NOAA Fisheries

Pirate Fishing and Seabird Mortality from Longlining in the Southern Ocean and Adjacent Waters

(CGR2.PRG049 resolution on pirate fishing and seabird mortality from longlining in the Southern Ocean was adopted by consensus at the 2nd World Conservation Congress of IUCN, held in Amman, Jordan, October 2000.)

RECALLING Resolutions 1.15 (Incidental mortality of seabirds in longline fisheries) and 1.16 (Fisheries by-catch) adopted by the 1st World Conservation Congress and Recommendation 19.61 (By-catch of non-target species) adopted by the 19th Session of the General Assembly;

NOTING that the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has responsibility for managing the living resources, including fish and seabirds, of the Southern Ocean, and that in recent years it has continued to express serious concern about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU or "pirate") fishing for toothfish Dissostichus spp. and its attendant high levels of seabird mortality caused by the lack of adoption of mitigation measures, considering that the current levels of exploitation of both fish and birds by pirate fishers are in many cases unsustainable;

NOTING FURTHER that CCAMLR at its 18th Meeting in November 1999 adopted a Catch Documentation Scheme (Conservation Measure 170/XVIII) that requires CCAMLR members to document international trade in Toothfish and to certify that it has been caught in a manner consistent with CCAMLR conservation measures;

NOTING HOWEVER, that the Catch Documentation Scheme is only binding on CCAMLR Members, and that the majority of pirate fishing for Toothfish is carried out by vessels licensed by non-CCAMLR nations, including by "flag-of-convenience" countries;

GREATLY CONCERNED about the harmful levels of over-fishing particularly of Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) in the Southern Ocean and the inability of CCAMLR to ensure adequate compliance with its regulations;

COMMENDING the activities of several CCAMLR members in patrolling the waters of the Southern Ocean and arresting unlicensed longline fishing vessels within territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones surrounding sub-Antarctic islands under their jurisdiction, but also noting that these activities have not halted pirate fishing, given the difficulties of effectively patrolling such a vast area;

NOTING WITH APPROVAL that CCAMLR continues to address seabird mortality by longline fisheries in the Southern Ocean by the adoption and annual renewal of conservation measures designed to minimize interactions with seabirds such as closed seasons, night-setting, dumping of offal and use of bird-scaring streamer lines, and that it annually through its ad hoc Working Group on Incidental Mortality Arising from Longline Fishing (CCAMLR WG-IMALF) collates and analyses data collected by observers aboard longliners, both on levels of seabird mortality and compliance with conservation measures;

NOTING ALSO WITH APPROVAL that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at its 1999 Ministerial Meeting on the Implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries decided to develop an International Plan of Action (IPOA) to deal effectively with all types of IUU fishing, and that an Expert Consultation took place in Australia in May 2000, to be followed by a Technical Consultation in Rome, Italy in October 2000 to effect an IPOA, planned to be adopted at the 24th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in early 2001;

NOTING that many Southern Ocean seabirds at risk from longlining migrate to adjacent waters at lower latitudes, north of the area of competence of CCAMLR, where they are caught by pelagic longliners fishing for tuna and other fish species on the high seas and in domestic waters, and by demersal longliners fishing within domestic waters surrounding the large Southern Hemisphere land masses of Africa, Australasia and South America;

NOTING ALSO that the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) has considered the problem of seabird mortality, including of Southern Ocean species, through its Working Group on Ecologically Related Species by introducing some mitigation measures, but noting that other regional fishery bodies with areas of competence visited by Southern Ocean seabirds have yet to address adequately, or at all, the problem of seabird mortality;

NOTING FURTHER that a world-wide review of the incidental catch of seabirds by longline fisheries published by the FAO in 1999 (FAO Fisheries Circular No. 937) showed that albatrosses (family Diomedeidae), giant petrels (Macronectes spp.) and petrels (Procellaria spp.) occurring in the Southern Ocean were severely affected by mortality caused by longline fishing, including that for Toothfish;

NOTING that mainly as a consequence of this mortality all species belonging to these seabird taxa have now been listed in the Appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn Convention or CMS), and that at its 6th Conference of Parties, held in 1999 in South Africa, following concern expressed in an adopted resolution on fisheries by-catch, including seabirds, it was resolved that an Agreement for Southern Hemisphere Albatrosses should be adopted by range States, and that an inter-governmental meeting was held in July 2000 in Australia to develop such an Agreement;

NOTING ALSO that at its 23rd Session in March 1999 the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the FAO unanimously adopted an International Plan of Action for Reducing Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries (IPOA-Seabirds) and that the IPOA-Seabirds requests FAO member States to undertake an assessment of the levels of seabird mortality in their longline fisheries and to adopt National Plans of Action (NPOA-Seabirds) if found warranted by the levels of mortality occurring, describing progress at the 24th Session of COFI to be held in early 2001 as part of their reporting in terms of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries which, inter alia, states that by-catch of non-target species should be reduced to a minimum;

COMMENDING those nations whose licensed vessels fish for Toothfish in the Southern Ocean that have completed or commenced the process of producing and adopting their NPOA-Seabirds, but further noting that for many other such countries, no progress has apparently yet been achieved;

NOTING that researchers in a numbers of countries are continuing to develop and test new mitigation measures to reduce seabird mortality from longline fishing, such as underwater setting devices and line-weighting regimes, and that a number of workshops, conferences and other meetings held in several countries in the last two years continue to review and publicize such methods , and that FAO Fisheries Circular No. 937 exhaustively reviews mitigation measures;

The IUCN World Conservation Congress at its 2nd Session in Amman, Jordan, 4-11 October 2000:

• 1. CALLS ON States and regional fishery bodies to combat pirate fishing for Toothfish in the Southern Ocean by all practical means, including by undertaking at-sea patrols, by removal of economic incentives that lead to the re-flagging of vessels to non-CCAMLR nations, by adoption of strict port and trade controls, by passage of domestic regulations, by the documentation and certification of international trade in Toothfish, including the implementation of the CCAMLR Catch Documentation Scheme, and by the adoption of the FAO International Plan of Action to combat pirate fishing (currently under development);
• 2. CALLS ON all States, including flag of convenience nations, whose flagged vessels fish for Toothfish in the Southern Ocean, to accede to CCAMLR and urges those States who have not yet acceded to CCAMLR or whose vessels fish in waters adjacent to CCAMLR and in the CCSBT Convention areas to adopt voluntarily the conservation measures adopted under these treaties;
• 3. CALLS ON States and regional fishery bodies to reduce the mortality of seabirds consequent on longline fishing in the Southern Ocean to levels which do not significantly affect the population status of the affected species;
• 4. RECOMMENDS that regional fishery bodies which manage geographical regions visited by Southern Ocean seabirds adopt an ecosystem approach that takes full account of the mortality of seabirds by longlining, and adopt regulations and conservation measures that lead to a significant and rapid reduction in such mortality;
• 5. URGES every State whose licensed vessels undertake longlining in seas visited by Southern Ocean seabirds to undertake assessments and if appropriate produce, adopt and implement by regulation and test for compliance by way of independent observer programmes in its fisheries an NPOA-Seabirds that will lead to significant and rapid reductions in seabird mortality, reporting to the FAO Committee of Fisheries biennially on its achievements from 2001 onwards;
• 6. CALLS ON all range States for Southern Ocean albatrosses and petrels, including those States fishing on the high seas within their migratory ranges, to support the speedy development of an Agreement for Southern Hemisphere Albatrosses and Petrels under the terms of the Bonn Convention, and to become a party to such an Agreement as soon as it is opened for signature and ratification;
• 7. CALLS ON States to consider other national and international measures to address the problem of IUU-caught Patagonian toothfish;
• 8. CALLS ON all importers, wholesalers and retailers of Toothfish and its products to purchase and trade only in Toothfish caught in compliance with all appropriate CCAMLR conservation measures, as evidenced by an accompanying verifiable Catch Documentation Certificate;
• 9. REQUESTS BirdLife International, through its global partnership of national members and its Seabird Conservation Programme and "Save the Albatross Campaign", to work collaboratively and constructively with IUCN's Species Survival Commission and Antarctic Advisory Committee, IUCN members, States, regional fishery bodies especially CCAMLR and CCSBT, the Bonn Convention, FAO, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, non-governmental organizations, fishers, fishing and fishing gear industries, researchers and conservationists to study further the problem of seabird mortality from longline fishing in the Southern Ocean and to advocate its reduction to insignificant levels by the testing and adoption of mitigation methods;
• 10. REQUESTS IUCN members to report to the Director General prior to or at the next meeting of the World Conservation Congress on progress made in reducing pirate fishing for Toothfish in the Southern Ocean and in the adoption of mitigation measures aiming at a reduction in bird mortality from longlining in the Southern Ocean and adjacent waters;
• 11. CALLS ON the Director General to direct IUCN activities appropriately and to report on progress made in implementing this Recommendation at the next World Conservation Congress and if necessary to make further recommendations.

African Seabird Group
Tel +27-21-685-1357
Fax +27-21-650-3434
jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za

BirdLife International
Tel +44-1223-277-318
Fax +44-1223-277-200
birdlife@birdlife.org.uk

Falklands Conservation
Tel +500-22247
Fax +500-22288
conservation@horizon.co.fk

Friends of the Earth International
Tel +31-20-622-1369
Fax +31-20-639-2181
james.barnes@wanadoo.fr

Mediterranean Marine Bird Association
Tel +33-494-594-738
Fax +33-494-594-069
medmaraxm@aix.pacwan.net

National Audubon Society
Tel +1-516-277-4289
Fax +1-5-16-581-5268
csafina@audubon.org

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Tel +44-1767-880-551
Fax +44-1767-683-211
john.osullivan@rspb.org.uk

Pacific Seabird Group
Tel +1-202-778-2240
Fax +1-202-778-2201
charrison@hunton.com

Wild Bird Society of Japan
Tel +81-42-593-6871
Fax +81-42-593-6873
ichida@wing-wbsj.or.jp

WWF-Australia
Tel +61-3-9853-7244
Fax +61-3-9853-4156
mmoore@wwf.org.uk

WWF-UK
Tel +44-1483-426-444
Fax +44-1483-426-409
snicholson@wwfnet.org

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

The following information serves to support the motion.

The provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in Article 61, paragraph 4, relating to the obligations of States to consider the effects of fishing operations on "species associated with or dependent upon harvested species with a view to maintaining or restoring populations of such associated or dependent species above levels at which their reproduction may become seriously threatened";

The UN Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 Relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and highly Migratory Fish Stocks requires (Article 5) that coastal States and States fishing on the high seas "minimize pollution, waste, discards, catch of non-target species, both fish and non-fish species, and impacts on associated or dependent species, in particular endangered species, through measures including, to the extent practicable, the development and use of selective, environmentally safe and cost-effective fishing gear and techniques";

Article 8c of the Convention on Biological Diversity which urges parties to "regulate or manage biological resources important for the conservation of biological diversity whether within or outside protected areas with a view to ensuring their conservation and sustainable use", and Article 8f which urges parties to "promote the recovery of threatened species, inter alia, through the development of and implementation of plans or other management strategies";

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals which states in Article II 1 that "The Parties acknowledge the importance of migratory species being conserved and of Range States agreeing to take action to this end whenever possible and appropriate, paying special attention to migratory species the conservation status of which is unfavourable, and taking individually or in co-operation appropriate and necessary steps to conserve such species and their habitat";

The serious concern expressed in the form of resolutions by the world's marine ornithologists and conservationists for the continued survival of Southern Hemisphere albatrosses and petrels at risk from longlining at a number of fora in the last half a decade, notably the First International Conference and Workshop on the Biology and Conservation of Albatrosses held in Australia in 1995, the 22nd International Ornithological Congress held in South Africa in 1998, and the Second International Conference and Workshops on the Biology and Conservation of Albatrosses and other Petrels held in Hawaii, USA in 2000;

Nearly all the albatross and petrel species affected by longline fisheries in the Southern Ocean and adjacent waters have been assigned a World Conservation Union (IUCN) Category of Threat in a global revision of threatened species being undertaken by BirdLife International on behalf of IUCN, and to be published at the time of this Congress;

BirdLife International established a global Seabird Conservation Programme in 1997, with addressing the problem of seabird mortality from longline fishing as its first major project, and that in 2000 the Programme has commenced an international campaign entitled "The Save the Albatross Campaign: Keeping the World's Seabirds off the Hook", which will work through the BirdLife Partnership in longlining nations to reduce seabird mortality, including in the Southern Ocean and adjacent waters;

28 June 2000

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