BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR CCAMLR AS ANTARCTICA'S FISH AND WILDLIFE HANG IN THE BALANCE

3 November 2000

Hobart - Governments are on the brink of setting irresponsible fishing quotas for the threatened toothfish despite huge scientific uncertainty on the impact of pirate fishing in Antarctic waters.

The 23 governments of CCAMLR (the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) again failed to agree on tough action to protect toothfish and the many species of threatened seabirds killed on pirate longlines. Members of the 250 conservation groups, including Greenpeace, represented by the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) called on CCAMLR to agree to a moratorium on fishing for toothfish, as a matter of urgency.

"At this meeting, governments have again paid lip service to the environmental destruction caused by pirate fishers to Antarctica's wildlife," said Denise Boyd, Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

"These governments all but ignored scientists' warnings that the massive pirate fishing of toothfish in Antarctica's oceans has undermined their ability to set sustainable fishing quotas."

Driven by the economic interests of their own commercial fishing companies, CCAMLR governments are expected today to commit to substantial quotas. Catches last year were 14,441 tonnes. There is no new scientific information to indicate that these commercial quotas are sustainable.

"CCAMLR is simply making wild guesses when it comes to estimating how many of these fish the pirate fishers are pulling out of the Southern Ocean ecosystem," said Boyd. "The scientists admit that they are working with very little information about how many pirate vessels are out there, how many fishing trips they undertake each year or the amount of fish transferred from the pirates to cargo vessels at sea."

Pirate fishing comprises at least one third of the total catch in the CCAMLR area, but scientists admit the true figure could be much higher. A trade measure agreed by CCAMLR at last year's meeting has not slowed the trade in pirate caught toothfish. Pirate companies are still finding ports to land their catches and markets in which to sell their fish.

"It's clear that CCAMLR has put its faith in an inadequate trade documentation scheme which stopped pitifully few pirate caught toothfish landings from reaching markets this year," said Greenpeace International's Desley Mather. "Countries that are not CCAMLR members such as the emerging market of China are refusing to take part in the scheme."

CCAMLR is also increasing quotas for krill, a keystone species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, by nearly four times despite it's own admission that it lacks scientific data on the effects of krill fishing on localised predator species such as penguins and whales. The Commission doesn't expect to have a krill fishery management plan in place for 5-10 years.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Desley Mather, Greenpeace International, tel: (w) +61 413 837 135, or
Denise Boyd, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, tel: (w) +61 408 754 910