More than 600 Chinese vessels would fish illegally in the South Pacific

The X Meeting of the Commission of the Regional Fisheries Management Organization of the South Pacific (SPRFMO) that was held recently in order to discuss and approve improvements to the management and conservation measures related to the jumbo flying squid in the South Pacific was restricted in a single installment.

The president of the Committee for the Sustainable Management of the Giant Squid (southcalamasu), Alfonso Miranda He stated that, at present, this fishery has only one management measure that is limited in scope, since it does not limit the fishing effort, in a context of disorderly growth of the Asian distant water fleets, identification of systematic behavior of illegal fishing in Peruvian and Ecuadorian waters.

He added that the minimum acceptable number of observers is not available and it is allowed to transship without control.

In that sense, he said that, at the X Tenth Meeting of the SPRFMO, it was key to address at least some of the fisheries management problems, but no agreements were reached on any of them, leaving, consequently, the giant squid a year more without active fisheries management.

In this regard, he stated that southcalamasuin a statement submitted to the SPRFMOexpressed its deepest disappointment at the lack of adoption of the necessary conservation measures for the sustainable use of Giant Squid (Dosidicus gigas) and at the failure to strengthen existing management measures.

“The precautionary principle, that basic principle of fisheries management that says that the absence of information is not an excuse to stop making urgent decisions, was left aside for another year.he declared.

chinese boats

It should be noted that certain nations with distant water fleets have learned to demand scientific information of the highest quality as a prerequisite for making agreements.

“Unfortunately, they do not want to increase the level of information generated precisely to gradually migrate towards that science-based management that is expected for the giant squid, the most important fishing stock of squid in the world.”, affirmed the fishing leader.

Miranda Eyzaguirre stated that, by accepting such a position, the organization did itself a disservice by voluntarily ignoring the clear mandates established in its own Convention and in International Law, and by choosing to delay, for at least one more year, such urgent actions. .

Consequently, the owner of southcalamasu warned that the jumbo flying squid fishery faces a clear and present danger of continued uncontrolled growth in fishing effort, without a corresponding increase in catch and landings.

“Its sustainability may be compromised beyond repair if this situation is not addressed. Additionally, the absence of conservation measures that are currently in place puts this fishery at risk of being labeled an illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) activity.“, Held.

So much so that, at the present time, Alfonso Miranda denounced that there are 631 Chinese vessels that would be irregularly fishing for Giant Squid in the South Pacific, harming PeruEcuador and Chile.

At the meeting, several member countries presented carefully crafted proposals to amend some of the problems identified in the conservation and management measures related to jumbo flying squid, such as limiting transshipment at sea, expanding the coverage of observers on board and closing the registration of new squid fishing vessels in the SPRFMO Registry for distant water flag States.

Miranda Eyzaguirre noted that Calamasur endorsed and supported these efforts through several clear, brief and respectful interventions throughout the discussions.

With regard to one of these proposals in particular, Calamasur expressed concern about the refusal, based on flimsy arguments, to allow Peru to expand its national observer program, which would improve data collection and control of fishing vessels. Peruvian flag squid.

The head of Calamasur maintained that, in the next edition, they continue to persevere in the search for approval of fisheries management measures for the most important giant squid fishery in the world, in which Latin American countries such as Chile, Ecuador and Peru they are responsible for 65% of their catches.

“A fishery as important as this cannot continue for much longer without being managed.”, he sentenced.

Data

• Annual exports of Giant Squid from Peru amount to US$ 800 million.
• Spain, China, South Korea, Thailand and Mexico are the main countries that acquire the Peruvian marine product.