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Recent meetings of regional fisheries organizations IFB Report A number of annual/general meetings of regional fisheries organizations took place towards the end of the year. This report summarizes the main discussions and conclusions of five of those meetings:
Representatives of the four member countries - Canada, Japan, Russia and the United States - met in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from 28 October - 2 November for the Ninth Annual Meeting of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC). Much of the meeting focussed on research and enforcement programmes. The Committee on Enforcement reviewed enforcement efforts and activities in the Convention Area in 2001 and considered the United Nations ban on driftnet fishing. Although the cooperative enforcement efforts of the parties did not detect any illegal fishing operations within the Convention Area, progress was reported in relation to international cooperation. Of particular note was the first ever enforcement patrol of the Convention Area by a US Coast Guard patrol aircraft staged out of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia with representatives from each party. The flight did not detect any illegal activity within the Convention Area, but did detect a vessel illegally driftnet fishing about 15 nautical miles inside the Russian EEZ. Due to the continued threat of high seas fishing for salmon in the Convention Area, all parties agreed to maintain 2002 enforcement activities at high levels as a deterrent to the threat of potential unauthorized fishing activities. Canada and the United States invited all the participants to an enforcement coordination meeting in 2002 which will be held either in Vancouver/Comox, Canada or in Kodiak, Alaska. The Committee on Scientific Research and Statistics reviewed and discussed research on a broad range of issues concerning Pacific salmonid stocks. A proposal to establish a joint research effort focused on the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands to track the movement of salmon over the next five years (the Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey Plan/BASIS) was discussed and adopted. BASIS directly addresses the key elements of the 2001-2005 NPAFC Science Plan and provides the basis for international cooperative research on salmon in NPAFC. Workplans will be further refined at a Research Planning and Coordinating Meeting (RPCM) in Vancouver in March 2002. The NPAFC discussed ways to increase cooperation with NASCO, IBSFC, and other relevant international organizations to examine research and data needed to meet the common challenges facing salmon. A joint international symposium on the Causes of Marine Mortality of Salmon in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans and in the Baltic Sea will be held in Vancouver, Canada, in March 2002.
The
Tenth Annual Meeting of the NPAFC is scheduled to be held in Vladivostok, Russia
in October 2002. The 20th Annual Meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) took place in Hobart, Australia from 29 October - 2 November. As might be expected, much of the (at least media) focus was on the management of the Patagonian toothfish (or Chilean sea bass) fishery and, in particular, Japan's request for an increase in its exploratory toothfish quota in each of the six areas of the Antarctic between December 2001 and November 2002. New estimates were presented to the Commission that illegal fishing for toothfish accounted for 7,599 metric tons in 2000- 2001 (approximately 40 per cent of the total catch), up 1,000 metric tons on the previous year. Despite this, the Commission agreed to increased quotas for the toothfish. Japan was the greatest beneficiary, with its exploratory quota being increased from 60 tons to 560 tons. In addition, similar applications from other countries were also agreed, leading to an overall increase of nine percent in the toothfish quota. These increased quotas were subject to the condition that measures are taken to protect sea birds. Estimates of seabird deaths on longline hooks are now running at up to 90,000 annually, also up from last year. At the meeting, scientists informed the Commission that the estimated total seabird kill over the past five years was nearly 400,000 - levels they considered to be "entirely unsustainable." In addition, some technological improvements were discussed for the Toothfish Catch Documentation Scheme, which was initiated in May 2000, and it was decided that flag States should confirm vessels’ position via VMS, if requested by a country where toothfish are landed. This latter requirement was introduced primarily because of reports of the Scientific Committee that abnormally high catches of toothfish were being taken in FAO Area 51 (SW Indian Ocean adjacent to the Antarctic), an area little known before for its toothfish. Japan’s application to increase the southern king crab (centolla) pot fishing quota in the Antarctic to 1,300 tonnes between December 2001 and November 2002 was also approved, although quotas for Antarctic krill remained unchanged. CCAMLR was unable to agree, however, on a resolution to prohibit landings from "pirate vessels" flying flags of convenience. Canada was, however, condemned by the Commission for its role in the trade of toothfish into the US market. Canada has refused to take part in the CCAMLR catch documentation scheme. These failures were criticised by environmental groups which have been lobbying hard to reduce the incidence of IUU fishing in the CCAMLR region. The 20th Annual Meeting of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) took place in London from 5 - 9 November. All Contracting Parties were represented: Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Community, Iceland, Norway, Poland and the Russian Federation. Representatives from Canada, Japan, Estonia and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) attended as observers. Norwegian spring-spawning herring In accordance with recent practice, the management arrangement for Norwegian spring-spawning herring was agreed outside the NEAFC framework by the coastal States concerned (EC, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation): see Agreed record of conclusions of fisheries consultations on the management of the Norwegian spring-spawning (atlanto-scandian) herring stock in the North-East Atlantic for 2002. In accordance with this arrangement, the TAC for 2002 remained unchanged at 851,500 tons and this was distributed amongst the coastal States with a certain proportion (76,500 tonnes) being set aside for NEAFC to allocate for fishing in waters beyond the areas of national fisheries jurisdiction of the arrangement parties. The combined effect of these two arrangement were the following quotas for 2002:
Redfish For oceanic type redfish, a TAC of 95,000 tonnes was agreed. This was a reduction from 120,000 tonnes the previous year, based on the scientific advice that the stock situation might give rise to concern. The TAC was distributed amongst the parties as follows:
Mackerel With regard to mackerel, some improvement in the stock situation was noted and the three-year arrangement made in February 1999 was therefore adjusted upwards. The TAC for stock was increased from 574,000 tonnes to 586,500 tonnes, with an allowable catch of 66,400 tonnes established for NEAFC. The quotas were agreed as follows:
As in previous years, this recommendation was adopted by qualified majority. Rockall haddock and deep-water species NEAFC parties agreed to put management measures in place for Rockall haddock before the end of the year. The EU and the Russian Federation agreed to meet soon to examine possible conservation measures with a view to submitting a proposal to the other NEAFC Contracting Parties. ICES has warned that the Rockall haddock stock is outside safe biological limits and has recommended a TAC of less than 1,300 tons. The fishery is not regulated beyond national jurisdiction, where mainly Russia vessels are active. Concerns have also been expressed over the size of nets used by vessels in international waters. The Parties agreed to look at deep-sea species at an extraordinary meeting of NEAFC on 8 April 2002. They also agreed on the terms of reference for a Working Group on these species which will look at possible measures to be taken by NEAFC. This Group will meet no later than 13 May 2002.
Blue whiting
NEAFC was still unable to broker an agreement on blue
whiting. This latest failure follows various other attempts throughout the past
year to devise management measures for this species. Nevertheless, it was agreed to
call an extraordinary meeting of NEAFC in April 2002. Control and
inspection To increase the
efficiency of its Scheme of Control and Enforcement, NEAFC recommended a number
of amendments to the Scheme, at the same time noting the large increase in the
reporting and surveillance of fishing vessel activities in the Regulatory Area. Dispute
settlement Non-party
compliance and IUU fishing Discussions continued on means to effectively control the activity of vessels from flag states
which are not parties to the NEAFC Convention and on the question of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fisheries.
In respect of the latter, the Commission adopted
a resolution on the blacklisting of vessels fishing in contravention to NEAFC
rules. Transparency NEAFC adopted
rules for admitting non-governmental organisations to meetings of the
Commission. See
The Annual Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) took place in Murcia, Spain, from 12 - 18 November. In the same way that the main focus of the CCAMLR meeting was on Patagonian toothfish, the main focus of the ICCAT meeting was on the over-exploited bluefin tuna fishery. The Commission was unable to agree, however, on measures for this stock. The United States in particular had sought the adoption of a set of measures to assist the recovery of bluefin tuna and, when the meeting ended without agreement, it accused other ICCAT members of ignoring scientific advice to reduce catch of Atlantic bluefin tuna. During the final session, the United States, Canada and Korea blocked a European Community proposal to raise the quota for Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna fishermen. There were also strong discussions concerning swordfish. The European Community, concerned it would lose a percentage of its historically assigned catches, blocked a proposal to increase the swordfish TAC in the south by 1500 tons to enable Brazil, South Africa and Namibia to participate in the new quota scheme. Swordfish and bluefin quotas will now remain at the same level set for this year – 14,620 tonnes for southern catches of swordfish and 33,000 tonnes for bluefin. However, both quotas are likely to be exceeded because of objections under the Convention by ICCAT members seeking to participate in the fisheries. This has been occurring during the past few years resulting in the swordfish quota being exceeded, sometimes by as much as 40 per cent. Even though the meeting recessed without many final decisions being made on these issues, numerous resolutions and recommendations were approved by sub-committees. These included:
There is a provision under the ICCAT Convention that allows these measures to be approved by means of postal ballot response process. There was also
progress on the issue of allocation criteria. The fourth meeting of the ICCAT working group on allocation
criteria took place at the same time as the Annual Meeting and completed its
work with the adoption of a set of recommendations. The recommended criteria include entitlement to
allocation of fishing possibilities, the fish stocks concerned, the allocation
criteria themselves and the conditions for their application. Specific
allocation
criteria include criteria relating to: the interested parties' current and
previous fishing activities on the concerned stocks, the state of stocks where
fishing possibilities are to be allocated, the transmission of scientific data
by interested parties, and the status of those parties. The Sixth Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) took place in Victoria, Seychelles from 10-14 December 2001. The Session was attended by: representatives of 14 members of the Commission (Australia, China, Comoros, Eritrea, European Community, France, India, Japan, Korea Malaysia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Thailand, United Kingdom); three non-member States eligible to attend Sessions of the Commission (Iran, Russian Federation, Vanuatu), and observers from four intergovernmental organizations and one non-governmental organization. The request from the Republic of the Philippines to renew their status as Cooperating Non-Contracting Party was endorsed by the Commission. The Commission agreed to establish a Control and Inspection Committee and adopted seven resolutions concerning observer programmes, control of fishing activities, a scheme to promote compliance by non-contracting party vessels, limitation of fishing effort by Non-Members of IOTC, a modification of mandatory statistical requirements for IOTC and a recommendation concerning a Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document Programme. The Commission also adopted by consensus a resolution concerning support to the IPOA-IUU. The Commission decided to defer consideration of three other resolutions concerning limitation of fishing capacity of bigeye fishing vessels, an Action Plan to ensure the effectiveness of the conservation programme for bigeye tuna and the establishment of a Vessel Monitoring System. [The Resolutions are reproduced in Current Materials]. The Commission also strongly supported the conduct of a tagging programme and pledges of financial or in-kind support were given by a number of parties. Finally, the Secretariat was instructed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation (Japan) for a programme to improve statistical systems in developing Indian Ocean coastal countries. A multilateral programme of statistical support activities in Indonesia was also approved. The Seventh Session of the Commission will take place in Seychelles, from 2-6 December 2002, preceded by the Fifth Session of the Scientific Committee from the 26-29 November. The European Commission also proposed that an intersessional meeting be held in Réunion in July 2002. A decision on this will be taken by correspondence. |
