UN organisation backs Sealord's Indian Ocean protection
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has backed a Sealord-led proposal to protect parts of the Indian Ocean.
Maori-owned global seafood company Sealord Group has joined with three other global fishing firms to lead the way in protecting biologically important areas of the sea floor in the Indian Ocean. The four deepwater fishing companies have agreed to halt bottom trawl fishing in parts of the southern Indian Ocean in a move the IUCN World Conservation Union says is “the world's first voluntary ban on high-seas deepwater trawling.”
Joining with Sealord are Australia's Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd, Bel Ocean II Ltd from Mauritius and Namibia's TransNamibia Fishing Pty Ltd.
Sealord chief executive Doug McKay says protecting important biological areas on the sea floor and preserving marine life in the Indian Ocean builds on a similar New Zealand proposal presented to the Government in February this year where 31 percent of New Zealand's EEZ would be closed to bottom trawl fishing. That proposal should be confirmed by the Government in October this year.
“We learnt a lot from our experience in setting aside biologically important areas of New Zealand's fishing environment, and we took our initiative here and used it for this proposal in the Indian Ocean.”
“The industry has recognised protection of important areas as a successful management tool. Ultimately, it's about protecting the ocean environment for future generations while recognising our ability to sustainably utilise its resources,” Mr McKay said.
Greenpeace called the companies' protection proposal a farce saying the area has already been over-fished. However, Sealord has carried out acoustic stock assessments in the Indian Ocean for the last two years that show the area is being fished sustainably. Minister of Fisheries Jim Anderton said the Sealord proposal was a very positive move and the reaction by Greenpeace was “extreme”.
In a related move, the United Nations' FAO – the pre-eminent world body dealing with fisheries issues – completed a long-term project to establish a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) in the Southern Indian Ocean.
Following two days of talks in Rome in July, six countries signed an accord for fishing in the area. A United Nations official hailed the RFMO– the South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) – a major step forward in conservation and sustainable fishing. The Comoros, France, Kenya, Mozambique, New Zealand and Seychelles and the European Community have so far signed the accord.
The accord seeks to ensure long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources other than tuna in areas outside national jurisdictions. It calls for effective monitoring, annual reports on the amounts of captured and discarded fish, and inspections of ships visiting ports of the Parties to verify they are in compliance with SIOFA.
Landing and discharging privileges are to be denied to those who do not comply. Other joint actions include regular studies of the state of fish stocks and the impact of fishing on the environment, joint management and conservation measures, and establishing rules for member countries to decide which operators are allowed to fish in the SIOFA area.
FAO Fisheries Department official Jean-Francois Pulvenis de Séligny stressed SIOFA's importance as a major step forward in establishing new regional fisheries management organisations or arrangements to cover areas where no such mechanism currently exists. The role of the fishing industry in ensuring responsible fishing is particularly vital in the high seas, where recent years have seen a marked increase in catches, including those of non-tuna species which are caught at considerable depths.
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Tiakina ngā rawa hi ika, a tātou kaimoana mo ngā uri whakaheke
Protecting Māori fisheries assets for future generations