The extent of IUU fishing in the Barents Sea Maren Esmark, WWF- Norway Anna Filippova, WWF- Russia Chatham House, London 10. november 2006
The Barents Sea a unique and rich marine ecosystem Atlantic cod gone in 15 years? The Barents Sea Cod stock and management Estimating illegal fishing in the Barents Sea -ICES - Norwegian authorities - WWF-Russia WWF working globally to reduce IUU
Barents Sea unique and rich One of the most biologically diverse and productive regions of the North. The number of benthic species is far higher than in any other part of the Arctic (the World's northernmost deepwater coral reefs off the Norwegian coast, at 71 o N). Fish: Around 150 species of 52 families. The World's largest stocks of some economically important species (cod, herring, capelin and blue whiting a.o.) Seabirds: Nearly 25 million individuals in summer. Some of the largest seabird colonies in the World. 68 species depending on the marine environment for all or parts of the year. Whales: Twelve large cetaceans + five dolphin species. Some species unable to recover from past whaling (ecosystem properties permanently altered) Seals: Seven species
WWF Barents Sea Ecoregion Programme European Arctic (Norway and Russia): Barents Sea, parts of Norwegian Sea and Kara Sea Ecoregion project initiated autumn 1999 Project office in Oslo and Murmansk (5 full time staff) Involves the WWF Arctic Programme, WWF Norway and WWF Russia
Atlantic cod gone in 15 years? Total global catch of Atlantic cod was in 1970 around 3.1 million tons. In 2002, total catch was down to 890.000 tons, a reduction of more than 70 %. (FAO Fishstats 2004)
Recommendations related to European cod stocks (ICES 2003): North Sea: Total stop in fishing is recommended Barents Sea cod: Reduced fishing is recommended Norwegian coastal cod: Total stop in fishing is recommended Baltic Sea: Reduced fishing is recommended Icelandic cod: Reduced fishing is recommended Faroe Plateau cod: Reduced fishing is recommended Faroe Bank cod: Reduced fishing is recommended Greenland cod: Reduced fishing is recommended West of Scotland: Total stop in fishing is recommended Irish Sea: Total stop in fishing is recommended
Drying cod in Lofoten This thousand year old tradition is now at threat. The Barents Sea Cod
Reference: ICES, ACFM June 2006 Northeast Arctic Cod Stock
The Barents Sea Fishery
Management of Northeast Arctic cod Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission provides mutual access to fisheries in the waters of the two countries since 1976. The Commission has developed a very comprehensive, as compared to other commercial species, complex of measures regulating the cod fishery, which includes setting an annual total allowable catch (TAC), then distributed into national quotas, juvenile fish protection including regulations concerning commercial size, allowable catches of undersized fish, fishing gear restrictions etc. and protection of fish on spawning grounds. In addition measures to controll IUU such as ban on transshipments to FOC vessels have been adopted.
The management strategy At the 33rd meeting of the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission (JRNC) in November 2004, the following decision was made: The Parties agreed that the management strategies for cod and haddock should take into account the following: conditions for high long-term yield from the stocks achievement of year-to-year stability in TACs full utilization of all available information on stock development On this basis, the Parties determined the following decision rules for setting the annual fishing quota (TAC) for Northeast Arctic cod (NEA cod): estimate the average TAC level for the coming 3 years based on Fpa. TAC for the next year will be set tothis level as a starting value for the 3-year period. the year after, the TAC calculation for the next 3 years is repeated based on the updated information about the stock development, however the TAC should not be changed by more than +/- 10% compared with the previous year s TAC. if the spawning stock falls below Bpa, the procedure for establishing TAC should be based on a fishing mortality that is linearly reduced from Fpa at Bpa, to F= 0 at SSB equal to zero. At SSB-levels below Bpa in any of the operational years (current year, a year before and 3 years of prediction) there should be no limitations on the year-to-year Reference: Protocol of the 33rd session of The Joint Norwegian-Russian Fishery Commission and translated from Norwegian to English. For an accurate interpretation,
ICES evaluation of the management strategy ICES has evaluated these decision rules for cod and a management plan based upon them is in accordance with the precautionary approach when the SSB is above Blim. The agreed management plan was not evaluated with an implementation error as large as the one currently occurring in the fishery.
Northeast Arctic Cod Stock Reference: ICES, ACFM June 2006
Directorate of Fisheries and the Coast Guard Estimating the total catch of Russian cod and haddock in 2005. Since 2002, analyses have been carried out on an annual basis of estimated Russian cod fishing. Haddock included in 2005 Estimates are based on: Sailing analyses Documentation collected from inspections Landing data collected in Norway, Holland and Germany.
Russian vessels sailing routes (14 days period)
Analysis Landing figures in Norway gathered through SLULES2. Documentation of transshipment and supply to foreign countries via control of Russian fishing and transport vessels both in harbour and at sea. Coast Guard air and sea observations in the Barents- and North seas. Sailing information which illustrates activities of Russian fishing and transport vessels. Activity is defined as the transport of cod to the EU, Russia (Murmansk and Archangel) and other areas. AIS data on activities of non-russian transport vessels. Information on vessels docking at harbours in Europe. Overview of vessels with quotas and licences in the NEAFC3 area.
The Barents Sea Fishery
Ports where Barents Sea cod is landed: Grimsby, England Eemshaven, Netherlands Velsen, Netherlands Bremerhaven, Germany (Temporary stop) Danish harbours Porto del Marin, Spania Porto Aveiro, Portugal
Conclusion Based on estimated quantity compared with documented quantity, we estimate Russian cod fishing in 2005 to be 315,000 tons cod and 87,600 tons haddock round weight. This constitutes an estimated excess of roughly 101,000 tons cod and 36,300 tons haddock in 2005. Based on the same methods used for the last three years, the analysis indicates that transshipment and transport activities are the same as the previous year. The quantity could be higher, as this analysis has not taken sufficient account for transporting filleted fish.
Estimating possible illegal catch by vessel type WWF-numbers 2005
Esimating unreported catch In 2004, PINRO, the Russian Institute of Marine Research in Murmansk carried out an investigation concerning the reliability of fisheries statistics. This research is further used in the WWF report to develop the foundations and methodological approaches to the estimation of possible cod catches left out of account by the official fisheries statistics. Three methods of revealing unreliable and doubtful statistical data were applied:
1st method: The first method used Cath per Unit Effort, compared with the daily catch from vessels operating under a legal quota and catch permit. This is a good indicator to find the difference between the catch a vessel would need to operate within economic sound frames and the official catch/landing statistics. The numbers clearly show a difference indicating a significant illegal fishing.
2nd method: The second method used statistics from earlier years where it is assumed that the illegal fishing was on a minimum and compared this with numbers from recent years where it is assumed that the level of illegal fishing is high. When Catch per unit effort is used as an indicator, also this method shows that several vessels probably are fishing illegally, as they would not be economic viable if they were operating legally.
3rd method: The third method to check up the reliability of catch statistics is the comparison of CPUE of fishing vessels with that of research-fishing vessels of the same type with PINRO observers onboard conducting state monitoring of stocks in September-December 2004. CPUE of the vessels with observers onboard was found out to be almost the double of CPUE for other vessels of the same type and almost three times higher than that of the vessels with doubtful catch statistics.
Conclusion The analysis has used statistics and information that is publicly available. WWF-Russia has facilitated the analysis that for the first time uses Russian data to calculate an estimate of the quantity of the illegal cod fishery. The conclusion is that the earlier estimates from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries that the annual illegal fishery is between 70.000 and 115.000 tons, are correct. Calculated to marked value this is around 120 million Euros
WWF working globally on IUU
Several approaches Estimating illegal fishing, e.g una, pollock and cod NEAFC new proposal this year for port state control CCAMLR improving present regime UN-FAO port state measures agreement/convention Joint Russian Norwegian fisheries commission EU Sanctions by flag state and port state, enforcment Russia inspection and control, enforcement High Seas Task Force, OECD initative etc Market transparency and traceabillity, AIPCE working group on IUU