By Dr Claude Martin, WWF
International
01/08/2005 - The skull-and-cross-bone flags
may be gone, but pirates are still sailing
the oceans — and still plundering as they
go. The loot these days is not gold and jewels,
but fish. And by unwittingly buying these
illegally obtained spoils, you and I are helping
drive fish populations to extinction.
Fish and seafood products are among the most
widely traded commodities worldwide, worth
billions of dollars annually. Some species
attract extremely high prices. Patagonian
toothfish — often marketed as Chilean sea
bass — fetches up to US$35 per kilogram, for
example, while top sashimi-quality tuna has
reached over US$200 per kilogram.
With this much money to be made, it’s perhaps
not surprising that pirate fishing — otherwise
known as illegal, unreported, and unregulated
(IUU) fishing — takes place.
Investigations over the last couple of years
have revealed complicated webs of professionally
coordinated IUU fishing activities spread
across many countries. These ventures use
various strategies to evade apprehension and
avoid national and international laws and
agreements to protect fish stocks and other
marine resources. The origin of their illegal
catch is so well disguised that it can be
sold legitimately and enter consumer markets
— mainly those in Japan, the EU, the US, and
other developed countries.
The evasive nature of IUU fishing makes it
hard to assess its scale. However, in some
important fisheries, IUU fishing is thought
to account for up to 30 per cent of total
catches. For specific species the situation
is even worse where IUU fishing may account
for at least half the Patagonian toothfish
in the market place.
The damage is enormous. According to the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
76 per cent of the world's fisheries are classified
as “fully exploited”, or “over-exploited”.
The FAO also reports that catches of some
species may be 300 per cent more than the
permitted level due to IUU fishing.
This has enormous consequences. South Africa,
for example, has reportedly lost US$290 million
since the mid-11000s to toothfish poachers
alone, and legitimate toothfish fishing has
been virtually wiped out. One of the country’s
toothfish stocks collapsed after just three
years of pirate fishing.
This pattern is repeated throughout the world,
with pirates vacuuming up fish and other seafood
to commercial extinction in one place, then
moving on to the next. IUU fishing also affects
employment and food security in developing
coastal countries that lack the means to patrol
their waters.
Poachers are not just decimating valuable
fish stocks. Their unregulated use of damaging,
and sometimes illegal, fishing practices is
killing tens of thousands of seabirds, dolphins,
sharks, and turtles each year, and wiping
out delicate deep-sea corals and other habitats
that are vital fish breeding grounds.
The good news is that some countries have
already started to fight IUU fishing. Australia,
South Africa, and France are increasing the
surveillance of their southern waters, and
chasing and apprehending poachers. The US,
where it’s a federal offence to import or
transport fish caught in violation of state
and foreign law, also goes after poachers.
Last year two men were jailed and fined US$5.9
million for smuggling lobster caught illegally
in South Africa.
However, these efforts are being undermined
by the current complicated jungle of multilateral
treaties and agreements governing the High
Seas — the 64 per cent of the ocean that lies
outside of any nation’s jurisdiction — and
the failure of many countries to enforce,
or even ratify, regional and international
laws regarding fish stocks.
One of the biggest problems is so-called
flags of convenience (FoC). Under existing
laws governing the High Seas, the law of the
flag state — the country in which a vessel
is registered — applies. So if a country either
hasn’t signed up to fishing agreements or
doesn’t enforce them, then vessels flagged
to that country are able to plunder the High
Seas at will.
The problem doesn’t end with FoC countries.
Many more countries either fail to restrict
fishing companies from owning and operating
FoC vessels or do not rigorously inspect FoC
vessels landing at their ports — including
countries with some of the biggest fishing
fleets such as the EU, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
Governments are also currently not making
citizens working on FoC vessels liable to
national laws, which effectively allows pirates
to break the laws of their country with impunity.
Markets could also be more responsible in
demanding legally caught fish. For example,
as part of its efforts to manage toothfish
fisheries, CCAMLR, the body responsible for
fisheries in the Southern Ocean, has a catch
documentation scheme to monitor toothfish
trade. However, one of the largest importers
of Patagonian toothfish, Canada, has not implemented
this system.
Clearly, more needs to be done than simply
chasing boats and prosecuting the few smugglers
who are successfully tracked and caught. IUU
fishing is so pervasive that a systematic,
international approach is needed to prevent
illegal activities at every point along the
chain, from fishing to the market.
It’s time for countries to crack down on
FoC vessels and to ratify and enforce international
regulations such as the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea. Countries should also follow
the lead of the US and make it a crime to
break the fisheries laws of other nations.
And customs agencies and retailers must vigorously
ensure that the fish entering their country
and markets is demonstrably legally caught.
If the world as a whole doesn’t act together
to fight illegal fishing, we are set to lose
a valuable natural resource that contributes
to our food supply, economy, and health.
* Dr Claude Martin is the Director-General
of WWF International, based in Gland, Switzerland.