Whale Wars Boats take on Illegal Tuna Fishing in Med.

[Heli Sports]

The head of the EU fisheries said we should consider Libya to be fishing illegally because there were no observers this year. That's a direct quote.

Actually, the reason that Libya does not have an ABT quota for 2011 has nothing to do with observer coverage. Hussein Zaroug, Libya's ICCAT delegate and a close personal friend of Saif al Islam Gaddafi, failed to file a management plan with ICCAT for this season.

And what exactly is your point? The fact that Maria Damanaki has taken a position on Libya's fishery contradicts your statement about ICCAT and the CFCA doing nothing to enforce ICCAT regulations and quotas. This sure sounds to me like the EU has finally taken responsibility for the Mediterranean Bluefin fishery.

You're basing it all on one side of the story. Aside of rumor, where is it written anywhere on a pro-fishing site that what occured over there was anything more than what was reported by bloomberg, business week, the ny times, usa today and every other magazine and paper.

Are you really so foolish as to believe everything that you read in the newspaper? Are you so naive that you think every fact is reported in a periodical?

If you have facts by all means share them.

I have provided you with the facts as they occurred on June 6th at 34º11’;13º57’

If you don't care to believe what was reported to me by an independent fisheries consultant in Spain, that's your problem. And you if you really want to know more and were not so lazy, you could easily find the facts about the incident on the Melita Bank on the Sea Shepherd website.

The only reason they don't shelve or scrap boats there is they continue to fish off the books.

And you know this how?

In 2002 ICCAT said they'd act. In 2003 they said they'd act. In 2004, 05, 06, and here's 07

The fact that massive overfishing took place through 2007 is not in dispute. Can't you find any relevant or timely information on non compliance in the Mediterranean fishery?

According to Greenpeace, the Japanese longliner reported 156,784 GRT to the ICCAT compared to 236,666 GT to the OPRT.

Greenpeace now? Can't you cite any independent sources with no agenda for your information?

If you bothered checking the 2010 SRCS report, you would know that Japan is no longer fishing in the Mediterranean Sea. Japan's landings of Med Bluefin in 2010 was only 18 metric tons.

ICCAT does nothing. They're inability to act is the reason we just went through all the CITES crap. It will be the reason it comes back at us again and eventually they'll win.

Please do us all a favor and take the time to learn the facts before spreading disinformation and posting factually incorrect nonsense that you glean off of ENGO websites.

Pretty much every time someone checks someone is blatantly breaking the rules.

Is that a fact?

Interesting. The Steve Irwin and Brigitte Bardot have been patrolling the Mediterranean Sea for two months now. They have yet to document a single instance of illegal fishing this season.

Left this out yesterday but per ICCAT:

"The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) confirms that Sainte Sophie Francois 2 recently departed from Malta and has no legal right to be carrying nets this year." I'm sure there just out for a Sunday cruise...

Again you are wrong! Please take the time to learn the facts before commenting on something that you know absolutely nothing about. If you bothered to check the facts, you would know that the Sainte Sophie Francois II (FRA 0859076) is a French flagged ICCAT documented towing and farming vessel.

[dexy1]

"And dont say I didn't tell you so when some nut case starts racing around Stellwagen Bank in a speedboat trying to drive tuna schools down ..."


I think they are already here then, just set up a kite and they will find you! They also use small troll boats to run your bait over!

[aloop]

...Harpoon a Fat Chick!

[scottne]

Actually, the reason that Libya does not have an ABT quota for 2011 has nothing to do with observer coverage. Hussein Zaroug, Libya's ICCAT delegate and a close personal friend of Saif al Islam Gaddafi, failed to file a management plan with ICCAT for this season.

And what exactly is your point? The fact that Maria Damanaki has taken a position on Libya's fishery contradicts your statement about ICCAT and the CFCA doing nothing to enforce ICCAT regulations and quotas. This sure sounds to me like the EU has finally taken responsibility for the Mediterranean Bluefin fishery..

Why do you have a problem with them monitoring a fishery that you just admitted was being overfished - by your own words "not in dispute" in the recent past? Countries like Turkey still have more boats in the water than arguably their quota supports...they're probably there for a reason. If the sea sheep themselves break the law put them in jail.


You seem awfully certain things are suddenly under control. Are you sure about that? The french just took the number they caught and under-reported to ICCAT in years passed. Are you certain that's ended now?
http://www.publicintegrity.org/inves...er/entry/2720/

Again you'll dispute all of this because it didn't come from a fishing enterprise but the fact remains the population crashed under "ICCAT" management and rampant cheating and overfishing took place under "management." Yet you'll take their word that a lot of this just hasn't moved to the black market or is just not being reported at all.

Unreported catches were a huge problem. You think now suddenly they waived the magic wand and that all stopped? The black market just dried up and everyone went home? Again what is the harm so long as they were not violating international law. If they are toss them in jail.

"Until this underground market is addressed, international quotas to protect this endangered creature are sort of a joke. In regards to his fisheries practices between 1998 and 2007, French fishing captain Roger Del Ponte told ICIJ: “Everyone cheated. There were rules, but we didn’t follow them.”
- but I'm sure they're all following them now and there's not a huge multi-billion dollar black market focused out of that region.
You are a trusting fellow. The same people that cheated for all those years are now all suddenly in compliance. ICCAT hasn't exactly done a bangup job enforcing the regulations until very recently...can't hurt to have a third party spending their own money..so long as they're within the rules. And even ICCAT acknowledges the reporting system in place now sucks which is why they're rolling out a new one in 2012 that will close a lot of the loopholes. Heck even the Japanese...when they tried to roll out the system to document catches were finding a majority had issues in importing.

As ICCAT scientist themselves admit there are some still severe problems with the system - problems finally being addressed but until that day comes....
"ICCAT scientist Fromentin said there were issues he would have liked to see the commission resolve, such as fleet overcapacity. Countries like Libya and Turkey did not agree to suggestions that the capacity of the Mediterranean bluefin fishing fleet be reduced. Overcapacity leads to overfishing, especially in countries with lax regulation, such as Turkey.
But Fromentin said he was pleased ICCAT plans to implement a new camera system meant to obtain an accurate account of the size and number of fish being transferred into cages at underwater fattening ranches. Fattening ranches are the weakest link in the bluefin tuna supply chain because no independent means exists to verify the number or size of fish entering into the cages, and because the fish gain weight during captivity. The percentage of weight a fish can gain is so open to interpretation it allows cheaters to launder the overcatch."


I realize they've made a lot of changes. Hopefully they help. In the meantime I've got no problem with a group spending their money making sure Momar isn't filling his bank account with illegally caught tuna after the season closed.

As far as "what's the point".... I don't see why you would have a problem with a 3rd party making sure some of the concerns expressed by ICCAT scientists aren't occuring...and they're doing it on their dime, so long as they aren't breaking the laws.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11692242
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/s...uefin_tuna.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1107143614.htm
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanogr...BluefinOne.pdf

[Captain Greg Sears]

If WE stand for the fish, we stand some small chance of preventing privatization. i.e. ITQ/IFQs. Then the stocks would rebound, but we would be locked out. F__k that!!!!![/QUOTE]

Sector allocation quota and Individual quota is something that Your Whale Wars boats would gladly like to see.... The crew from Mass Bay Guides is ban from watching Whale Wars we do not promote their Piracy they should be arrested and put in jail. Not only are they complete idiots when it comes to seamanship they are dangerous and risking the lives of their crew and legal fishermen. I will fire anybody that works for me for watching their show. I also believe the networks that promote them should be sued for deformation of character. The networks who promote this kind of stuff are the people we should be boycotting.....

The next thing there will be a TV show about center console boats running around cutting off trolling gear. Or maybe some show about rubber rafts going around and chopping off lobster pots and letting the cute lobsters go. Anyone who promotes or watches this stuff is as guilty as them. Just like the kids who went to jail for posted hazing videos on the internet.

pS anything you read on the internet is probably guilty of one sided propaganda. Probably the reason I do not show pictures of people who caught nothing on my website...LOL... I think I will start taking pictures of people holding nothing and put them on my reports..

[Captain Greg Sears]

One more scenario

The Sea Shepherd has a problem and requires help from another vessel... I am 100% sure the Japanese whaling boats would come to their rescue because they are true seamen. I am not sure the Sea Shepherd crew would have the ability to do the same. What if someone gets killed trying to rescue them? not if but when...

PS I am not apposed to conservation but I am apposed to dangerous and revengeful vigil anti antics.

[bmcl322]

Greg's right. Tight lines!

[scottne]

One more scenario

The Sea Shepherd has a problem and requires help from another vessel... I am 100% sure the Japanese whaling boats would come to their rescue because they are true seamen. I am not sure the Sea Shepherd crew would have the ability to do the same. What if someone gets killed trying to rescue them? not if but when...

PS I am not apposed to conservation but I am apposed to dangerous and revengeful vigil anti antics.

100% agree with this and I do think a lot of what they do is dangerous. Worse it puts the crews of the whaling boats in jeopardy...disabling a boat in those seas is dangerous period.

All I was saying is I have no problems with them lawfully monitoring the Libyans during a civil war. If they cross the line I agree with Heli.

I'm just not ready to buy that ICCAT has resolved all their "issues" and that some of the compliance we're seeing isn't just fancy bookkeeping.


Greg, I've got no side on this. I just want to see the Med brought into line so that the guys back home can get their share. When I see the US sword boats using circle hooks but the foreign longliners still tearing up the ocean with the j-hooks...

[scottne]

One more scenario

The Sea Shepherd has a problem and requires help from another vessel... I am 100% sure the Japanese whaling boats would come to their rescue because they are true seamen. I am not sure the Sea Shepherd crew would have the ability to do the same. What if someone gets killed trying to rescue them? not if but when...

PS I am not apposed to conservation but I am apposed to dangerous and revengeful vigil anti antics.

I watched the show on rerun last night from last week. I don't think the med tuna fishery has much to fear....their captains seem to be criminally inept. Their tactics are suspect and at times dangerous.

That said it wasn't just the goodness of ICCAT's heart that had them making changes in the last few years. It was international pressure some of which came from the hard line conservatives who want to close the fishery. That helped play a part in moving the ball forward whether Heli wants to acknowledge that or not because if the alternatives were a closure of reform, reform looked a lot better finally.

The ball will keep moving forward because of the international pressure and threats from environmentalists such as the listing that we just saw shot down. ICCAT ran the fishery into the ground (maybe 1.2 million metric tons down to maybe 100,000) since their inception. Maybe they are actually making the right changes now but after messing it up for decades I'll wait until the new stock analysis is out before I believe all that I read from the pro-ICCAT crowd.

tight lines, hopefully more little ones show up. Seeing a lot of commercial fish caught and hooked, still waiting for the schools of little ones to come in and stay in...last year was water temps...this year?

EDIT: really decent read on the history of ICCAT, their failures and the economics behind it all
http://www.pugetsound.edu/files/reso...Detriments.pdf