CCAMLR governments are failing the toothfish and albatross

What is CCAMLR?

The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is responsible for fisheries management in the Southern Ocean. The Convention came into force in 1982. While the objectives of CCAMLR are good, it has proven incapable of enforcing conservation and management measures to protect the Southern Ocean.

Over the last few years CCAMLR and its member governments have lost control of fisheries in the Southern Ocean. Illegal and unregulated fishing is completely undermining attempts to conserve the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean.

There are 23 member nations of CCAMLR. They are:

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, European Community, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA and Uruguay.

CCAMLR meets annually in Hobart, Australia in November.

Illegal Fishing Crisis

The greatest threat to the Southern Ocean, and thus the biggest challenge facing CCAMLR, is illegal and pirate fishing. Illegal fishing is driving the Patagonian toothfish toward commercial extinction.

"If the plunder continues, the world will lose a valuable natural and economic resource as stocks in fishing ground after fishing ground crash to commercial extinction. Illegal fishers are also killing huge numbers of seabirds, including thousands of endangered albatrosses. Stocks and ecosystems are unlikely to recover for decades, if at all."
Australian Environment Minister Senator Robert Hill. CCAMLR meeting 1998.

CCAMLR failing

Despite pressure from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the USA, CCAMLR has failed to take tough action to stop illegal fishing

A major problem with CCAMLR is that it operates on a consensus basis and many of the `problem' countries - those home to the pirate companies, market countries or port countries for the landing of the catches -- are in fact CCAMLR members. This enables them to hinder CCAMLR in making any real progress to stop illegal fishing. It appears that the EU and Spain are the main protectors of illegal fishing.

Incredibly, some CCAMLR countries are home to fishing companies operating illegally in the Southern Ocean. Many of these companies register their vessels in Flag of Convenience countries to avoid domestic and international restrictions on their fishing activities. Other CCAMLR countries are simply bowing to pressure exerted by their own CCAMLR-licenced fishing companies to keep the toothfish fishery open, despite the devastating impact of illegal fishing on toothfish populations and vulnerable species of seabirds. Particularly alarming is that most pirate-caught toothfish makes its way to the markets of three CCAMLR members - Japan, USA and the European Union.

CCAMLR agreed a Catch Documentation Scheme in 1999 to try to track trade in illegally caught toothfish. Despite evidence that key market countries not members of CCAMLR are refusing to use the scheme and that pirates are still finding access to markets, CCAMLR continued to put its faith in the scheme. Read here to see why the scheme will not, on its own, stop the pirates.

Greenpeace Demands

Greenpeace calls on CCAMLR to support the following initiatives to stop illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean:

Moratorium and International Trade Ban

Greenpeace believes CCAMLR should declare and enforce a moratorium on fishing for toothfish. The moratorium should stay in place until the IUU fishery has been driven out, the remaining toothfish stocks assessed for their ecological ability to support a commercial fishery, and regulations are in place to adequately manage "resumed" fisheries. This moratorium needs to be supported by a trade ban in toothfish, that would require toothfish to be listed for protection on CITES Appendix 1, that is, no international trade.

Mandatory Vessel Monitoring Systems - to be effective immediately
Satellite-linked vessel monitoring systems allow governments to track all legal fishing vessels operating in the Southern Oceans. All fishing vessels entering the Southern Ocean must be required to install vessel monitoring systems. CCAMLR has agreed on this measure to take effect at the end of 2000.

Denial of port access to illegal fishing vessels
All countries must ban illegal fishing vessels from using their ports. Ships without vessel monitoring systems and proof that they are legally fishing must be banned from non-emergency port access.

CCAMLR contact

CCAMLR - Executive Secretary: Mr Esteban de Salas,
ph +61 (0) 3 6231 0366, fax: +61 (0) 3 6234 9965

Press Releases:

3 November 2000: Business as usual for CCAMLR as Antarctica's fish and wildlife hang in the balance.
31 October 2000: Trail of seabird corpses marks failure at CCAMLR.

More about Pirate Fishing:

Greenpeace Critique of the CCAMLR Catch Documentation Scheme [1999] as a Mechanism to Prevent Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing For Toothfish Species in the Southern Ocean. (pdf document 11K)

Introduction - Modern-day pirates plunder ocean life
Dodging the rules: flag of convenience fishing
Governments recognise the pirate fishing problem...will they act to stop it?
Trouble ahead for pirate fishing talks!

Pirate Fishing in the Southern Ocean:
Introduction
Consumers - Retailers begin to move away from toothfish and how you can help
Southern Ocean Ecosystem
Toothfish - Rapidly approaching commercial extinction
Albatross - How pirate fishing is devastating Albatross populations
Southern Ocean Expedition web site, 2000

Pirate Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean:
Atlantic - Pirate fishers plunder Atlantic tuna
Pirates Plunder the Atlantic
Eradicating Pirate Fishing: a study of the current status of tuna and tuna-like fish stocks in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean, May 2000 (pdf file, 91KB)
Atlantic Expedition web site, 2000