The Covid-19 pandemic does not appear to have hindered the distant-water fleets of China and other major fishing nations, but it has largely sidelined the fishery observers and port officials who monitor illegal fishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn most of the South Pacific, fishery inspectors cannot come onboard the vessel to do inspections before authorising\u201d the transfer of catch, known as transshipment, says Francisco Blaha<\/a>, a New Zealand-based fisheries adviser.<\/p>\n The presence of independent observers on trawlers is a frontline deterrent to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing<\/a>. A 2016 study<\/a> found that a third of the world\u2019s fish catch is not reported.<\/p>\n \u201cThe absence of observers will bring a level of uncertainly on reporting\u201d catch, adds Blaha. \u201cThe biggest issue we have in the South Pacific is misreporting and underreporting by the licensed fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n This absence comes as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) resumes negotiations in Geneva this month in the latest attempt to reach a consensus on a long-delayed agreement to eliminate harmful subsidies.<\/a> These promote the IUU and over-fishing that is decimating global fish stocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 600 onboard observers in the South Pacific, who monitor the region\u2019s multibillion-dollar tuna fishery dominated by China, have remained onshore since April. That\u2019s when the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission ordered them to return<\/a> to their home ports as the pandemic spread. Observers are currently not due to return to work until November.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what is happening\u201d aboard fishing vessels, notes Blaha.<\/p>\n Normally, vessels in the South Pacific that are purse seining<\/em> are required to come to port to transfer their catch and undergo inspection. But due to the pandemic, some South Pacific island nations are barring vessels from entering their lagoons or prohibiting port officials from boarding ships until crews have quarantined for two weeks.<\/p>\n What is purse seining?<\/p>\n For instance, with the imposition of strict controls at the region\u2019s busiest port in the Marshall Islands, fishing vessels are now transshipping their cargo elsewhere. \u201cMany of them have moved to Kiribati, where they\u2019re allowed to transship in the outside lagoon without formal controls,\u201d says Blaha.<\/p>\n China operates the world\u2019s largest distant-water fleet and its vessels account for 29% of purse seiners and 70% of long-liners operating in the South Pacific, according to Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission<\/a> records.<\/p>\n Blaha says that long-liners fishing within a nation\u2019s territorial waters must come to port to unload catch and be inspected. However, he says that even in pre-pandemic times there were few observers aboard those ships and none on vessels that fish on the high seas beyond national jurisdiction.<\/p>\n The lack of observers on purse seiners means it\u2019s unknown if fishing vessels are complying with regulations that prohibit the use of fish aggregation devices (FADs) during certain times of the year. FADs attract tuna, making them easy to catch, but also result in the inadvertent killing of non-targeted species. For tuna to be sold as sustainable, it must not be caught with FADs. But without observers onboard there has been no independent certification of compliance during the pandemic.<\/p>\n The absence of onboard observers has also eliminated a deterrent against illegal but lucrative shark fishing.<\/p>\n Tang Yi, dean of the College of Marine Culture and Law at Shanghai Ocean University, says the Chinese government has imposed a variety of Covid-related measures on the country\u2019s distant-water fleet. Captains must make daily reports on crew members\u2019 health and take action to reduce \u201cpotential risk of being infected in offshore\u00a0supply activities, transshipment and temporary landing in foreign ports.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut for distant-water fishing fleet, there is no information showing that their fishing activities were seriously affected,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n China\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a 29 March bulletin<\/a> about the pandemic\u2019s impact on fishing. \u201cWith the improvement of the domestic situation in the prevention and control of the\u2026 epidemic, ocean-going fishery companies have resumed work and production,\u201d it stated. \u201cRecently, ocean-going fishing boats have set off in large numbers for production in ocean-going fishing grounds, and signs of illegal production have begun to appear.\u201d<\/p>\n The bulletin also directed captains of boats operating within another country\u2019s territorial waters to abide by local regulations and allow law enforcement to board for inspections.<\/p>\n Tang said China apparently is not barring fishery observers from its fleet, noting his university currently has observers onboard vessels fishing for jellyfish.<\/p>\n But whether observers are onboard distant-water vessels depends on where fleets operate.<\/p>\n The west coast of Africa has been a hotbed of illegal fishing<\/a>. While individual countries can mandate the use of observers, there is not a regional programme like that found in the South Pacific. To compensate for the lack of first-hand data, groups like Stop Illegal Fishing<\/a> rely on satellite tracking and information-sharing among African nations to combat illicit activity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen increased activity of Chinese-flagged\/operated vessels recently \u2013 particularly in Kenya and Somalia,\u201d says Sally Frankcom, communications officer for Stop Illegal Fishing.<\/p>\n In recent years, conservation group Sea Shepherd has dispatched its ships to west Africa to conduct joint patrols<\/a> with national governments to deter illegal fishing. Sea Shepherd vessels are currently patrolling off Liberia and Gabon.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a reduced presence of overseas trawlers in some places and domestic trawlers aren\u2019t going out,\u201d says Captain Peter Hammarstedt of Sea Shepherd. \u201cUsually there\u2019s a big European presence in Gabon.\u201d<\/p>\n The pandemic doesn\u2019t appear to have affected fishing on the high seas. Industrial trawlers can spend months or even years in the remote ocean thanks to refrigerated carrier vessels that rendezvous with them to offload catch and resupply fishing vessels with crew and provisions.<\/p>\n Global Fishing Watch\u2019s new transshipment portal<\/a> tracks encounters between tuna fishing vessels and carrier ships. Between 1 February and 31 May 2020, there were 2,679 likely transshipments for all vessels compared to 2,310 encounters for the same period in 2019. Between China-flagged ships, there were 127 likely transshipments in that 2020 period compared to 54 in 2019.<\/p>\n Covid-19 adds new urgency to a nearly 20-year effort by the WTO to ban subsidies that promote IUU and overfishing. While the pandemic interrupted negotiations, talks that began in September are scheduled to continue with the goal of reaching agreement by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n China has the most at stake because it operates the world\u2019s largest fleet, catches the most fish and issues the most fuel subsidies<\/a> that allow its trawlers to travel to faraway fishing grounds.<\/p>\n A 2018\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0found that without US$4.2 billion in subsidies, more than half of high seas fishing would not be commercially feasible. China alone was responsible for 21% of high seas fishing in 2014 and nearly 19% of global fish catch averaged between 2014 and 2016.<\/p>\n Achieving an agreement on eliminating harmful subsidies requires the unanimous approval of the WTO\u2019s 164 member states.<\/p>\n Still, one close observer of the negotiations, Isabel Jarrett, manager of the Pew Charitable Trusts programme to reduce harmful fishing subsidies, says she remains optimistic that the WTO will reach consensus on rules, called \u201cdisciplines\u201d, for harmful fishing subsidies.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s consensus building around the disciplines for IUU fishing,\u201d says Jarrett.<\/p>\n
\nFishing with a purse seine \u2013 a large, vertically floating net that surrounds shoals. Once the fish are in the net, the base is drawn together, creating a \u2018purse\u2019. Purse seining carries a particular risk of trapping vulnerable species as bycatch.
\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\nObservers left in the dark<\/h2>\n
WTO efforts to end harmful subsidies<\/h2>\n