likelihood that some species will be lost forever. So it is not an exaggeration to say that pirate fishing is a problem that affects everyone, everywhere.

For too long, the political will to take on these lawbreakers has been lacking. Few governments or regulatory bodies have taken truly bold action to preserve marine resources, whether by enacting appropriate regulations or enforcing existing ones. To be fair, it would be nearly impossible to patrol all the seas at all times for illegal fishers and illegal fishing practices, but in this and many other cases such effort is not necessary. Start by enforcing the law against blacklisted ships.

To make a dent in illegal fishing, the international community will have to undergo something of a revolution in values. Healthy marine ecosystems have a long-term value for humans that is far greater than the price that this year's toothfish catch will bring. When one considers that the health of a major resource is at stake, the lack of attention paid to illegal fishing is no less shocking than it would be if a government failed to arrest someone who was systematically burning down every house in a neighborhood. Those are your fish they're killing.

The EC Commissioner's announcement that he expects Spain to enforce the law or face legal action is promising, assuming he follows through. It's time to stop acting as if illegal fishing is a victimless or minor crime.

Hooked and Booked

Greenpeace has uncovered unsettling evidence that the Spanish government has been subsidizing a company known to engage in Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Southern Ocean. The company, Vidal Armadores S. A., is blacklisted by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which regulates fishing in the Southern Ocean. Why is a blacklisted ship receiving several million euros from the Spanish government? It is unclear, but unlikely that the Spanish government can claim ignorance. According to Greenpeace, New Zealand inspectors uncovered evidence that a Namibian-flagged ship called the Paloma V was involved in illegal transshipments - the transfer of illegal fish catches from one ship to another - in April 2008. Their evidence implicated several ships in the Vidal fleet in these transshipments.

The Spanish government went ahead and signed an agreement with the Namibian government to allow one of the ships identified by NZ to fish in Namibian waters. They've also assisted Vidal with obtaining other contracts and licenses. One of the fish they are involved with illegally catching is the Patagonia toothfish, which is quickly nearing extinction due to legal and illegal overfishing. Transshipment and other loopholes are widely used by pirate fishers so they can reap enormous profits without getting in trouble.

As Greenpeace says, it's time to hook and book illegal fishers. The Spanish government needs to stop subsidizing and helping Vidal, and start prosecuting those involved in illegal fishing activity. Global fishing stocks are in decline. If all the catch limits and regulations of CCAMLR and other bodies are to be at all effective, countries must enforce existing anti-IUU laws (and probably add new laws and punishments). It's all too easy for people to ignore overfishing, particularly when it's done in the Southern Ocean, far away from any governments who could object or patrol. But the ocean belongs to us all, and damaged ecosystems do not only have local repercussions. When companies such as Vidal flout the law so openly, they indeed need to be hooked and booked, not subsidized.

Pirates Are Attacking Toothfish

Illegal Antarctic toothfish catches have risen from 3% of the total catch to 17% since 2003 according to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) and TRAFFIC. Toothfish, more euphemistically known as Chilean Sea Bass, gained popularity with diners and chefs in the 1990s because of their moist flesh. Populations of this species, which is slow to reach sexual maturity, quickly declined. Although the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) regulates toothfish catches, such regulations cannot be effective in preserving numbers if illegal fishing runs rampant.

WWF and TRAFFIC recently presented a report to CCAMLR urging member states to increase trade sanctions against countries that fail to adquately police their countries' ships when they engage in illegal fishing. Although patrolling can discourage illegal fishers, they often just move to less-monitored areas. The report also advocates greater monitoring of legal ships and catches and urges CCAMLR to incorporate additional information into its estimates of IUU fishing, which the report asserts are lower than the actual percentage. Inaccurately low estimates of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing cause a number of problems. CCAMLR catch limits, which incorporate IUU estimates, may be higher than the population can actually support. Other measures designed to prevent bycatch or incidental mortality of other species and environmental damage will be less effective because IUU fishing vessels are unlikely to use them. CCAMLR should seriously consider the report's recommendations and take action to prevent illegally obtained toothfish from reaching the market. Without more consistent enforcement, this valuable fish could be driven to the brink of extinction.

For more information, check out ASOC's paper on the need for trade measures to promote compliance in enforcing existing fishing regulations in CCAMLR.

Why is illegal fishing a big deal?

One of our organization's key issues is protecting Southern Ocean fisheries from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It can be difficult to convince people that human access to an important source of food should be limited. Nevertheless, cracking down on IUU fishing isn't about stopping people from eating fish, but about cracking down on environmentally destructive criminal behavior, as recent stories have made clear.

As this story points out, some illegal fishermen engage in environmentally unsound practices, such as bottom trawling and driftnets, that can damage ecosystems and thus the long-term health of fisheries. Skirting regulations involving the size of mesh used for nets, for example, might result in catches of younger specimens, which makes it difficult for the population to continue to reproduce its numbers. While the IUU fishermen can move on to other areas in search of the best fish stocks, small fishermen do not have the technology or the resources to do the same.

When these fishermen don't follow the rules, their actions therefore can have huge impacts on people and ecosystems. In Africa illegal fishermen may have deprived governments there of close to $1 billion in licensing fees. One BBC reporter who visited Sierra Leone heard tales from local fishermen harassed and intimidated by foreign fishing boats who entered zones reserved for local use. These extremely poor Sierra Leonean fishermen also complain that they have difficulty catching their usual amounts of fish because of the huge numbers taken by foreign ships. Eventually, fisheries could be depleted irrevocably, robbing struggling countries of important natural resources and leaving them to deal with environmental damage.

Recently, the NGO Oceana reported on another dimension of the IUU fishing problem - the connection between some IUU fishing boats and drug smuggling. Oceana notes that a man recently arrested for cocaine smuggling owned boats that it had repeatedly accused of IUU fishing. Fish poachers are much more likely to be criminals than to be poor people simply trying to earn a living. Lax enforcement of existing fishing regulations only encourages criminal behavior - of many kinds - at sea.

Unreported catches can additionally complicate the problem of setting sustainable catch limits. Responsible fisheries management requires an accurate idea of the size and age composition of fish populations, which cannot be accomplished if no one knows how many fish are taken. As the Newfoundland cod fishery collapse demonstrates, sometimes even drastic actions by policymakers may come too late to allow fish stocks to recover from unsustainable harvest levels. Good fisheries management practices ensure healthy fish stocks and healthy oceans for years to come and prevent economic and environmental problems.

So what can the average person do to avoid seafood from illegal operations? A good start is the Blue Ocean Institute's Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood, which can point you in the direction of well-managed, sustainable seafood. Oceana has great suggestions about how you can take action to change the policies that encourage or tolerate unsustainable fishing.