Posted on
05 March 2010
Busan, Korea: Closing to fishing an area
already largely closed by pirates is a long
way short of being meaningful fisheries
management, WWF said at the conclusion of
the annual meeting of the Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission (IOTC) in Busan, Korea today.
“The Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission continues to lag well behind
nearly every other comparable fisheries
regulator in its failure to introduce catch
limits for the commercial fish species under
its control,” said Dr Amani Ngusaru, head
of WWF’s Coastal East Africa Marine Programme.
“We have agreement on
a catch limit for bigeye and yellowfin tuna,
as recommended by the scientists and this
is a big step forward for the IOTC. And
we have a non-binding commitment that catch
limits for the tuna resources of the Indian
Ocean will be considered at the 2012 meeting,
which could be a big step nowhere.”
“In the meantime, we
have this laughable measure that an area
off Somalia which is already largely off
limits due to piracy will be closed to long-liners
for a month and purse seiners for a month.
Are we really serious about limiting fishing
pressure on our already overfished stocks?”
But the IOTC did rather
better on protecting sharks and seabirds.
“The vote to adopt a
ban on commercial landing of endangered
thresher sharks is not all we wanted in
relation to sharks and to the trade in shark
fins but it is a major advance for the commission,”
Dr Ngusaru said.
“It also illustrates
the truth of our assertion for all the world’s
Regional Fisheries Management Organisations
that they make better decisions when they
vote on recommended fisheries management
measures than when they race to the bottom
trying to achieve a consensus.”
With studies showing
that several endangered albatross and petrels
were highly vulnerable to longline fishing
in the Indian Ocean during their critical
juvenile phase, the commission hardened
seabird catch mitigation requirements for
longline boats operating south of 25 degrees
south.
Boats will now need
to use two out of five recognised mitigation
measures which include minimum light night
operation, bird scaring lines, weighted
branch lines and blue-dyed bait.
IOTC’s scientific community
had warned contracting country parties that
bigeye tuna catches should be limited to
110,000 tonnes and yellowfin tuna should
be limited to 300,000 tonnes. But although
the meeting accepted these recommendations,
action to institute catch restrictions is
to wait on a process of setting country
allocations.
Another key measure
not adopted was a Seychelles proposal for
a ban on discards of Skipjack, Yellowfin
and Big eye tuna from purse seine vessels.
This would have reduced the carnage from
the practice of trawlers “trading up” or
discarding previous catches if better catches
of higher value fish are found.
“Developing Indian ocean
states were rightly upset about the failure
to pass this significant bycatch measure
as it is a food security issue for them,”
said Dr Ngusaru. “If it is good enough for
fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean, why isn’t
it good enough for fisheries in the Indian
Ocean.”
A key development of
the meeting was the growing assertiveness
of Indian Ocean developing states in taking
responsibility for their fish stocks, both
in improving management of their own fishing
industries and in seeking better practice
from foreign industrial fleets in their
waters.
“This was illustrated
in the Maldives signing up to the IOTC,”
said Dr Ngusaru. “WWF is totally behind
this new push for sustainable fishing in
the Indian Ocean and will do all we can
to support it as it benefits both the fisheries
and coastal populations depending on them.”
Dr Amani Ngusaru,
Head of Marine Programme, WWF Coastal East
Africa Network Initiative
About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most
respected independent conservation organizations,
with almost 5 million supporters and a global
network active in over 100 countries. WWF's
mission is to stop the degradation of the
earth's natural environment and to build
a future in which humans live in harmony
with nature, by conserving the world's biological
diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable
natural resources is sustainable, and promoting
the reduction of pollution and wasteful
consumption.
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WWF hails Interpol efforts
to curb illegal wildlife trade
Posted on 05 March 2010
WWF hails the efforts of a recent worldwide
Interpol operation to curb the illegal trade
in traditional medicines containing endangered
animal and plant species.
'Given that this crosses
many borders, co-ordinating effective efforts
to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife
is not easy,' said WWF-UK's wildilfe trade
advisor, Heather Sohl. "It's great
to see 18 countries all working simultaneously
to investigate and curtail the trade in
traditional medicines containing threatened
species. This can be a blueprint for future
action on other areas of illicit wildlife
trade too.'
The bust comes as WWF
is preparing to call on countries which
are members of the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES) to improve law enforcement,
using intelligence-led, coordinated and
cross-border approaches, to stop the illegal
wildlife trade, when they meet in Doha,
Qatar from 13 to 25 March.
'Such measures will
help protect some of our most valued and
yet threatened species such as tigers, rhino
and elephants,' Sohl said.
Interpol conducted a
month-long investigation into the illegal
trade in traditional medicines containing
protected wildlife products across 18 countries,
according to its website. The investigationresulted
in a series of arrests worldwide and the
seizure of thousands of illegal medicines
worth more than EUR 10 million.
For more details about
the operation, which were released today,
see http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/PressReleases/PR2010/PR014.asp
