Environmentalists demand end to Ross Sea fishing

 

Michael Field

An international coalition of environmental organisations is demanding an end to fishing in the Ross Sea south of New Zealand following two major accidents in the last month. 

"The Ross Sea should not be sacrificed for the short-term gain of fishing companies and wealthy consumers in a few countries," Jim Barnes of the Washington based Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition says. The comment came after the Russian flagged Sparta hit and iceberg in the Ross Sea on December 16 but was eventually saved while the Korean flagged Jeong Woo 2 caught fire on January 10, killing three. In 2010, Korean flagged No 1 Insung sank, killing 22 people. All the boats were chasing lucrative toothfish which is sold almost exclusively in top end US restaurants. 

Neither Sparta nor Jeong Woo were was ice-strengthened, norwere they carrying sufficient spare equipment needed to dealwith an emergency in the inhospitable Antarctic marine environment. "Both were engaged in the 'Olympic' fishery established for the Ross Sea, which encourages vessels to go anywhere they want without regard to their vessels' limitations or risks to their crews in order to get the maximum amount of the overall toothfish quota," Barnes says. 

The coalition wants a network of Marine Protected Areas being designated by the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Antarctic waters include the Ross Sea shelf and slope, which should be putoff limits to fishing as a no-take marine reserve. 

"The Ross Sea is a scientific and ecological treasure for the world now and a legacy that we can leave for future generations. 

"Its largest predator fish - the Antarctic toothfish - is being fished down rapidly." 

The coalition includes Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, Pew Environment Group, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Friends of the Earth, Humane Society International, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and ECO-New Zealand. Cath Wallace of ECO-New Zealand says the history of fishing vessel accidents and losses of life in the Ross Sea since fishing was allowed there in 1997 is unacceptable." 

"Permitting fishing for Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea puts at risk human life and the biodiversity and special qualities of the Ross Sea ecosystem both directly and through accidents." 

The coalition wants a new Polar Shipping Code being negotiated by the International Maritime Organization to be expanded to cover fishing vessels, and that non-ice-strengthened fishing vessels be prohibited from entering dangerous Antarctic waters. 

The coalition's IMO representative Sian Prior says the code sets higher standards for all vessels operating in remote and hazardous Arctic and Antarctic waters. 

"At present the governments have decided to leave fishing vessels to a later phase of the negotiations, which would mean many years will pass before appropriate regulations are introduced for those vessels." 

The coalition says the Ross Sea possesses a high level of habitat diversity, with an unusually robust pelagic assemblage of numerous large fish, sea birds, penguins, pinnipeds and whales. It provides habitat for large percentages of the world's populations of many higher trophic level species, including 26 percent of emperor penguins, 30 percent of Antarctic petrels, 38 percent of Adelie penguins, 45 percent of South Pacific Weddell seals and 50 percent of Ross Sea killer whales. 

18 January 2012