tuna fishing

[flatbottom]

I thought the european fishing was the major cause of stocks on a downward trend


Posted at 11:39am on 04 Mar 2007
Illegal fishing and over-fishing cost the Pacific region billions of dollars a year and have raised fears that stocks could collapse if more drastic action isn't taken to stop the problem.
But monitoring fishing for small Pacific countries is a huge challenge - and it's one that's been taken up by countries such as New Zealand.
Pacific issues correspondent Richard Pamatatau spent five days over the Pacific in an air force P3 Orion on a surveillance mission.
Demand for tuna

The world has an insatiable appetite for tuna.
Prized for sashimi in Japan, it graces the tables of high-priced restaurants and is one of the biggest sources of canned protein in supermarkets around the world.
Most of it the world's tuna is taken from the central-west Pacific.
A 2004 estimate found that 1,000 boats were taking 75% of the world's 4 million tonnes of tuna a year from the region. That figure is rising.
Laurentia Laracy, a researcher at Auckland University and formerly a commercial lawyer working in Papua New Guinea's tuna industry, says stocks need very close management.
The value of fish taken illegally is hard to gauge. Estimates range from $571 million to $2 billion a year
Earlier this year, the United Nations warned a meeting of representatives from 50 countries, plus numerous fishing companies, that the management of tuna was failing. It said over-fishing was hiding behind scant data on catches, vessel numbers and trading.
New Zealand is working hard to provide the region with more information - it sends a handful of surveillance missions into the Pacific every year to hunt down boats fishing illegally.
Orion takes off

It's just after 7am at Whenuapai air base in Auckland.
The crew are making final checks before the P3 Orion leaves on a surveillance mission. They will be looking for illegal fishing ships across vast tracts of the northwest Pacific - plus conducting undisclosed defence business.
Those of the 17-strong crew working outside the plane wear ear muffs to dampen the generator's whine. Mission equipment and supplies are loaded.
It will be a week away flying at least eight hours a day - inside where it's quieter the co-pilot outlines the pre-flight routine.
After a take-off at 9am, the aircraft sets a course for Vanuatu. On the way it will scan huge areas of ocean. The task is difficult. Even if a ship has a legal fishing license it may breach restrictions because of an incorrect number painted on its side or is in the wrong place.
Difficult task

Licences to catch tuna are issued by many Pacific nations and give the holder rights to fish within the country's exclusive economic zone. Many are held by distant fishing countries - Korea, Japan, the United States and members of the European Union.
It is up to the Orion crew to identify each vessel it finds, check what it sees against a list of requirements, record it visually and then make a decision on the ship's status.
All the countries covered on the mission provide lists of registered vessels, those with lapsed licences and possible infringers - information is updated as it comes to hand. But even when illegal vessels are found, the task of pinning a charge on them is difficult.
To reach the patrol zone the Orion climbs to 24,000 feet. At that height the engine sound is at its least noisy but everyone wears tiny orange earplugs.
It's dark, cool and busy inside. The youngest aboard is Ordinance Man Leilani Krans, who is responsible for sonar systems, photography and rations. She has been on several missions, and she calls them a practical way for New Zealand to help Pacific nations that often struggle even to run a patrol boat.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand's role is significant - and it's not just about protecting fish stocks.
Restructure needed

Ms Laracy says work must start on the license structures plus the fees paid to countries by companies wanting to fish in their exclusive economic zones.
She says everyone knows this - a point emphasised in Vanuatu by Maritime Commander Vake Rakau who compared the price of licences to the price of fish.
Mr Rakau says his country would love more patrols when the tuna is running because it lacks the resources to do the job itself.
The support New Zealand provides earns the crew a musical tribute at their Port Vila hotel when they show up for dinner. The arrival of the Orion has got around, and the New Zealanders' efforts are recognised as critical in helping small countries gain some control over fishing.
There is big economic potential in fishing if the countries are able to harness and control the resource and then process it on their own shores. Attempts to do that have been tried, but in Papua New Guinea, for example, many local fishing ventures have failed, and in Vanuatu there is not enough money to back an industry yet.
Ms Laracy says there is significant work going on trying to develop local fishing industries, but governments need to give greater backing. She says big foreign fishing companies have their own considerations, too. The fish they catch provide jobs in their home ports. She says those companies will also have to deal with changes - such as moves to limit the time spent fishing and a reduction in the boat count, which in turn means more pressure on surveillance patrols.
Daily routine

On the Orion, Squadron Leader Glen Gowthorpe details the systems used to monitor traffic. The crew swing into action when a ship is spotted. He says the licensing system is effective for identifying ships but more important is their location and whether the ship is allowed to be there.
Flight Sergeant Gavin Hall spends most of his day at the tactical rail. He says part of the allure is the hunt - and the crew get very involved in their work. But he says to bring infringers to justice the patrol's information must be faultless if it is to be useful for countries with few resources.
On this mission the Orion stops in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The highest point in the capital Majuro is 10 metres above sea level. In places the island is scarcely 50 metres wide.
Patrols of its tuna-rich 12,000-square-kilometre economic zone are done in a single boat under the country's police chief of surveillance, Major Thomas Heine. He shows me around the boat.
Major Heine says his country would do more if it had more resources - which is why working with New Zealand is so important. The Australian navy also helps out in the Marshall Islands. Its team is headed by Chief Petty Officer Mark Carey.
He says the work can be frustrating at times even when an illegal boat is caught. Good information is vital because crews have to distinguish illegal from legal fishing.
Major Heine details the activity of the legal fishermen who work from the adjacent wharf and what can be done if they breach regulations.
Covert visit

Major Heine says the volume of fish processed at the Chinese-run factory is astounding and he wants better management systems.
I've gained access to the factory - ringed by a high-security fence - by slipping in through the workers' gate and pass containers of processed fish ready for a cargo plane.
The scale is a surprise - big-eye and yellow-fin tuna are stacked in giant piles. Before I move further into the processing area the general manager tells me to leave as I have no permission to be there. He says the company has all the correct licences.
What is clear though is the volume of fish being taken. Huge quantities of fish are flown to Hong Kong several times a week.
More help sought

Watching with concern is Eugene Muller, a Marshall Islander who wants to see a local fishing industry and manager of the Koos Fishing Company, a licenced joint venture with Taiwan. The company has one boat crewed by local people and is aiming higher.
Mr Muller says more help has been sought from New Zealand - a request Mr Peters says he is aware of. Taiwanese ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Lien-gene Chen, says his country wants to help out, too. Mr Chen says Taiwan is backing a plant to process tuna, which might employ 600 people.
After a week over the Pacific, it is clear New Zealand's role as a de facto tuna fish policeman will need to increase if all those infringing are to be caught and potential poachers scared off.

[hotrodmarlin]

Cool article - I'm glad New Zealand is taking a stance

[oldmud]

Thanks for the info. Flat.

don

[fishskipper]

Thanks Also ....... Is this from purse seining? .............Does anyone kow?