Other international developments: The rise and fall of the Patagonian toothfish - Food for thought

Environmental Policy and Law

Volumn 27, Issue 5, 1997, Pages 401-407

  Lugten, Gail L ^a  

^a EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FISHERY MANAGEMENT; INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS; RESOURCE CONSERVATION;

SOUTHERN OCEAN;

DISSOSTICHUS ELEGINOIDES;

EID: 0031284595     PISSN: 0378777X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3233/epl-1997-27503     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Rich concentrations of toothfish are suspected to be around Australia's Macquarie, Heard and McDonald islands, France's Crozet and Kerguelen islands, and Britain's South Georgia.
2. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 908, Summary Information on the Role of International Fishery and Other Bodies with Regard to the Conservation and Management of Living Resources of the High Seas, FIPL/C908, p. 81. Straddling stocks are defined in Article 63 of the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention as stocks occurring within the exclusive economic zone of two or more coastal States or both within the exclusive economic zone and in an area beyond and adjacent to it.
3. Lilley R. France, Britain Send Warships to Hall Toothfish Poaching in The Associated Press, 1st May, 1997. Lilley cites Commandant Bernard O'Mahoney, spokesperson for France's Marine National as describing the toothfish market in Japan as "almost worth bars of gold". Mero sells in Japanese supermarkets for $US 17-00 per kilogram. The fish is usually boiled with soy and sugar, or it is roasted.
4. Field M., of Agence France-Presse in 001 PAC: Valuable Fish Species Being Plundered in Southern Ocean, 18th May, 1997 Cites South African sources as saying that the average toothfish caught is getting smaller. He also quotes Don Robertson of New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research who says that no one knows the size of the toothfish stocks. Accuracy of scientific data on stocks, and the role that a specific species plays in the ecosystem have always been difficult issues in managing the coldest, wildest, most isolated, and most vulnerable ecoystem on the planet.
5. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (done at Montego Bay, Jamaica) 10th December, 1982, and entering into force on the 16th November, 1994. Reprinted in (1982) 21 International Legal Materials 1261-1354. See also Article 1 of the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas of 29th April, 1958 at 559 UNTS 285.
6. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (done at Montego Bay, Jamaica) 10th December, 1982, and entering into force on the 16th November, 1994. Reprinted in (1982) 21 International Legal Materials 1261-1354. See also Article 1 of the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas of 29th April, 1958 at 559 UNTS 285.
7. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (done at Montego Bay, Jamaica) 10th December, 1982, and entering into force on the 16th November, 1994. Reprinted in (1982) 21 International Legal Materials 1261-1354. See also Article 1 of the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas of 29th April, 1958 at 559 UNTS 285.
8. Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine and Living Resources, (done at Canberra, Australia) 7-20 May, 1980 and entering into force 7th April, 1982. Reprinted in (1980) 19 International Legal Materials 837. Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (also known as CCAMLR, and based in Hobart, Australia) are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, European Economic Community, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.
9. Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine and Living Resources, (done at Canberra, Australia) 7-20 May, 1980 and entering into force 7th April, 1982. Reprinted in (1980) 19 International Legal Materials 837. Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (also known as CCAMLR, and based in Hobart, Australia) are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, European Economic Community, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.
10. Upton S., New Zealand Associate Foreign Minister to AFP 19th May, 1997, 001 PAC: Fishing Piracy Around Antarctica Shadows Treaty Meeting.
11. AP/AFP Press Release, 001 PAC: Opening Round of Ba ttle for Toothfish in Antarctic, 30th April, 1997.
12. Lilley R., supra, fn.3. The same article quotes New Zealand fishery resource specialists as observing that vessels from the United States and Japan are also reported to have been reflagging.
13. AFP Press Release 001 PAC "Valuable Fish Species Being Plundered in Southern Ocean" 18th May, 1997. The bulletin quotes Stuart Prior, head of the Antarctic Policy Unit at Foreign Affairs and Trade, as stating, "CCAMLR worked well while nobody wanted to fish there, but now it might prove to be a Maginot Line, outflanked by flags of convenience ...You cannot manage an ecosystem if large chunks are being taken."
14. AAP Press Release 001 FED: Illegal Fishing Concern in Australian Antarctic Waters, 5th May, 1997. The article cites AFMA General Manager for Operations, Geoff Rohan. On the subject of the environmental impact of longlining, Greenpeace writes "The Wanderung Albatross ist just one of the victims. Lured by the 100 km trails of bait wound out by aptly named "longline" fishing vessels, these majestic birds are hooked by the beak and dragged to their deaths. Already an endangered species the Wandering Albatross faces imminent extinction. In the last two years only 16-20 breeding pairs have been observed on Macquarie Island. Of the 14 species of albatross in the Southern Ocean, 12 are adversely affected by longline fishing. Scientists conservatively estimate 44,000 albatrosses are killed each year in this way. It's highly likely the actual number is at least double this. As albatross numbers decline by 10% each year, the species is being literally decimated." (Boekenstein B., Chief Executive Officer of Greenpeace, circular to members, May, 1997).
15. It should also be noted that the term "depredation" in Article 101(a) is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as "plundering/destruction".
16. FAO Conference, Twenty-seventh Session, Rome 6-25 November, 1993, C93/REP/11 Revision of C93/III/REP/2, 23rd November, 1993.
17. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 908, supra, fn.2, p. 12
18. Ibid, p.6.
19. Ibid.
20. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 908, supra, fn.2, pp.7-8.
21. Also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis (Leeward Islands, West Indies).
22. Also known as Burma. In 1988-9 the Law and Order Restoration Council changed the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar because the English version of the official name was based on "Bama", only one of the country's many ethnic groups. The new name is not yet universally known and/or accepted.
23. NZPA Press Release 001 PAC "Talks Over Toothfish Concerns" 20th May, 1997.
24. Press Release, supra, fn. 7.
25. AFP Press Release 001 PAC "Norway Embarrassed As Toothflsh Plunder Outlined" 29th May, 1997.
26. Ibid.
27. The author acknowledges Information from news media, and ATCM XXII material made available by Peter Boyer and Ian Hay of the Australian Antarctic Division Headquarters in Hobart, Australia.
28. Antarctic Treaty of 1st December, 1959, entering into force 23rd June, 1961. Refer 402 UNTS 71. On the subject of defining the geographic boundaries of the region, Joyner C.C. in Antarctica and the Law of the Sea (Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1992) writes at p. 1: "The most appropriate oceanographic boundary for designating the northern periphery of the Antarctic is the Subtropical/Subantarctic Convergence. This oceanic zone is situated around 400 latitude and demarcates the point where northern, warmer surface waters initially meet southern, colder surface waters."
29. Ibid, 223-4.
30. Emphasis by this author.
31. The biological regime is defined in Article I paragraph 4 of CCAMLR which provides: The Antarctic Convergence shall be deemed to be a line joining the following points along parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude: 50°S,0°; 50°5,30°E; 45°S,30°E; 45°S,80°E; 55°S,80°E; 55°S,150°E; 60°S,150°E; 60°S,50°W; 50°S,50°W; 50°S,0°.
32. Article II, paragraphs 1 and 2.
33. Article IX. The Commission is based in Hobart, Australia.
34. Article XII, paragraph 1.
35. Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is the central pivot around which all aspects of environmental law are henceforth to be resolved. The concept is based on the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report (World Commission on Environment and Development [WCED] Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, 1987). In 1988 the FAO (ad hoc) Working Group on Sustainable Development defined the term as "the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable." (FAO Council, Ninety-fourth Session, Rome, 15-25 November, 1988, CL/94/6, September 1988, para.5)
36. Division 58.5.2 takes in most of the Australian Fishery Zone around Heard and McDonald Islands, and a large section of high seas to the west, as well as a smaller piece of high seas to the north east. FAO boundaries are the same as those of CCAMLR.
37. Joyner, supra, fn. 25, 234-5. Refer also to Beddington J.R., Basson M., and Gulland J.A., "The Practical Implications of the Eco-System Approach in CCAMLR" in (1990) 10 International Challenges (Newsletter from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute) 17 at 19.
38. Ibid.
39. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) of Rio de Janeiro, June 1992. See Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration. (Grubb M., Koch M., Thomson K., Munson A., Sullivan F., The Earth Summit Agreements: A Guide und Assessment, Earthscan Publications, London, 1993. p. 85)
40. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) of Rio de Janeiro, June 1992. See Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration. (Grubb M., Koch M., Thomson K., Munson A., Sullivan F., The Earth Summit Agreements: A Guide und Assessment, Earthscan Publications, London, 1993. p. 85)
41. Joyner, supra, in. 25, p. 244.
42. Ibid, 245-246.
43. CCAMLR-VIII, Annex G, paragraphs 134-140.
44. Mfodwo K., and Tsamenyi B.M., "Enforcement of Marine Fisheries Law and Regulations: A Case Study of Papua New Guinea in International and Comparative Perspective" in Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Project No.8298, pp. 186-7.
45. Upton S., supra, fn. 7.
46. Information provided by Peter Boyer and Ian Hay of the Australian Antarctic Division Headquarters, Hobart, Tasmania. Further details are not yet appropriate public discussion.
47. A similar system exists with some regional fishery organisations with regard to tuna.
48. NZPA Press Release 002 PAC: Five Countries Join Forces to Stop Toothfish Piracy, 22nd May, 1997.