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Factory Fishing & Flags of ConvenienceTheir sheer size and sophisticated fishing technologies enable them to remain at sea for months, to engage in unregulated fishing on the high seas, to roam as far as the Southern Ocean to pirate fish, or to illegally poach in the waters of other countries.Behind the plague of unregulated and pirate fishing is the world’s industrialised fishing fleet with vessels that can roam the world’s oceans and deplete fish stocks at will, operating beyond nation-state regulation. Their sheer size and sophisticated fishing technologies enable them to remain at sea for months, to engage in unregulated fishing on the high seas, to roam as far as the Southern Ocean to pirate fish, or to illegally poach in the waters of other countries. These industrial fishing ships are involved in exploratory fishing in deep ocean areas, exploiting previously unfished species and ecosystems. Industrialised fleets are also involved in conflicts with small-scale fishers as they plunder the fish closer to shore, which coastal fishing communities rely on for food and livelihoods. Of the world’s fishing fleet of 3.5 million vessels, 99 per cent are small-scale and non-industrialised; many are simple canoes powered by paddles or sail. By contrast, the high-tech industrialised fishing vessels, many exceeding the length of a football field, are largely corporate-owned and dominate the world’s fish trading business. They harvest luxury commodities for wealthy markets. The large-scale fleet is made up of some 35,000 vessels - a mere one percent of the entire global fishing fleet by number - but these 35,000 vessels make up about half (50 per cent) of the world’s fishing capacity. It’s little wonder, then, that the industrialized fishing fleet is a glutton for fish, landing more than half of the world’s marine catch each year. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has established a process involving up to 100 countries to produce an international Plan of Action to combat IUU fishing. In 1995, the FAO Ministerial Conference on Fisheries adopted the Rome Consensus on World Fisheries. It described the problem of overfishing and particularly the over-capacity of industrial fishing fleets as a threat to the sustainability of the world’s fisheries resources for present and future generations. The ministers urged governments and international organisations to urgently review the capacity of fishing fleets and where necessary reduce them. This process was reinforced in April 1999 by the United Nations Convention on Sustainable Development which called on the International Maritime Organisation to develop legally binding measures to close the loophole in international law which allows vessels to fish under flags of convenience. On November 24, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 54/32 by consensus. In debating the threats to the world’s oceans, the UN Secretary General and the General Assembly placed particular emphasis on the need to eradicate illegal fishing, primarily by fishing vessels flying Flags of Convenience. The Resolution: No 6. Calls upon all States to ensure that their vessels comply with the conservation and management measures in accordance with the Agreement that have been adopted by sub-regional and regional fisheries management organisations and arrangements; No 7. Calls upon States not to permit vessels flying their flag to engage in fishing on the high seas without having effective control over their activities and to take specific measures to control fishing operations by vessels flying their flag. Unfortunately, those nations that must act urgently are not putting words into practice. According to research commissioned by Greenpeace, fishing fleets are not being downsized: fishing capacity – the ability to catch more and more fish—is in fact increasing. There has been a significant increase in the fishing power of so- called “flag of convenience” states such as Honduras, Panama, Cyprus, Liberia, Belize, and others. More countries are offering their flags than ever before. While all countries can flag ocean-going vessels, some are notorious as “flags of convenience” because their governments turn a blind eye to international rules and regulations. By flagging new vessels or reflagging older vessels to “flag of convenience” countries their owners conveniently “dodge the rules” of international law. Many of the pirate longliners that are plundering the Patagonian Toothfish and slaughtering the albatross in the Southern Ocean are known to fly flags of convenience. Greenpeace demands: Greenpeace calls on governments of fishing nations to cut the numbers and capacity of large-scale fishing fleets by at least half by 2005 by:
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International Office Address: © Greenpeace International |