International & Trade

PARIS – Four major non-governmental organisations called on Tuesday for an outright ban on industrial fishing of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and 'ranching' of this fast-dwindling species in the Mediterranean.

The joint appeal came on the eve of a meeting in Paris of the 48-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), which sets the rules and quotas for tuna fishing in both seas. 'Bluefin tuna fishing does not have a future unless ICCAT shuts down purse-seine fishing and farming,' Maria-Jose Cornax, an expert with advocacy group Oceana, told journalists.

In the Mediterranean, the vast majority of captured bluefin are trapped during spawning season by 30-to-40 metre ships, using floating drawstring nets that can enclose more than 2,000 fish at once. The tuna, still in the water, are then hauled to coastal 'farms' where they are fattened before being shipped mainly to Japan, which consumes 80 per cent of the annual catch.

Eastern Atlantic bluefin stocks have dropped by 85 percent in 30 years, which 'should be a warning sign to governments,' said Remi Parmentier, a consultant for the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.

Read the complete story from The Straits Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oceana, the world’s largest international ocean conservation organization, is calling for the protection of the ocean’s top predators at the 17th Special Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in Paris, France, November 17 to 27. Specifically, Oceana is seeking protections for several vulnerable and overexploited species vital to maintaining healthy oceans, including sharks, bluefin tuna, swordfish and sea turtles.

“The demand for sharks and bluefin tuna is driving populations towards extinction,” said Dr. Michael Hirshfield, senior vice president for North America and chief scientist at Oceana. “The depletion of sharks and bluefin tuna is the result of decades of neglect by fisheries managers. Without immediate and proper international management, we will empty the oceans of these top predators and vastly change the oceans as we know them today.”

Each year, tens of millions of sharks are killed to satisfy the demand for shark fin soup throughout Asia, where a single fin can be sold for more than $1,300. Today, more than half of the highly migratory oceanic sharks are considered overexploited or depleted, and some shark populations have declined by as much as 99 percent. Despite this unacceptable situation, managers have all but ignored their responsibilities for these top predators in our oceans.

Read the complete story from Business Wire.

 

 

 

 

 

Government ministers were encouraged to adopt legislation to outlaw shark fishing at a breakfast briefing on shark conservation hosted by the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) yesterday morning.

Experts from the international non-profit organisation the Pew Environmental Group told Cabinet ministers how such legislation would not only ensure the health of the coral reefs and sustain vital fisheries, it would also continue to support the lucrative shark tourism industry as local populations are unmatched elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Director of global shark conservation for the Pew Environmental Group Matt Rand explained how shark populations are declining worldwide as 73 million a year are fished for their fins to be used in the Chinese delicacy shark fin soup.

“Because of this luxury item these creatures are being wiped off the planet,” Mr Rand said.

“The oceans have evolved for more than 400 million years with sharks and they never had predators.

Read the complete story from The Tribune.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NAGOYA, Aichi, Japan, October 25, 2010 (ENS) – The South Pacific island nation of Palau has declared all the waters within its Exclusive Economic Zone to be a marine mammal sanctuary for the protection of whales, dolphins, and dugongs.

Harry Fritz, Palau's minister of the environment, natural resources and tourism, announced the new 600,000 square kilometer (231,660 square mile) sanctuary on behalf of President Johnson Toribiong at a news conference Saturday during Oceans Day at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Nagoya.

"From ancient times to today we have conserved our biodiversity through the tools of "bul" or moratoria, and protection of critical areas," said Fritz.

"Biodiversity has always been integral to the Palauan culture," he said. "Our traditional identity, values, legends, and practices are intimately linked to our surroundings and to our relationships with living creatures. Conservation of biodiversity is ingrained in our daily approach to life and inherent in the meaning of our words."

Read the complete story from Environmental News Service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wellington hi-tech chainmail developer Kaynemaile is eyeing up the burgeoning aquaculture market after scoring venture investment from Trade Me-backer Movac and the Government.

The firm's seamless polycarbonate mesh, created through an injection moulding process, is strong, flexible, easy to clean and can be lit up to create visual effects.

It is already a hit among architects, and adorns Trump Towers in New York, Christchurch International Airport, and bars and restaurants in Germany, New Zealand and the United States.

Venture capital firm Movac has been an investor since 2006 and last month announced the Government's New Zealand Venture Investment Fund would join in Kaynemaile's next capital-raising round via its seed co-investment fund for young firms.

Read the complete story from Fairfax Media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The environmental activist group Oceana, which advises the U.S. government, estimates that fisheries subsidies total $20 billion a year — equivalent to about one quarter of the value of the world fish catch.

Talks to curb fisheries subsidies have taken on new life, negotiators said on Friday, boding well for efforts to revive depleted global fish stocks and reach a deal to open up world trade.

Trade diplomats said that differences in the fisheries talks at the World Trade Organization remained wide, but countries were working hard to find ways of bridging the gaps.

"It's very clear to me that all delegations remain highly committed and have shown a very constructive disposition," Trinidad's ambassador to the WTO, Dennis Francis, who chairs the negotiations on trade rules that include fisheries subsidies, told Reuters.

Read the complete story from Reuters.

 

 

 

 

Madrid, Spain – 10/08/2010 – Fisheries scientists meeting this week in Madrid failed to recommend solid, scientifically-based catch limits to countries fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the world’s most valuable and severely threatened marine species.   The scientists sit on the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

The meeting comes just a month before ICCAT’s member countries, including the United States, Japan and the European Union, will meet in Paris to allocate this year’s recommended catch limits for Atlantic bluefin tuna.  These fish are hunted commercially to supply the lucrative sushi trade, with a single bluefin sometimes selling for more than USD $100,000. Decades of legal and illegal overfishing, irresponsible management, inconsistent monitoring and reporting[i], and a disregard for science have led to an estimated decline in bluefin tuna populations of up to 85 percent since 1970[ii].

“Bluefin tuna fishing nations are providing scientists with out-of-date, incomplete and often unreliable information,” said Remi Parmentier, a Pew Environment Group observer at the meeting.  “Because of these glaring gaps in data, scientists are essentially being asked to gaze into a crystal ball and pick a number for bluefin tuna catch limits.  It allows fishing countries to assign bluefin tuna catch limits based on unfounded optimism instead of objective science. No species should have to rely on a crystal ball for its survival.”

Read the complete story from PEW.

 

 

 

 

 

Chile established an enormous marine reserve near Easter Island on Wednesday that will be off-limits to fishing and other extractive activities, providing a haven for vulnerable species such as sharks and lobsters.

The new Sala y Gomez Marine Park will cover nearly 58,000 square miles around the uninhabited island of the same name, which is in the Pacific Ocean.

Scientists and conservationists began lobbying for such a reserve after an expedition to the island in March found abundant marine life there. The neighboring waters around Easter Island, by contrast, are not protected from fishing and have been depleted.

Read the complete story from the Washington Post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A team of US scientists and environmentalists have met with Cuban officials to discuss a proposed alliance, including Mexico, to protect the Gulf of Mexico’s declining shark population.

The meetings were a product of both improved US-Cuba relations and concern that only a joint effort by the three nations that share the gulf can protect sharks, whose numbers are said to be down as much as 50% for some species.

Shark populations have fallen worldwide, primarily due to overfishing to satisfy China's demand for shark fin soup, which is rising as China becomes more prosperous, scientists say.

Read the complete story from World Fishing and Aquaculture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite unmatched natural assets, America's heavily-regulated fisheries continued to underperform in global competition, with landings down a bit more in 2009, according to the annual report of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Covering 2009, the findings reflect a two decade trend in which conservation has trumped productivity.

Landings in edible and commercial fish were down 6 percent to 7.9 billion pounds, and the value of the landings fell by 11 percent to $3.9 billion — adding up $2.2 billion to a federal season of trade deficit of more than $280 billion.

Read the complete story from the Gloucester Daily Times.