Fishing Quotas: Japan Needs To Play By Rules
The Age
Saturday August 19, 2006
Japan is once again in the spotlight for its fishing practices. This time it is in relation to the southern bluefin tuna.
NATURE abhors a vacuum. That being so, it must also abhor the activities of Japan and its seemingly insatiable drive to denude parts of the ocean. First it was whaling, now it is tuna, specifically the southern bluefin tuna. The bounty of the seas is at risk from greed, for a kilogram of the best tuna sells in Tokyo for more than $600.Last Saturday The Age reported that an independent international investigation into the fishing of southern bluefin tuna alleged Japan had illegally taken about $2 billion worth of the fish from the waters surrounding Australia in the past 20 years. Japan had taken three times its legal amount each year. In the mid-'90s, Australia, Japan and New Zealand formalised fishing quotas: Japan's quota was 6000 tonnes, Australia's was 5265. However, Japan allegedly has been catching between 12,000 and 20,000 tonnes. Richard McLoughlin, managing director of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, told a meeting in Canberra last month that Japan's actions were an enormous fraud. "Essentially, the Japanese have stolen $2 billion worth of fish from the international community, and have been sitting in meetings for 15 years saying they are as pure as the driven snow. It's outrageous." Mr McLoughlin thought he was speaking under Chatham House rules, in which comments were not attributed, but they found their way on to the internet. It's as well for public knowledge that they did.If the allegations are confirmed, it can only give the impression in Australia, in particular, and to the rest of the world, that Japan revels in its perception as a reprobate, and what is more, by the sheer scale of its activities, cocks a snook at any opprobrium launched against it. Today The Age reveals that, according to Australian Government documents, tens of thousands of tonnes of southern bluefin tuna bypassed Japan's public auction system and were sold directly to retailers, which in effect vastly increased the real size of the catch. Japan has refused to keep a paper trail of its catch. It has also refused to install independent vessel monitoring systems on to its fishing fleet. The systems can pinpoint where a ship is operating. This secrecy leads obviously to the reasonable conclusion that if a country is not open about its operations, there must be something suspicious going on.According to the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, stocks had been heavily fished. In the '60s, the yearly catch was about 80,000 tonnes. By the '80s, this relentless harvesting meant that the stock needed to be managed, a voluntary quota system came into place, and was formalised a decade later. Yet a review last year of stock warned that if the present levels of catch continued there would be "further declines in spawning stock and exploitable biomass". But to the fisherfolk of Port Lincoln in South Australia who hold tuna licences, the future has never looked better. The trade has made them very rich. A spokesman for the tuna boat industry, Brian Jeffriess, says that "for the stock to withstand a significant overcatch it has to be much bigger than was previously assumed, otherwise the stock would have disappeared". The South Australian town is built on this bounty of the sea. It is a bounty consolidated with ingenuity. In the '90s, a change occurred in the way in which the tuna was harvested: it went from hunting in the seas to farming the stock. Now the tuna is caught in nets, hauled to holding pens near Port Lincoln and fattened until harvest time.Next month, the fishing of bluefin tuna worldwide will be reassessed, which may result in changes to the quota system. If a country is found to breach its quota by more than 15 per cent, a recalculation of its quota may occur. This sounds fine in principle, but it does not cover all the bases. For instance, it is believed illegal long-line fishing for the Japanese market is occurring, with the catch sold through Asian nations that are not party to the quota system. It is clear from the whaling experience that when commerce is weighed against conservation, it is the latter that sinks to the bottom of the sea. Some countries seem to be able to live with this. Some countries such as Japan.
© 2006 The Age