Dear Sir,
I am writing in response to the article on page 12 of the September issue (to read the article click here) concerning the jack mackerel fishery in the South East Pacific. The article is long on purple prose and very short on fact.
As well as negotiating the Convention, which will establish a South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, the participating governments have agreed to apply interim management measures that provide a number of controls on the fisheries in the high seas of the South Pacific. You can find further details about the consultations, the interim management measures, and information about the fishery on the website www.southpacificrfmo.org.
For pelagic fisheries, including the jack mackerel fishery to the west of Chile, participants are required to limit the size of their fleets in 2008 and 2009 to that fishing in 2007. The fleet size is measured as the aggregate gross tonnage. All the vessels are required to report to their government using a satellite vessel monitoring system and are subject to an observer program.
In 2008 in addition to vessels from Chile, 28 mid-water trawlers from Belize, China, European Community, Faroe Islands, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and Vanuatu fished in the high seas off the coast of South America. A far cry from your reported 100 factory trawlers.
None of the vessels in the area in 2008 and 2009 are from North Korea, Poland, Cuba, or Spain.
None of the comments of the two people you reported are substantiated in any way, and they seem to be made to influence the treaty negotiations rather to provide any useful information.
Yours faithfully
Robin Allen, Executive Secretary, Consultations on the Establishment of the proposed South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation
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Dear Mr Allen,
After consulting with our usually reliable source – the Chilean Artisan Fishermen’s Confederation - they have admitted that the figures they provided us with were rather vague and global, as the fishing vessels they reported as factory trawlers, included purse seiners and stern trawlers, including the Chile and Peru fleets.
This gives a total of 97 vessels fishing for jack mackerel and swordfish off Chile’s coastline, confirmed by the Chilean Navy, and the Navy has confirmed 11 Chinese trawlers both fishing outside Chile’s EEZ and using the Chilean ports of Arica, Iquique, Tocopilla and Coquimbo for crew changes and taking on fuel, supplies and others, added to the other foreign vessels - including Spanish, Cuban and Polish vessels - who deny fishing activities.
The bee in their bonnet is the reduced fishing quotas for jack mackerel Chilean coastal fishermen have been allotted, so they see ALL industrial fishing vessels as “enemies”.
Finally, Chilean coastal fishermen agree that the only solution for stock conservation is an effective SPRFO with the power to control fishing vessels on the high seas.
Sincerely,
