Poaching on massive scale: Lanka can still build sustainable fishing industry

February 21, 2012, 12:00 pm 

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a worldwide multi-million dollar criminal, destructive, and dirty business, which if left unchecked will continue to undermine the efforts made by coastal states such as Sri Lanka to protect and preserve their marine inheritance. So what can we do about it? What can be done? There are answers, says John Church, an International Fisheries and Maritime Security Expert, delivering a lecture on ‘Protecting and Safeguarding Sri Lanka’s Oceans for the Benefit of the Present and Future Generations’ at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies, "The Lighthouse" 24, Horton Place.

It is reported that over 600 foreign vessels are in Sri Lankan waters at any given time.

The text of his lecture follows:

During my lecture I will discuss the benefits of fully integrated VMS, MCS and FMPP programmes. The VMS is Vessel Monitoring System. MCS is Monitor Control and Surveillance system and FMPP is Fisheries Management Protection Programme. The benefits of the implementation of the above programmes include on the technical side: Coastal and EEZ Security, as already explained the EEZ covers the first 200 miles outside the coast of Sri Lanka; Port and Ship Security; Fishery Management, including IUU - Illegal Unreported and Unregulated - fishing and other activity on the sea; Vessel Tracking Systems; Illegal Dumping; and Smuggling. Then on the financial side: Licence Revenue; Attract Inward Investment for Fish Industry Infrastructure; Increased Foreign Market from a Sustainable Fishery; Increased Local Employment; and Ship Supply Services. And finally on the political aspect: the Setting up of Fishery Protection Force; Less Political Sensitivity to Neighbouring States; Opportunity to Cooperate with Other Indian Ocean States for a Fully Integrated Fishery and Security policy; and Support to Sri Lankan Navy and Coastguard.

First of all, who am I and what am I doing here? I am a Fisheries and Maritime Security Expert. My team and I have worldwide experience in the consultation, background research, implementation and operation of VMS, MCS, and FMPP installations worldwide including the UK, USA and the following countries: Cyprus, Republic of Ireland, Equatorial Guinea, Falklands, Ghana, Greece, Indonesia, Liberia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, St Helena, Sierra Leone, Puntland State of Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Yemen.

The EEZ of Sri Lanka is classified as number 57 in the East Indian Ocean. The EEZ is marked in blue; compare that to the landmass of Sri Lanka, and you will get some idea on the benefit and the size together with the value of it. This is more than the EEZ of Iceland, Japan, Myanmar, Malaysia and many other countries’ EEZ. Sri Lanka as an island has over 500,000 square kilometres under its EEZ. It is an extremely valuable EEZ, rich in fish resources both indigenous and migratory and other resources such as gas, oil, and seabed minerals.

Let me just give you some key facts. There is strong international pressure for all coastal states to adopt sustainable fishery policies within their EEZs. Import licences to the valuable markets of the EU and US are not issued unless compliance towards achieving the above principle is in place. As reported in Charles Clovers documentary film, "The End of the Line", unless dramatic measures are introduced to conserve fish stocks the oceans will be mud and water within 20 years. Charles Clovers is an investigative journalist with the Daily Telegraph and what he has stated is not exaggeration but fact.

Fishermen are by nature very greedy people, unlike farmers who give back their soil. The fishermen’s attitude is ‘I’ll catch it now, if not someone else would take it - so I’ll benefit’. I have a copy of this book and if anybody wants to have a look at it after the presentation s/he would be most welcome. You would be horrified by some of the statistics he comes up with.

As it has already been stated, there is no established VMS, MCS, or FMPP in place for proper control and management for the exploration, exploitation, and conservation of the natural resources – both living and non-living – in the Sri Lankan EEZ. Think about that for a minute and think about the impact of not having a proper method to monitor your fishing resources. This has caused difficulties in managing its fish resources, especially in preventing poaching by foreign fishing vessels. The need to do something was first identified back in 1998 - fourteen years ago. Coincidentally, this is when I first visited Sri Lanka to propose implementing methods of FMPP. Progress is now being made which is to be applauded. I think one has to grab the opportunity now and do something about it. Now seems to be the right time with the political momentum prevalent to do something.

Up to 2.4 million people are dependent on fishing and related industries. The EEZ is rich in natural resources including fish, oil, gas, and minerals. The EEZ can supply the nutritional needs of a significant proportion of the population. However, the fish resource is being indiscriminately plundered by foreign vessels. A recent FAO report indicates that up to 17,000 vessels were fishing illegally in Sri Lanka’s EEZ over a five-month period. Imagine that; 17,000 vessels stealing fish that belongs to you. This is a staggering figure.

Illegal, unregulated fishing…

So what is IUU? It is illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The definition of IUU is fishing in areas under national jurisdiction without the authorisation of the coastal state. Fishing which contravenes or undermines conservation and management. Failure to effectively exercise the required jurisdiction or control over vessels and nationals, and the failure to fully and accurately meet fishery and fishing vessel data collection and reporting requirements.

Illegal fishing refers to: activities conducted by national or foreign vessels in waters under the jurisdiction of a state, without the permission of that state, or in contravention of its laws and regulations, conducted by vessels flying the flag of states that are parties to a relevant regional fisheries management organisations but operate in contravention of the conservation and management measures adopted by that organisation and by which the states are bound by relevant provisions of the applicable international law, in violation of national laws or international obligations, including those undertaken by cooperating states to a relevant regional fisheries management organisation. There are several of these around the world and are considered comprehensive organisations.

Unreported fishing refers to: fishing activities which have not been reported or have been misreported to the relevant national authority, in contravention of national laws and regulations – of you go out and you catch 20 tonnes of fish and you report only one tonne of fish - undertaken in the area of competence of a relevant regional fisheries management organisation which have not been reported or have been misreported, in contravention of the reporting procedures of that organisation.

And finally unregulated fishing refers to: fishing activities in the area of application of a relevant regional fisheries management organisation that are conducted by vessels without nationality. Flying the flag of a state not party to that organisation or by a fishing in a manner that is not consistent with or contravenes the conservation and management measures of that organisation; or in areas or for fish stocks in relation to which there are no applicable conservation or management measures and where such fishing activities are conducted in a manner inconsistent with state responsibilities for the conservation of living marine resources under international law.

As I said over a five month period there were some 17,000 fishing vessels reported to have been detected in the Lankan EEZ illegally. It is also estimated that there are over 600 IUU vessels fishing at any one time. Some the name of some IUU vessels are covered and there is no ID mark. Both are required under international law but both are sometimes missing from these vessels – because they do not want to be identified.

What are the real-time consequences of IUU? We’ve heard about some of them but let me emphasise them: loss of fish resources, loss of employment, loss of nutritional resources, damage to fertile fishing and spawning grounds, coastal states unable to strategically plan future development of their fish industries, and loss of life - this might sound dramatic but this is quite common in the coastlines of Africa where IUU vessels routinely run down struggling fishermen, and they are left to drown and they disappear to the high seas. IUU is a very serious and a potential catastrophic global problem.

Financial implications...

To emphasise the financial implications: loss of foreign licence revenue, loss of transhipment revenues, loss of landing fees, loss of fish processing revenue - if they take your fish, you don’t own it, you don’t process it, and therefore you don’t sell it to the worldwide market, loss of export markets, loss of foreign currency from exports, loss of tourist revenue – scuba diving, whale watching, and other forms of attraction. Most recently there was a film on blue whales living on the southeast coast of Sri Lanka and attracting quite a lot of tourists. That in itself as Asanga Abeyagoonesekera (Executive Director, Kadirgamar Institute) and I were discussing, needs to be regulated as well.

Other consequences include little or limited checks on smuggling both contraband and people, damage to seabed from the use of illegal equipment - can you imagine illegal dredging for scallops - a similar thing to a farm harrow which is the size of this room being dragged along the seabed damaging everything on its way, reduction in the biodiversity, illegal dumping at sea - there is an example of this off the Somali coast and it was recently reported that there was illegal dumping of nuclear waste off the sea of the Somali coast and we all know what the consequences of that are.

In summary IUU is a worldwide multi-million dollar criminal, destructive, and dirty business, which if left unchecked will continue to undermine the efforts made by coastal states such as Sri Lanka to protect and preserve their marine inheritance. So what can we do about it? What can be done? There are answers.

The first one is the VMS. The Vessel Monitoring system. A VMS will provide co-operative tracking of Sri Lankan vessels - it consists of fishing vessels being equipped with a satellite tracking device hence co-operative. It requires no input from crews nor any training, Communications system – say Inmarsat, but others are equally effective, Control Centre – Maritime Map based viewing station and database Vessel Display units for Catch Reporting, Zone & Alert Management, Weather updates and the Control Centre for up to 3000 vessels is likely to be PC Server based, with Web Access for localised viewing. It can be programmed to automatically warn crews straying out of their own EEZ thereby reducing repatriation costs, which is quite a significant problem between India and yourselves.

The tools for fighting the menace...

However, It must be stressed that VMS is only one of many tools that can be employed.

By itself VMS is not capable of detecting fishing vessels operating without a licence. On its own its of limited value and tells you only where your own vessels are and they are legally operating. So it needs to be backed up by something else. This is an example of how the VMS works (Slide) but as I told you it does n’t tell you where the illegal fishermen are.

A MCS- the Monitor control and Surveillance system takes a wide area view of the EEZ It identifies all vessel traffic in the EEZ, not just those with VMS AIS -Automatic Identification System coastal radar integration and space-based satellite imagery provide EEZ wide intelligence , so you can sit and look and see what’s going on in your EEZ at any given time. Working in conjunction with VMS it can identify vessels fishing without a licence. Vessels with a valid license will come on your screen and those without wont be shown.

However, MCS and VMS combined whilst offering a deterrent to IUU fishermen it has no ability to detain and arrest, The key is to share the surveillance picture with enforcement agencies, patrol vessels - navy, coastguard, perhaps patrol aircrafts, remote Inspectors etc. - you need to include co-operatively tracked vessel data, say from a VMS. You then have a fully integrated approach towards deterring IUU, but as I said you have no ability at that stage to detain or arrest.

This goes one step ahead from the VMS, because it alerts the navy border patrols and other law enforcement agencies.

In a frame [slide], the route of the main trading activity at any given moment is fairly obvious; all the others are fishing boats. And what are they doing? They are stealing your fish. The final part of the solution is FMPP - the fisheries management and protection programme. Without a Fisheries Management and Protection Programme a resource owned by a coastal state will be being exploited at no benefit to itself. Additionally, a Fisheries Management Programme is worthless without an enforcement capability in the form of active patrolling. The state to be fully successful must combine VMS, MCS, and FMPP.

A combined VMS, MCS and FMPP is effectively a ‘spend to save measure’ as it will produce substantial revenue for the government to conserve and manage fish stock, increase protection for artisanal fishermen, and secure designated marine reserves - marine reserves are an important part of the fisheries resources in your island. They are areas designated by the Ministry of Fisheries in which areas there will be no fishing, absolutely none. Fish in these areas recover quite remarkably, if they are left alone. And I would recommend up to 20 – 25% percent of your coast should be designated as marine reserves, where there will be no fishing. Once one area recovers you move into the next area.

A lot of people recommend having fast, big mother-ship to prevent IUU vessels. They are expensive, consume a lot of fuel and are most importantly easily identified. The moment the mother-ship sees an illegal vessel - as much as it moves towards it - the illegal vessel would move away from the mother-ship. Not only could you see him, he could see you, so he drops his gear into the sea and disappears into the horizon. The best method is to have on board the mother-ship, intercept crafts. That way you identify your target and move close to the target in the manner of another fishing boat and surprise him.

Further advantages of a combined VMS, MCS and FMPP programme is that the conditions would require all products to be landed or transhipped in Sri Lanka with preference in license allocation to entities processing in Sri Lanka, so transhipment at sea can be recorded and revenue generated as condition of licence.

A fully integrated fisheries policy also entails investment opportunities - as I just discussed - in fish processing, coastal fisheries, and infrastructure. In fish processing you can have national, regional and export products, and partnerships with national investors for value added product processing and marketing. All this creates employment too.

Then on coastal fisheries: fishing boat construction; fishing operations; sea transport of fish production from landing points; processing centres for national and export marketing; next generation multipurpose fishing vessel design, construction, training of fishermen; establish boatbuilding facility; and establish management systems for vessel operations. As I said the opportunities are endless - the sea transport of fish and marine products; purchase of production in the south and north; transport on ice to processing near Colombo for national and export markets, etc.

Infrastructure: the Harbours at Colombo, Galle, Trincomalee, and Jaffna brought up to EU and US standards for hygiene; investment opportunities in support services at fisheries harbors; fish processing; cold storage; ice; wholesale and retail ideas - that I just discussed -; and fish landing sites with protected berthing facilities and support infrastructure, for example boatyards among a plethora of other options. It goes on and on - everything that is needed to support a healthy fish industry.

In conclusion the fisheries sector is critical to the economy of Sri Lanka. On one hand it is an important contributor to the food and nutritional basket of the country. On the other hand it is one of most important source of livelihoods for the coastal communities. The Schedule of license fees covering all forms of fishing with particular attention paid to the needs of artisanal fishermen who are the most needy out of the lot. They can’t survive if the big boats come and take over their territory, and they will have to be protected. Conformity of fisheries regulations: we need to create a schedule of penalties and fines for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; we need strengthening of national conservation and management; promotion of state flag responsibility; also the accurate and timely catch reports - the bit we have is pretty fragmented; stop the landing and transshipment of fish as a result of IUU; closure of markets for IUU fish - if they don’t have a market where are they going to sell it - this requires global participation; then the requirement of the certificate of origin for legally landed or transshipped fish.

You permit authorized bodies to assess the level of IUU and related activities and implement suggested deterrent measures: installation of Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS) systems, utilizing state of the art VMS, operation of inshore and blue water patrol boats, the employment and training of local people as Fishery Protection Officers - that’s a whole new area. Then facilitate the setting up of fish processing infrastructure, process requirements for fish export to the EU and USA and indeed the Far East. Sustainable use of marine fishery resources is highly important for an island nation like Sri Lanka. Good fisheries management practices play a pivotal role in sustainable use of the resources. To achieve this, a sound data collection and analysis mechanism, management planning, regulatory frameworks, and input controls should be in place and operational. In other words a comprehensive VMS, MCS, and FMPP regime is highly recommended. This approach is also supported and highly recommended by the FAO.

Protect ocean resources now, or be done for

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Executive Director, Kadirgamar Institute said, "Our EEZ is a potential gold mine, which can contribute significantly to our GDP. Our EEZ, which is 532,619 sq. km, is larger than Malaysia, Thailand and also Vietnam. Our Ocean should be protected for the future generation from IUU - Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated - fishing practices.

"The destruction of coral reefs is already evident; during my time as the Chairman of the Fishery Harbours Corporation, I declared a year to recognize and protect the beautiful corals of the ocean. Protecting our great blue whales, our mammals, licensing whale watching, and more mechanisms and best practices from the world should be considered. Technology has given us ways to understand the nature of our nature. We can monitor and control the fishing in our waters and VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) is a must. The last stock assessment was done more than two decades ago, and how do we know what is underwater if we don’t take a stock take?

Declaration of breeding grounds and embargo on fishing during the breeding period should be considered. Strict and careful quota management of tuna fish should be implemented because of the depleting tuna stocks; we have tuna varieties such as Yellow Fin, Big Eye, and Skipjack in our waters. However there are many solutions available and we need to decide what is best for our country. If we do not set the right standards now to protect our ocean resources, we are undone," Abeyagoonasekera said.