| Need for a
moratorium on destructive fishing practices Letter to the Australian Government UNICPOLOS delegation: March 10, 2005
Dear
Philip NEED
FOR A MORATORIUM ON DESTRUCTIVE FISHING PRACTICES The
Australian Oceans Office has informed me that I should put my views to
you regarding Australia's position at the approaching UNICPOLOS meeting
in June. I am writing a second email to you regarding measures to
curtail IUU fishing, and you will receive this separately. I
am a member of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project (www.seaturtles.org). Detailed
information on our concerns may be found at this website. As
a scientist concerned about the health of our oceans, I support fishing
policies that ensure the long-term survival of targeted fish
populations, endangered marine species and the fishing-related economy. In
recent decades the impact of commercial fishing on ocean ecosystems has
dramatically increased, and we are confronted with the unprecedented
reality that we are rapidly depleting the oceansı resources. The
oceans, once mistakenly thought to be inexhaustible, clearly are not. The United Nations reports over 70% percent of global fish populations are overfished or at the brink of being overfished, compared to just 5% reported only 40 years ago. Moreover, indiscriminate commercial fishing practices wastefully harm and kill millions of non-targeted animals per year, causing unsustainable mortality to sea turtles, sea birds, bluefin tuna, swordfish and sharks. In 2004, two UN FAO consultations on sea turtle bycatch and fisheries proposed guidelines that fisheries posing the greatest threats to sea turtles be subjected to "temporary and spatially-limited controls" as a means to protect endangered sea turtles. In November 2004, the UN General Assembly passed resolution A/59/L.23 which calls upon states to apply the precautionary approach in applying an "interim prohibition of destructive fishing practices". The UN's efforts to ban driftnet fishing have created a precedent. The
UN take effective action to protect
the planet's resources and biota. While justifications for such
actions are most often framed against concerns for human needs and the
planet's life support systems, I believe the time has come to take a
more ethical position based on the belief that we share this planet with
other life forms which warrant our respect and care, irrespective of
their prospective utility to humans. This ethical position has
long been advocated by the Australian and State governments (refer to
page 2 of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's
Biological Diversity). The
Pacific leatherback sea turtle is at the top of the list of species
being driven to the brink of extinction by increased efforts of global
industrial fishing. The Pacific leatherback turtles nesting population
has plummeted from 91,000 in 1980 to fewer than 5,000 in 2002. Recent
studies warn that unless immediate and significant steps are taken, the
worldıs largest and most wide-ranging sea turtle will soon become
extinct. The
plight of the leatherback sea turtle foreshadows a host of extinction
events that may significantly alter the oceansı ecosystem functions.
Leatherbacks have swum the Earthıs oceans for over 100 million
years and are part of a complex web of life that is rapidly unravelling.
If we allow the leatherback to vanish from the oceans, we alter
the balance that exists amongst predators and prey and risk the future
of a host of other marine species. Leading
sea turtle biologists and ocean experts recognize that pelagic longline
and gillnet fishing pose the principal immediate threats to Pacific
leatherback turtles at sea, while the exploitation of eggs and
destruction of nesting habitat are key threats during their short
terrestrial existence. Recognizing
that measures that protect leatherbacks at sea also will benefit a wide
assemblage of marine species that are either targeted or incidentally
captured by these indiscriminate fishing methods, I
request that the Australian delegation to UNICPOLOS: - Urge fishing nations to reduce the overall quantity of fishing effort to enable the long-term survival of targeted fish populations and the fishers and communities who depend on them; - Call on pelagic longline and gillnet fisheries to assess their impacts and implement precautionary fishing principles in other impacted ocean basins, to avoid similar extinction crises among sea turtles, tuna, swordfish, sharks, seabirds and other affected species; - Request that the governments of all nations where Pacific leatherback turtles nest immediately protect these sites, stop egg collection and maximize hatchling survival; - Urge that transitional aid be allocated to fishers and communities who are impacted by shifts in policy that move the human species toward the sustainable use of the oceans; - Urge all nation-states engaged (directly or indirectly) in fishing activities to require adherence to precautionary codes and practices based on the precautionary principle as part of commercial fishing licence conditions; and - Urge that adherence to FAO codes of conduct (and associated guidelines) regarding sustainable fishing activities be made a requirement of all nation-state fishing industry controls (as you know, adherence to the FAO code is currently voluntary at the nation-state level). The measures outlined above will help people worldwide who depend on the oceans for their livelihood and sustenance. Further I feel these actions are necessary to enable marine species such as the leatherback sea turtle to survive and flourish. Regards Jon
Nevill
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