The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition

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	2009 ICES symposium, 27-30 Apr, Azores, Portugal

Enforcing a Moratorium

The Estonian-flagged Lootus II, a dubious operator documented by Greenpeace fishing in the NAFO area, August 2005, has broken NAFO regulations 7 times in the last 5 years (for example using illegal nets and catching species under moratoria).
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© Greenpeace / Virginia Lee Hunter

Orange roughy and bycatch being hauled in by the Chang Xing in international waters in the Tasman Sea, 9 June 2004.
© 2004-Greenpeace/Roger Grace

11 Jun 11 2004 TASMAN SEA: Rainbow Warrior crew member holds a piece of endangered black coral found in the wake of a bottom trawler.
© GREENPEACE / Grace

That laws are always broken should never prevent their being enacted. If the moratorium is to work effectively, states and regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) will need to be prepared to enforce against instances of non-compliance. Enforcement measures for the moratorium could draw examples from measures already agreed in various multilateral forums – for example, the UN FAO International Plan of Action on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing. (1)

Among the many possible measures that states might take to promote compliance with a UNGA moratorium are:

• denying fishing vessels (and their owner/operators) that breach the moratorium the authorization to fish (by any method and for any species) on the high seas, in Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) or in waters covered by RFMOs (for example, blacklist the vessels and companies);

• denying EEZ fishing permits to vessels that have engaged in high seas bottom trawl fishing and/or establishing as an EEZ permit-condition that vessels not engage in high seas bottom trawl fishing;

• requiring Vessel Monitoring Systems for all vessels licensed to fish on the high seas to enable states to distinguish vessels fishing on the high seas from those fishing in EEZs;

• adopting legislation making it illegal for nationals to re-flag vessels to avoid compliance with the moratorium;

• closing ports to non-complying fishing vessels and to vessels flying the flag of non-complying states, and/or conducting intensive in-port inspections of fishing vessels suspected of non-compliance, including negotiation of intergovernmental port-state enforcement agreements, where desirable;

• outlawing the trans-shipment at sea of any species that could be caught by bottom trawling on the high seas;

• closing markets to fish and fish products of the main deep-sea species caught by bottom trawling (especially orange roughy, alfonsino, roundnose grenadier and blue ling) that do not carry credible certification establishing that the fish/fish products were derived from licensed fishing operations in EEZ waters;

• passing, as necessary, new laws and regulations to ensure effective control over nationals engaged in fishing, especially beyond national jurisdiction;

• exchanging, pooling and publicising information on vessels and companies involved in high seas bottom trawling (including the operators, captains and beneficial owners of such vessels, and those providing banking, insurance and other services to them) to allow appropriate action to be taken; and

• cooperating with coastal states and participating in relevant regional management arrangements to ensure that all states have sufficient capacity to manage and control their coastal and EEZ fisheries and ensure compliance with national regulations and international obligations.

Notes:

UN FAO International Plan of Action on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing was endorsed by the FAO Council at 120th Session in June 2001. Full text available online

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