Antartica Project: U.S. Seizes Poached Toothfish But Must Do More 6/26/2002
From: Mark Stevens of The Antarctica Project, 202-238-0524 e-mail: mark.antarctica@igc.org, Web site: http://www.asoc.org WASHINGTON, June 26 -- The Antarctica Project congratulates the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on its recent seizure of 33 tons of illegally caught Patagonian toothfish, sold in the US as Chilean Sea Bass. The toothfish was caught by the Uruguayan-flagged Arvisa 1 in January of this year. The Arvisa 1 and its sister ship Dorita were sighted off the coast of Antarctica by an Australian research vessel in January of this year. The two vessels identified themselves as the Kambott and Nova Tuna 1 respectively and claimed no knowledge of nearby fishing gear. The Australian government later confirmed that the two vessels were the Arvisa 1and the Dorita. The conservation community had been tracking both vessels and had notified governments of suspicious activities. Both vessels have a history of questionable fishing practices. Most recently, they reported catching hundreds of tonnes of toothfish from an area of the Indian Ocean outside the jurisdiction of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). CCAMLR is the international organization responsible for managing toothfish fisheries and protecting toothfish populations from illegal fishing. There are two serious problems with toothfish from this area: 1) Biologically, it is highly unlikely that toothfish are able to survive that far north in the Indian Ocean, and 2) even if there are toothfish in that area, the fishery is unregulated, which means that there is no catch limit, no assessment of the population, and consequently no information on how much toothfish can be taken without decimating the population. "We are pleased that the United States and Australia have cooperated to seize this small shipment," said Beth Clark, director of The Antarctica Project, "but 33 tons is tiny compared to the thousands of tons of toothfish killed illegally each year." If the United States is serious about closing the loophole that allows the Arvisa 1 and the Dorita to bring its illegally caught fish to market, it will refuse to accept all toothfish from unregulated waters and from states that don't regulate their fishing vessels. Additionally, at the annual meeting of CCAMLR in October, the US should do the following: 1. Adopt a centralized Vessel Monitoring System to independently verify where toothfish is caught. 2. Ban the trade in toothfish caught in unregulated waters. 3. Adopt an enforcement regime that permits CCAMLR to impose sanctions against member nations that don't follow the rules. Following the CCAMLR meeting, the United States has another opportunity to make it more difficult for illegally caught toothfish to make it to market. The United States must support listing toothfish on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). This would require all 158 CITES members -- including all states trading in toothfish -- to accept only legally caught toothfish and help CCAMLR close some of the loopholes in its current tracking system. ------ Notes: The Antarctica Project is the only nongovernmental organization in the world working exclusively for the protection of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The Antarctica Project is the Northern Hemisphere Secretariat of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, with over 200 member organizations in 40 countries. CCAMLR Members: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, European Community, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, UK, USA, Uruguay. |