French Fishing Trawler Opens Fire on Pirates
Last week, a French fishing trawler returned machined gun fire on a group of Somali pirates who were apparently trying to seize the vessel, according to European naval forces operating in the area.
Royal Navy Commander John Harbour, head of the EU task force, said the exchange of fire took place between two pirate skiffs and the trawler about 350 miles east of the Somali capital Mogadishu. The pirates opened fire on the fishing vessel. Her embarked military Vessel Protection Detachment fired warning shots after which the pirates broke off their attack.
The German warship FGS Karlsruhe, on anti-piracy patrol in the area, was ordered to set course to the attack position. Simultaneously, the helicopter of the Spanish warship ESPS Canarias, also on anti-piracy patrol, was launched and located two fast attack skiffs trying to flee the area of the attack. The helicopter fired warning shots to stop both skiffs, after which the pirates stopped and were seen throwing items, presumably pirate paraphernalia, overboard.
On arrival of FGS Karlsruhe her boarding team secured both skiffs, and found seven persons on board of the two skiffs. The French fishing vessel was requested to return to the scene to identify their attackers. Upon receiving their statements the seven suspected pirates were detained on board FGS Karlsruhe.
Several European fishing trawlers are operating in that part of the Indian Ocean and they have started to come under increasing attack from pirates. Just over a month ago the Spanish trawler Alakrana, and its entire 36-member crew were hi-jacked and taken to a rebel port. Two of the assailants were later arrested by security forces and flown to Spain where they have been charged and are expected to face trial for piracy. The Somali captors are demanding US$ 4 million ransom as well as the freeing of the two suspected pirates being held in Spain.
Fishing companies are being warned not to send vessels to fish the tuna grounds east of Mogadishu.
Iceland vessel owners unhappy with new EU plans
Iceland’s fishing leaders were reported this week to be keeping a close watch on current debate turmoil within European Union states over how its fishing industry should be managed over the next few years.
Iceland has applied for EU membership – a move strongly opposed by the country’s fishing vessel owners – and it is almost certain that her rich fishing stocks will become a key factor in negotiations.
In the meantime a new Common Fisheries Policy is likely to emerge before 2012 and the signs are that the EU will decide that the current system of quantity quotas which are allocated to the member states for each species will be scrapped after years of controversy and criticism by fishermen.
Instead fishery management is likely to be replaced by the allocation of fishing days for individual vessels which should put an end to the hated practice of throwing good fish back into the sea simply because the quotas have been reached.
But Morgunbladid, Iceland’s main daily newspaper, said there are serious fears in the industry that this proposal could put Iceland at a serious disadvantage because it leads to a very loose control over the actual qualities of fish taken out of the sea.
Adolf Gudmundsson, Chairman of Iceland´s National Federation of Fishing Operators, told the paper that his organisation was not fond of fisheries management based on fishing days. “This is was a method initially used by Iceland but soon found to be inadequate and it was subsequently abandoned,” he added.
US Spends $70 Billion Annually on Seafood Products
With more than 80 percent of all the seafood in the United States produced overseas, most of the seafood heading to North America passes through the hands of the 25 companies featured in the new IntraFish Industry Report, ‘The Top 25 Seafood Companies in North America.’
The report shows U.S. consumers spent an estimated $69.8 billion (€47.9 billion) for seafood products in 2008, including $46.8 billion (€32.1 billion) in sales at restaurants, takeaway outlets, caterers, and other businesses; $22.7 billion (€15.6 billion) in retail sales for home consumption; and $389.4 million (€267 million) for industrial fish products.
The United States imports more fish than any other nation except China. More of this imported seafood comes from Canada than from any other country.
The average American eats approximately 16.5 lbs (7.5 kg) of seafood, and the average Canadian eats 50 lbs (23.1 kg) of seafood per year. While U.S. seafood consumption is substantially less than Canada’s, the amount of seafood that Americans eat continues to increase.
New Insights Into Marine Ecosystems And Fisheries Production
Two of the four marine ecosystems studied in MENU are in the eastern Bering Sea and the coastal region of the northern Gulf of Alaska.
NOAA and Norwegian researchers recently completed a comparative analysis of marine ecosystems in the North Atlantic and North Pacific to see what factors support fisheries production, leading to new insights that could improve fishery management plans and the ecosystems.
Known as MENU, for Marine Ecosystems of Norway and the U.S., the collaborative project involved scientists at the NOAA Fisheries Service’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Fisheries Science Center and colleagues at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Results of their analyses, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, were recently published in a special issue of the journal Progress in Oceanography.
Researchers involved in MENU and in other comparative analyses found underlying patterns in the ecosystems that would not have been apparent had only one ecosystem been studied. For example, MENU results revealed that deeper eastern ocean boundary systems, like those off Alaska or in the eastern North Atlantic off Europe, are more strongly influenced by bottom-up mechanisms, known as forcing. These would include broad scale oceanographic systems like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the El Nino Southern Oscillation.
Shallower western boundary systems, mainly on continental shelves, like Georges Bank and other areas off the east coast of the U.S. and Canada, are more strongly influenced by top-down processes, such as fisheries exploitation. “Both top-down and bottom-up processes occur in all of these ecosystems, but being able to determine their relative importance is difficult.,” Link said.
The researchers compared marine ecosystems in the northern hemisphere and mostly in high latitudes, ranging from the eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska in the North Pacific to Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine, North Sea and the Adriatic Sea off Italy. Other ecosystems studied included the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Scotian Shelf, Newfoundland Shelf, Southern New England, Gulf of Finland, and the Baltic Sea. All of these ecosystems support commercially important fisheries.
Fisheries landings in the ecosystems studied appear to have shifted from groundfish to invertebrates, such as squid, shrimp and scallops. In many, the fish community has changed from one dominated by demersal or bottom-dwelling species to one dominated by pelagic or upper water column species. The researchers note that it is unclear if their findings are true of all marine ecosystems, or just those studied. One of the many questions raised by the comparative analyses is whether similar species in different ecosystems react to environmental conditions in similar ways, or whether the local ecosystems override global factors.
Fisheries production varies widely among ecosystems, and is affected by changing natural and human-induced factors such as climate, pollution and fishing effort. With so many factors involved, Link said scientists need to understand the relative importance of each factor in each ecosystem, something that is difficult to achieve but important for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and conservation.
Scientists are already undertaking more integrated ecosystem assessments like MENU in the U.S. to build on decades of smaller scale, more focused studies on individual ecosystems. Comparative Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Organization, or CAMEO, is a partnership between NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the National Science Foundation to advance understanding of marine ecological systems using a comparative approach.
Tropical Regions to be Hardest Hit by Fisheries Shifts Caused by Climate Change
Major shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect food security in tropical regions most adversely, according to a study led by the Sea Around Us Project at The University of British Columbia.
In the first major study to examine the effects of climate change on ocean fisheries, a team of researchers from UBC and Princeton University finds that climate change will produce major shifts in productivity of the world’s fisheries, affecting ocean food supply throughout the world. The study is published today in the journal Global Change Biology.
‘Our projections show that climate change may lead to a 30 to 70 per cent increase in catch potential in high-latitude regions and a drop of up to 40 per cent in the tropics,’ says lead author William Cheung, a researcher at the University of East Anglia in the UK who conducted the study while at UBC.
‘Many tropical island residents rely heavily on the oceans for their daily meals. These new findings suggest there’s a good chance this important food source will be greatly diminished due to climate change.’
Previous studies have looked at how climate change affects global food supply but were limited to land-based food sources. These studies have also predicted that tropical areas will see a decline in land productivity.
The team, led by UBC Fisheries professor Daniel Pauly, also found that regions with the highest increase in catch potential by 2055 include Norway, Greenland, Alaska and the east coast of Russia. Meanwhile, regions with the biggest loss in catch potential include Indonesia, the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), Chile and China.
While greater catch potential in colder regions might appear beneficial, the authors caution that more research is needed to account for the multitude of dynamic factors that affect every ecosystem.
‘We need to keep the big picture in mind when looking at the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of climate change,’ says Pauly. ‘Major shifts in fish populations will create a host of changes in ocean ecosystems likely resulting in species loss and problems for the people who now catch them.’
‘While warmer waters might attract new species to colder regions, the rise in temperature might make the environment inhospitable to current species in the region that cannot move to even higher latitudes. Often these species are important to the diets and culture of native subsistence fishermen.’
The team’s projections also show that Canada’s overall catch potential will remain approximately the same. The west coast may see a decrease of almost 20 per cent from 2005 to 2055 while the east coast may get a 10 per cent boost.
With the exception of Alaska and Hawaii, the overall maximum catch potential in U.S. waters is projected to decrease by around 10 per cent by 2055.
The study analyzed 1,066 species ranging from krill to sharks that constitute roughly 70 per cent of the world’s catch. The authors used models that include a large number of environmental and biological factors that affect fisheries. They ran these models through two climate change scenarios, one more conservative than the other, and measured the impact of the scenarios on fish distribution from the years 2005 to 2055. The authors did not include the highest emission level scenario considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which would have produced even more dramatic results.
This study is a product of the Sea Around Us Project, a scientific collaboration between the Pew Environment Group and The University of British Columbia.
Global Net Tightens Around Illegal Fishing
The international net is starting to tighten around countries and organisations that continue with illegal fishing activities.
Illegal fishing is the general term that refers to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. IUU fishing covers a complex range of unlawful actions and entities that include the illegal harvesting, shipment, processing, landing, sale and distribution of fish and fishery products. Whether illegal, unregulated or unreported the end result is the same: depleted fish stocks and a significant reduction in revenue for some of the world’s poorest countries where dependency on fisheries for food, livelihoods and revenues is high.
Such wasteful fishing practices have imperilled one the planet’s most essential food sources, especially for billions of people in the Third World. Economic gain is the main force behind illegal fishing and this fact may hold the key to part of the solution. The demand for fish is growing globally at the same time as the constraints on legal fishing are increasing – together these form a strong motivation for illegal fishing with many opportunities for individual gains. IUU fishing and associated operations are by nature covert and difficult to track and monitor. Recent global analysis has estimated that the value of illegal fishery catches worldwide is over US$9 billion a year.
This past September, 91 countries agreed on a treaty that will refuse to accept ships involved in illegal fishing from entering signatory ports and thus help prevent the fish going to market. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) hailed the agreement to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as the first ever global treaty focused specifically on the problem.
The “Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing” commits countries to a number of measures to harden their ports against illegitimate fishers. The first ever global pact, which intends to block illicit fish catches from entering international markets, focuses on ending such violations as fishing without a licence, using illegal gear, disregarding fishing seasons, catching prohibited or undersized species, and fishing in closed areas.
The problem, thanks in part to support from seafood companies who have refused to buy IUU fish, has been greatly reduced in northern European waters, particularly in the Baltic and Barents Sea region where it was a problem. But it still goes on in other parts of the world.
The FAO assistant-director general for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ichiro Nomura said: “By frustrating responsible management, IUU fishing damages the productivity of fisheries, or leads to their collapse. That’s a serious problem for the people who depend on them for food and income.” Mr. Nomura noted that this “treaty represents a real, palpable advance in the ongoing effort to stamp it out”.
Foreign fishing boats will be required to request permission to dock from specially designated ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board. The treaty also mandates regular inspections and outlines a set of standards that will be used during inspections, including reviews of ship papers. The treaty calls for information-sharing networks to allow communications to all national authorities about vessels that have been denied access to ports, and it contains provisions intended to assist resource-strapped developing countries meet their treaty obligations.
Russian Fishing Sector Making Big Comeback
Russia’s fishing sector has made a comeback, despite the world-wide economic downturn. That was what Andrei Krainy, the head of the federal fisheries agency, Rosrybolovstvo, recently told a session of the international fisheries congress in Vladivostok, the Novosti news service reports.
Krainy reported that 2009’s fish and seafood catch was so far up by 12%; that investment in balance sheets overall was up 29%; while wages had risen 22% and working capital was up 25%.
Foreign participation in this year’s congress was said to have been up significantly, 18 foreign countries having been represented.
Li Chol Y, the head of the fisheries department of South Korea’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries, assured city and provincial authorities of his ministry’s commitment to encouraging South Korean investment in undertaking joint projects with the fish processing and catching companies of Vladivostok and Primorye Province, the PrimaMedia news service reported.
Earlier, Krainy had told the fisheries congress that the federal government saw the renewal of the nation’s fishing fleets as a state economic priority, and that it would be providing RUB 8 billion (C$290 million) for that purpose.
One industry insider told the ITAR-TASS news service that, according to his information, the state would be providing a total of RUB 20-30 billion (C$725 million – C$1 billion) for the fishing fleet renewal program.
Just for Pacific Russia alone, said Krainy, new vessels were needed just to ensure ability to properly exploit the nation’s exclusive economic zone waters, not to mention venturing further afield.
In the near future, said Krainy, domestic shipyards would be asked by the state to compete for contracts to build the needed vessels, small, medium and large tonnage.
Consortia of shipbuilding yards would be created with Norwegian yards, which are leaders in fishing vessel construction, Krainy said. He did not spell out the role of the Norwegian yards, but the context seems to suggest they would do the designing, and Russian yards the construction.
So far this year, RUB 650 million had been expended in connection with the above, with an additional RUB 4 billion projected to be spent/invested by the end of the year, RUB 1.2 bln on ship construction and RUB 1.8 bln on renewal of fish processing equipment.
Icelandic Herring Season Coming to a Close
HB Grandi’s pelagic fleet’s fishing on Atlanto-Scandian herring this year is coming to an end now that the whole of their 38,000 tonne quotas has been caught. Fishing has been inside the Icelandic EEZ and has exceeded expectations.
“Fishing in Icelandic waters has been excellent this summer and it’s very unlikely that we will need to make use of the fishing rights we have to take part of our quotas in Norwegian waters”, said Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, head of HB Grandi’s pelagic division. He said that Ingunn landed 1000 tonnes in Vopnafjördur on Friday and on Sunday Lundey docked there with 900 tonnes.
“The situation now is that each vessel is scheduled to land one more trip in Vopnafjördur and we hope that the fishing will stay good enough for this to work out. The fishing has shifted a good way further east over the last few days and Faxi is now close to the Herring Loophole about 200 miles off Langanes, waiting for Ingunn to arrive. They are still freezing fish from Ingunn’s catch at Vopnafjördur and we don’t expect the ship will be back on the fishing grounds until late tonight, when freezing fish from Lundey will have taken over”, said Vilhjálmsson.
Tuna Vessels Prepare Anti-Piracy Defence
Spanish tuna boats operating in the Indian Ocean will now use hired guns to ward off Somali pirates by hiring private security guards armed with high-powered rifles. The Defense Ministry said Spain cannot station Marines on fishing boats – as the industry has requested and France is doing – because Spanish law does not allow the military to be used for protecting private property.
Instead, Spain has allowed Spanish flag tuna boats, operating in the Indian Ocean, to hire armed security guards, to provide protection against Somali pirates. There are 14 Spanish fishing vessels operating in the area, where about 20 percent of the world tuna catch is taken. The Spanish boats are over 200 feet long and have crews of about two dozen sailors. Last year, one of these boats was taken by Somali pirates, and was ransomed for $1.2 million. Several other tuna boats managed to escape pirate attacks.
Deputy Defense Minister Constantino Mendez explained that most of the 14 Spanish tuna trawlers operating in the Indian Ocean are based in the Basque country. Spain has had a number of encounters with pirates over the past two years, and Spanish navy vessels and a reconnaissance plane are taking part in an EU anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia. The waters off lawless Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden are notoriously dangerous, with pirates hijacking merchant ships and holding crew members for ransom. The International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur says there have been 156 attacks so far this year.
Earlier this year, Spain said it would allow guards, armed with pistols, on these fishing ships. The fishing boat owners protested, pointing out that pistols would only be useful once the pirates were actually boarding. So this has been changed to allow rifles, as the pirates are usually armed with machine-guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers.
As always, the most important defense against pirates is alertness. That means spotting the pirates before they get too close, and staying in touch with the anti-piracy patrols, and other commercial ships in the area, who can provide information about where the pirates have been seen operating. The increased fear of pirates is largely because the pirates are operating over a much larger area.
Icelandic Catch Volume Reached 112,000 Tonnes in August 2009
The volume of the catch of Icelandic vessels decreased by 11.9% in August 2009 compared with August 2008. Total catch of Icelandic vessels in August 2009 was 112,550 tonnes compared to 142,123 tonnes in August 2008.
The demersal species catch was led by cod at 13 thousand tonnes, haddock 6 thousand tonnes, saithe 6 thousand tonnes and redfish 3 thousand tonnes.
The pelagic species catch was led by herring with nearly 63 thousand tonnes and mackerel with 13 thousand.
The data is prepared by the Icelandic Directorate of Fisheries.
