Australia Asks CITES to Safeguard Toothfish

By Mark Schulman

CANBERRA, Australia, October 22, 2002 (ENS) - In its effort to protect the Patagonian toothfish from illegal fishing in Antarctic waters, Australia is seeking to have the deep sea species protected under international law.

Earlier this year, Australian Environment Minister Dr. David Kemp announced that his country would nominate the Patagonian Toothfish under Appendix II of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) when Parties to the treaty meet in Chile November 3 to 15.

Australian Environment Minister David Kemp (Photo courtesy Office of the Minister)

Supporting the move are several international environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, the Humane Society International, WWF Australia, and the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.

“We can only hope that a combination of pressure through concerted international diplomacy, stronger international legal protection and on the ground enforcement will finally bring about the poachers undoing,” said Nicola Beynon, a wildlife campaigner with the Australian branch of Humane Society International.

A CITES Appendix II listing applies to species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but that may become so unless trade is controlled. Species listed under Appendix II must be accompanied by an appropriate CITES export permit issued by the exporting country before entry to the importing country will be allowed.

Appendix I, on the other hand, includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in these species, such as the African elephant, mountain gorillas, and the Australian dugong are permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

Patagonian toothfish (Photo courtesy TRAFFIC Toothfish Report)

According to Australian government officials, a total of 200 metric tons of Patagonian Toothfish, worth about US$1.3 million, was confiscated from the two ships.

The ships and crew members are still in custody pending a court hearing in November. In the meantime, the Supreme Court of Western Australia has recently increased the bail for the Russian captain and three Spanish crew of the Volga from US$37,500 to US$137,500 per person, while the three crew members from the Lena were fined US$50,000. Those in custody will not be permitted to leave Australian jurisdiction until cash deposits for the bail are received.

“The court decision has the effect of amplifying the government’s serious position on illegal fishing and ensuring that justice proceeds,” said Australian Fisheries Minister Senator Ian Macdonald.

Australian Fisheries Minister Senator Ian Macdonald (Photo courtesy Office of the Minister)

As a result, the Australian government is increasing surveillance and enforcement of the sub-Antarctic waters surrounding the Heard Island and McDonald Islands fishery to minimize illegal catches of the valuable toothfish.

The fisheries around Heard and McDonald Islands, where the two ships were caught, are worth some US$15 million a year to legal Australian fishing operators, according to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.

But its remoteness creates logistical problems for Australian protection, which illegal fishing boats often try to exploit. Other territories in the region, such as the French island of Kergeulen, have faced similar incursions by illegal operators.

This is not the first time foreign trawlers have been caught fishing illegally in Australian waters. A Togo registered vessel, the South Tomi, was caught with a US$800,000 haul taken from the Australian Fishing Zone around the Australian territory of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

The South Tomi (left) in custody of the Australian government-chartered vessel Southern Supporter returning from South Africa to Australia (Photo courtesy Australian Fisheries Management Authority)

It appears that the seizure of the two Russian flagged vessels is just the tip of the iceberg. According to Greenpeace Australia, the Lena and the Volga are but two of many pirate fishing vessels poaching the Patagonian toothfish.

“We estimate that at least 30 vessels are currently operating in the southern Indian Ocean, but there are obviously more vessels that we don’t know about,” Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Quentin Hanich said in an interview.

“It’s great to catch one ship, but what about the ones that get away?” he queried.

A report by the wildlife trade monitoring organization, TRAFFIC, stated the total trade in unprocessed toothfish for 1999-2000 was as high as 59,000 metric tons. Up to 33,000 tons of this amount were caught by pirate ships like the Lena and the Volga and sold in poorly regulated ports in such countries as Mauritius, Namibia, Uruguay, and increasingly in Indonesia.

The catches then make their way to overseas markets, particularly Japan, the United States and Europe, where they are incorrectly, but cleverly, marketed by fish retailers to unsuspecting customers as Chilean sea bass in the U.S., Australian or Antarctic sea bass in the UK, Mero in Japan, or Légine Austral in France.

Other known importing countries are Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, and China.

Hong Kong and Thailand are emerging as new destinations for the processing and consumption of the delicious and lucrative toothfish.

The Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) is not even related to the sea bass family. Rather, it is a demersal species found at or near the sea bottom. It lives in water up to 3,500 meters deep, primarily off islands in the southern oceans close to Antarctica.

Like other deep sea fish, very little is known about the toothfish. It is known that they have a lifespan of up to 50 years, but do not start spawning until they are 10 to 12 years of age.

Toothfish are one of the two largest species of fish occurring in the Antarctic, reaching up to 2.2 meters (7 feet) in length and up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) in weight.

As a result of illegal fishing, particularly the overfishing of juvenile fish, many scientists believe that the Patagonian toothfish will be commercially extinct in several years, very much like that of the marbled rockcod and the mackerel icefish.

After just two years of pirate fishing of Patagonian toothfish around Crozet Island, southeast of South Africa, the fishery has already reached its point of commercial extinction.

Drowned albatross caught on a pelagic longline (Photo by G. Robertson courtesy Australian Antarctic Division)

“The fish stocks are basically just on the way down, and that is largely a result of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing,” Greenpeace campaigner Hanich stressed.

“You will never solve IUU fishing in the Southern Antarctic at sea, it is just too big and too remote,” he said.

In 1979, the Australian government created a fishing zone to manage and conserve the fisheries and other marine life within 200 nautical miles from its shores. This includes the waters surrounding Australia’s offshore territories of Cocos, Christmas, Norfolk, Macquarie, Heard and McDonald Islands.

In addition, the 1982 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), was set up by concerned parties, including Australia, to manage the Southern Ocean ecosystem around Antarctica.

CCAMLR has made an attempt to monitor the toothfish trade under its Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS), but as many of the trading nations involved are non-signatories to the convention, regulation is difficult.

Sea bass for sale in Canada (Photo courtesy WWF-Canada)

According to Humane Society International, the CITES listing is designed to provide additional trade controls to support existing measures under the CCAMLR agreement and to plug current loopholes available for poachers to ply their illegal catch.

Combining forces with the legal Australian fishing industry, whose livelihood is on the line, conservationists are working on a global lobbying effort to support the Australian government’s campaign to get the toothfish listed.

“Australia's attempts to protect this fish, and their own legitimate industry, and their efforts to find a global solution to the problem, should be supported by all nations around the world - those that harvest the fish and those that consume it,” said Susan Lieberman, director of the World Wildlife Federation’s international species program.

If the CITES nomination is successful, the 160 countries that are signatories to the Convention would be able to impose strict trade regulation on toothfish cargoes entering international ports and demand proper certification to ensure that the catch is legal.

But getting a CITES listing requires time and intense political lobbying. There is also staunch opposition, especially from countries like Japan who do not want to see any commercial marine fish listed that might jeopardize their profitable fishing industry.

The upcoming CITES Conference of the Parties opens in two weeks in Santiago, Chile which has an interest in toothfish conservation. The Patagonian toothfish was virtually unknown until Chilean fishers caught a specimen in the deep waters in the Southern Ocean off Chile in 1982. Since then “Chilean sea bass” quickly became popular on many high end restaurant menus.

Toothfish are so valuable in the fishing industry that they are known as “white gold.” The Australian government estimates that pirate fishing is worth about US$90 million a year, although many believe it to be much higher. A single sashimi-grade Patagonian toothfish can fetch up to US$1,000.

With prices like this, it is no wonder that illegal fishers continue to poach, even with the risk of getting caught. Still, the apprehension of the two Russian pirate ships, and a possible international trade regulation of the species, may send a strong deterrent message to the future Lenas and Volgas of the world to stop plundering the treasures of the Southern Ocean.