WWF welcomes the adoption of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing at the 36th FAO Conference on November 23, 2009. IUU fishing is one of the largest threats to sustainable fisheries and as such also to coastal livelihoods and economies. Current estimated value of IUU losses worldwide is between USD10 billion and USD23 billion annually.
To be effective, this important Agreement must be brought into force, be fully implemented and made universally applicable as soon as possible. To this end, WWF urges to contribute to such early and effective implementation by Ratifying the Agreement as a matter of urgency and urging fellow states to similarly become party to the new Agreement.
WWF welcomes the willingness of Rosrybolovstvo (Russian Federal Fishery Agency) to be one of the first countries to sign it.
"Russia can be one of the first countries to sign the agreement," said the Director of the Center for Public Relations of Rosrybolovstvo, Alexander Savelyev. "This is the first international agreement in a world history of fishery which involves the legal framework to fight efficiently IUU fishing on a global scale. Rosrybolovstvo highlights the need for the quickest stop of the illegal fishing and will do its best to ensure that Russia joins this agreement among one of the first countries".
"WWF paid a great attention to a serious threat of the overfishing and illegal trading of the marine living resources," says Konstantin Zgurovsky, Head of the WWF Russia marine programme. "WWF research showed the following numbers: overfishing in 2001-2005 for Pollock - 166-280 thousand tons, Far Eastern salmon – in 2001-2006 – around 53-153 thousand tons, crab - in 2000-2006 – from 52 to 9 thousand tons.
"Illegal cod catch in Barents Sea in 2005 was estimated to be more than 100 thousand tons but after adoption of number of measures against poachers – this number dropped. However, some experts reckon that this is due to a redirection of the illegal product flows to other ports".
Russian government adopted a resolution on the obligatory call of the Russian ships with export products to Russian ports, which decreased the volume of the IUU products delivery. More strict tracking measures are being elaborated – re-enforcement of the satellite tracking system of the fishery, electronic logbook, etc.
"We've prepared specific suggestions to fight illegal fishing: satellite tracking of the fishing vessels, system of the observers and establishing of the scales to weigh the catch and placing the surveillance cameras on board, more strict control in ports, ecological certification of the fishery – as a measure that gives benefits on the market for those fishermen not violating the law," says Konstantin Zgurovsky.
"Responsible fishery managers already understand that IUU fishery undermine the stocks, cast down the prices on the markets, and we are ready to cooperate with them and authorised bodies in preventing, deterring, and eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing."
World community acknowledges the importance of the port control as an efficient tool to fight illegal fishing. The rules on port control introduced by EU will also prevent the illegal products delivery to Europe. However, there are still problems with the ships going under so-called flags of convenience.
A ship is said to be flying a flag of convenience if it is registered in a foreign country for purposes of reducing operating costs or avoiding government regulations. WWF supports the suggestion of Russia's importance to sign the Agreement on the flags of convenience adopted by FAO in 1993 and WWF, as a large international conservation organisation, is ready to actively participate in finding solution to the problem.
