Illegal fishing – Theft and destruction

U.S. joins more than 50 nations in adopting recommendation to list vessels engaged in illegal fishing around the world

July 2011. The United States joined more than 50 countries in a recommendation to regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) to better track vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing for tunas, swordfish, sharks and other highly migratory species. Annual global economic losses due to IUU fishing are estimated to be as high as $23 billion.

This action is a first step toward procedures for sharing information about vessels engaged in IUU fishing. Global cooperation to prevent IUU fishing coupled with sound science and effective management are essential to the sustainability of these wide-ranging species that are highly valued in commercial and recreational fisheries. The recommendation means that the nations that make up the five regional fishery management organizations managing highly migratory species in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and adjacent seas will share information about IUU vessels. RFMO rules require their member nations to prevent IUU fishing in their regions. Sharing information about IUU vessels across the RFMOs means an IUU vessel previously listed in only one region would have more difficulty avoiding detection by moving to another region.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
“Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing undermines the sustainability of fisheries and the ability of fishermen who abide by the rules to make a decent living,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Sharing information on IUU vessels across oceans will strengthen enforcement and prevent legal and sustainable fishing operations from being disadvantaged in the global marketplace.”

This outcome was a key goal for the NOAA-led U.S. delegation to the third joint meeting of the world’s regional fisheries management organizations that manage tunas and other highly migratory species. This week’s meeting, known as Kobe III because it is the third in a series that began in Kobe, Japan in 2007, was hosted by NOAA in La Jolla, Calif.

“I am pleased with the overall level of cooperation among participants. It has helped us make strides to coordinate measures that improve compliance with international fisheries management,” said Russell F. Smith, NOAA’s deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries, who chaired the meeting. “Now we must focus our efforts on meaningful, binding implementation of these measures within the five tuna regional fisheries management organizations.”

Pirate fishing in Sierra Leone

80% of the animal protein we eat in Sierra Leone comes from the sea. Illegal trawlers steal tens of thousands of US$ from the country most weeks. The Sierra Leone navy has the power to seize these vessels and keep them docked until they pay a hefty fine. In October 2008, the Sierra Leone navy, working together with a UK NGO, the Environmental Justice Foundation, arrested an illegal trawler off Sherbro Island and brought it back to Freetown. The trawler was fined and had to pay the Sierra Leonean government a $30,000 fine.

Just imagine what revenue could be brought to government coffers if the navy was enforcing the international laws of the seas and this at the same time as allowing the local fishermen to fish and feed and support their families.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/illegal-fishing011.html