13 Nov 2007 - East Asian
countries are importing between 50% and
90% more Russian sockeye salmon than Russia
is reporting as caught, according to a new
report from WWF and TRAFFIC, the wildlife
trade monitoring network.
Analysis of data from officially published
sources reveals that from 2003 to 2005,
the estimated excess quantity of Russian
sockeye salmon entering East Asian markets
was between 8,000 and 15,000 tonnes each
year, worth US$40–76 million.
“The governments of Russia, Japan, China
and South Korea need to tighten up on the
Russian salmon trade to distinguish legal
from illegal products in the market place
and to protect salmon from overfishing,”
says Craig Kirkpatrick, TRAFFIC’s East Asia
Director.
“The Russian government’s records appear
to under-estimate the true catch substantially.”
Possible reasons for the under-estimate
include illegal catches or fishermen not
reporting fully how much salmon they catch
(two components of Illegal, Unregulated
and Unreported, or IUU, fisheries), or flaws
in the government's reporting system itself.
The report uses mathematical modelling
to estimate the discrepancies between the
reported catch and import and market data.
“The traded amounts of between 150% and
190% of reported catches compare closely
with previous estimates that IUU activities
in the Russian Far East are 40–60% above
the officially reported catch,” says Shelley
Clarke, author of the report.
Japan is the world’s largest importer of
salmon and imports around half its frozen
sockeye supplies directly from Russia.
China imports very little salmon for its
domestic markets, but acts as a major low-cost
salmon processing centre, most of it destined
for Europe and the United States.
“American salmon consumers should buy salmon
that’s traceable to avoid supporting an
illegal and harmful industry," said
Bubba Cook, senior fisheries officer for
WWF’s Bering Sea and Kamchatka programme.
“They should look for salmon products displaying
a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label,
which certifies the salmon is sustainably
caught.”
The report recommends a package of measures
to bring the Far East salmon fishery and
its market under control. They include:
• stricter government controls on ports
and other customs borders
• stopping the transfer of salmon cargoes
between vessels at sea
• better cooperation between Russia and
East Asian port state control authorities
to monitor all vessels operating in Russian
waters and to share information on counterfeiting
and other import documentation irregularities
• more transparency in the use of bonded
warehouse facilities
• stepping up of random cargo inspections
• better labelling and traceability of salmon
products
“Governments and consumers are becoming
increasingly concerned about the traceability
of fish products. East Asian suppliers should
make it clear where their stock comes from,”
says Kirkpatrick, adding that product certification
schemes, such as ones operated by the MSCl,
would give suppliers a distinct commercial
advantage.
Sarah Janicke, Species Conservation Programme
Associate
WWF-US
Richard Thomas, Global Communications Coordinator
TRAFFIC International
+ More
WWF competition nets sustainable fishing
solutions
15 Nov 2007 - Gland, Switzerland – A team
of inventors from the US state of Rhode
Island has won the fourth annual WWF International
Smart Gear Competition for an invention
that could save fish and other marine life
from dying or being discarded each year.
This year’s winning solution, the "Eliminator”,
is an innovative device that captures haddock
while reducing the accidental netting, or
bycatch, of other marine species. The invention
takes advantage of the haddock’s natural
tendency to swim upwards, not downwards,
which is the norm for other fish.
The winning team consists of New England
fishermen James O’Grady, Philip Ruhle Sr
and his son Philip Ruhle Jr, Jonathan Knight
of Superior Trawl in Wakefield, RI, and
fisheries extension specialists Laura Skrobe
and David Beutel.
“The collaborative design and development
of the Eliminator trawl is a great example
of industry and scientists working together
with managers to develop innovative solutions
to reduce or eliminate bycatch,” said David
Beutel, one of the winning inventors at
the University of Rhode Island.
“We’re excited to be receiving this award
and look forward to continuing to research
effective ways of reducing bycatch in fishing.”
The team will receive a grand prize of
US$30,000. Two other inventors won runner-up
prizes of $10,000 each for their inventions
to help reduce bycatch.
Diego Gonzalez Zevallos, a marine biologist
at the Centro Nacional Patagónico
in Argentina, studied the accidental death
of seabirds as they dive for food and are
struck by trawling cables and dragged under
the water and drown. His device, a simple
plastic cone is likely to dramatically reduce
seabird deaths, while not affecting the
profitability for fishermen.
The other runner-up prize winner, Glen
Parsons, a biology professor at the University
of Mississippi, created a cylinder device
that was widely tested on red snapper in
the Gulf of Mexico.
“Destructive fishing is devastating our
oceans, wasting a valuable natural resource
and causing dramatic declines in populations
of many marine species,” said Dr Simon Cripps,
Director of WWF’s Global Marine Programme.
“This competition is part of an unprecedented
effort to team up with fishermen, industry
insiders and scientists to find the best
real-world, cost-effective ideas to solve
the scourge of bycatch.”
A special $5,000 prize was also awarded
to UK-based Andy Smerdon of Aquatec Group
Ltd. of Hampshire, England, for a device
called the Passive Porpoise Deterrent. The
winning design, which draws on the mammal’s
echolocation system alerts porpoises to
the presence of fishing nets so they can
swim away and avoid them.
The International Smart Gear Competition
was created by WWF and a diverse range of
partners in May 2004 to bring together fishermen,
fisheries, policy and science to find solutions
to reduce the unnecessary decline of vulnerable
species due to bycatch. The first Smart
Gear Competition drew more than 50 entries
from 16 countries. This year the competition
drew 70 entries from 22 countries, including
Cameroon, Finland, Thailand, Ireland, New
Zealand, Russia, Kenya and Malaysia.
END NOTES:
• As many as 250,000 endangered loggerhead
turtles and critically endangered leatherback
turtles are caught annually on long-line
nets set for tuna, swordfish and other fish.
• There are 26 species of seabirds, including
17 albatross species, threatened with extinction
because of bycatch in long-lines, which
kills more than 300,000 seabirds each year.
• An estimated 89 per cent of hammerhead
sharks and 80 per cent of thresher and white
sharks have disappeared from the Northeast
Atlantic Ocean in the last 18 years, largely
due to bycatch.
• The 2007 International Smart Gear Competition
partners and judging panel included representatives
from: the American Fisheries Society, the
Blue Water Fishermen’s Association, The
Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Science, the Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch
Reduction, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute,
the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission,
Mustad, the National Fisheries Institute,
the New England Aquarium, NOAA Fisheries,
Ocean Watch Australia Ltd., the Sea change
Investment Fund, Sealord Group Ltd., the
Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center,
the WorldFish Center, NSW Department of
Primary Industries, Fisheries and Oceans
Canada, the Northeast Consortium, the Sea
Fish Industry Authority and WWF.
Kerry Green Zobor, WWF-US
Joanna Benn, WWF International
