Expert view on the IUU fishing

Industry ecologists and FSA prepared a number of proposals for prevention of IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing in the future https://fishnews.ru/news/42244 — the article was published on the industry online news outlet of the media holding Fishnews.ru

National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing was published in early 2013. In late 2015, the Government approved a list of plan implementation measures. At the same time, a single term is set – 2020 – for all performance targets in the document.

ПIt's time to prepare a new plan or renew the current one, ecologists and representatives of the fishing industry note. Proposals for improving the document were prepared by Senior Advisor to the Sustainable Marine Fisheries Program of WWF-Russia  Konstantin Zgurovsky, Director of Environmental Governance Program (WWF-Russia) Tatiana Shuvalova, and President of the Fishery Shipowners Association  Alexey Osintsev.

Experts recommend conducting an external assessment of efficiency of the satellite monitoring system Gonets. .

The publication for Fishnews also notes that the time has come to install technical audio and video recording equipment on vessels, the means of accumulating the necessary information and remote access to it. The authors of the article also support the  active introduction of an electronic fishing log (EFL).

Special attention has been given to the work of scientific observers on vessels. Experts propose to nationally approve the regulation on the observing system and status of observers. “An appropriate organization of observations will not only increase the efficiency of work on identifying and interdicting cases of IUU fishing, but can also provide a significant improvement in the quality of information and data used for science-based control of fisheries”, the article says.

The next point, in the opinion of the team of authors, should be the reduction of bycatch and discards of juveniles, non-target and less valuable species; and a more accurate assessment of the catch (catch weighting and improvement of fishing gear).

According to the authors of the publication, there is a need to change over from the catch accounting system based on accounting of product output to direct accounting. It is proposed to use weighing conveyors for this. To reduce juvenile bycatch, it is necessary to continue the development and testing of a  new trawl sorting system in the walleye pollock fishery, the authors stressed.

In addition, they consider it necessary to conduct studies on the correspondence of fishing capacity of the vessels used and the size of fish stocks in the main fishing areas; and also to provide the public with access to information on the quantitative and qualitative composition of the fishing fleet contained in the State Fisheries Register.

The authors drew attention to Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMO). “Russia, as a member of various RFMOs, should cooperate more actively on a bilateral and multilateral basis with other RFMO member countries to oust poaching vessels both from areas under national jurisdiction and validity areas of various international agreements,” the experts said.

Also, in their view, the principles of precautionary and ecosystem approaches should be enshrined in the Federal Law on Fisheries and Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources. According to the authors of the article, it is necessary to enlarge the scientific materials substantiating the values of the total allowable catch (TAC). They should contain data on the impact of fishing on juveniles, non-target or less valuable species.

Representatives of WWF and FSA believe that fisheries management should be based on the long-term rights of fishermen to resources (the so-called right-based management). Such a basis encourages fishermen to “upgrade production facilities for ultra-processing, improve fishing techniques, and reduce environmental impact,” the article says.

Other recommendations relate to more active public participation in fisheries management with the discussion of the TAC recommendations at basin research fisheries councils, the development of fishery protection both at the federal and regional levels, the imposing of barriers to poaching products, the development of an effective mechanism for catch traceability.

Full text available in the "Close-up" section on the Fishnews website.