11 May 2007 - Cali, Colombia
– WWF-Colombia is very proud to celebrate
Dr Fernando Trujillo’s announcement as the
Overall Winner of the Whitley Award nature
conservation prize for his work to conserve
South America’s pink river dolphins.
Dr Fernando Trujillo, a Colombian scientist,
founder and Scientific Director of the Fundación
Omacha, WWF-Colombia’s associate in the
Amazon and Orinoco Basins, won both the
Whitley Award sponsored by HSBC Holdings,
and the Whitley Gold Award for his ambitious
conservation programme. He received both
awards from HRH The Princess Royal and Sir
David Attenborough at London’s Royal Geographical
Society.
“Dr Trujillo’s work in Colombia is ambitious
and he has overcome many barriers,"
said Edward Whitley, Founder and Chairman
of the Whitley Fund for Nature. "He
is combining a truly holistic approach.
As well as researching threatened species
such as the pink river dolphin, Dr Trujillo
is engaging with people in the Amazon basin,
working closely with fishermen, and is even
working with supermarkets."
"Without his work, we would not even
be aware of the threat the Colombian catfish
industry poses river dolphins. We are delighted
to announce him the overall Whitley Gold
Award Winner“.
Working with a team of young South American
scientists and with the support of WWF,
WCS, WDCS, Dr Trujillo leads an ambitious
programme of conservation in the Amazon
and Orinoco basins, conducting systematic
research along the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers
and their tributaries in Venezuela, Colombia,
Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador to estimate river
dolphin numbers. Central to their work is
a strong campaign to stop the killing of
the dolphins and other endangered species
for use in the catfish industry.
“Fernando and his work deserved such recognition;
his discipline and commitment have led his
cause to different places and now it has
been acknowledged. Though this important
global award will benefit his work with
dolphins and other freshwater species, it
constitutes a real inspiring and motivating
example for other individuals and organizations
working in favor of nature”, said Mary Louise
Higgins, WWF-Colombia Country Representative.
“We are just waiting him to come back and
continue to Bolivia, where the First South
American River Dolphin Census will conclude
next June”.
+ More
Bottom trawling at the end of the line?
07 May 2007 - Renaca, Chile – A landmark
agreement has been reached to end high seas
bottom trawling, one of the world’s most
destructive fishing practices, in nearly
a quarter of the world’s oceans.
The deal, made at an international fisheries
meeting in Chile by some 20 countries, including
the majority of the world’s high seas fishing
nations, seeks to protect marine life and
vulnerable ecosystems in a huge area of
the oceans — from Australia to South America
and from the Equator to the Antarctic.
“The agreement is a great leap forward
for halting the decline in ocean biodiversity
and establishing good fisheries management
on the high seas,” said Alistair Graham,
High Seas Policy Advisor at WWF International.
The agreement will exclude bottom trawling
from high seas areas where vulnerable ecosystems
are likely or known to occur, until an impact
assessment is undertaken and until precautionary
measures to prevent destruction of marine
life, such as vulnerable fish stocks, cold
water corals and sponges, are implemented.
Observers will also be required on all
high seas bottom trawlers to ensure that
regulations are followed. The cost of these
observers is to be borne by the fishing
vessel. This, together with rising fuel
prices, and the requirement to conduct research
and assessments of the fisheries, will increase
the cost of fishing and may well render
high seas bottom trawling uneconomic and
effectively lead to its end.
The deal goes into force on 30 September,
well ahead of a deadline set by the UN General
Assembly to halt bottom trawling in areas
not covered by competent fisheries management
organizations by the end of 2007.
The meeting was less successful with regards
to open water fisheries. Important stocks
of squid and mackerel are fished in the
area. Some of these stocks are feeling the
brunt of high fishing levels. Chilean jack
mackerel, one of the economically most important
fisheries in the South Pacific, has been
reported as fully exploited. WWF is very
concerned that the agreed interim measures
to protect the pelagic mackerel stock while
an agreement is being finalized are inadequate.
“If mackerel stocks are allowed to be overfished,
the ecological, social and economic impacts
would be serious, especially for dependent
local communities and for species such as
tuna and swordfish that feed upon mackerel,”
Alistair Graham said.
END NOTES:
• Bottom trawling uses weighted nets and
huge steel rollers that are dragged across
the seafloor, crushing everything in its
way, leaving only rubble behind. As coral
reefs and sponge areas are damaged, the
nursing and feeding grounds for many fish
species are being lost, adversely affecting
re-growth of fish stocks.
• Bottom trawlers target slow growing species,
such as orange roughy and redfish, that
are vulnerable to high fishing pressure
as they take decades to reach breeding age.
• Only a few countries are engaged in high
seas bottom trawling, with New Zeeland having
by far the largest bottom trawling fleet
in the South Pacific.
• The meeting last week in Reñaca,
Chile, of representatives from 20 nations
and the European Union was the third to
negotiate a South Pacific Regional Fisheries
Management Organisation (SPRFMO) for this
huge ocean area.
• The area to be managed by the SPRFMO
stretches from the most eastern part of
the South Indian Ocean through the Pacific
to the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of
South America, and north to the Equator
and south to the border of the Antarctic
RFMO (CCAMLR).
• WWF wants to see the SPRFMO as a model
for how all RFMOs should be equipped and
mandated. It should be based upon the ecosystem-based
management principles and set quota according
to scientific advice.
Jessica Battle
WWF Global Marine Programme
