MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fisheries News.-

Headlines:
Australia and France coordinate toothfish conservation.
Report slams US fish management and urges halt to fish farming.
Brazilian Fisheries Institute reforms go ahead.
Multinational salmon farms to quit Scotland for Chile?

Australia and France coordinate toothfish conservation

Australian Fisheries Minister, Senator Ian Macdonald, is to meet in Paris with the French Minister for Overseas Territories, Madame Brigitte Giradin, to discuss further cooperative action against illegal fishing around the Australian and French territories in the Southern Ocean. The text of a bilateral maritime cooperation agreement to combat illegal fishing for the Patagonian toothfish has just been completed, according to the Senator. "I believe the only way to successfully combat illegal fishing is by developing an efficient and effective international monitoring and enforcement network," Senator Macdonald said in an official statement. "To do this, we need strong alliances with countries like France and South Africa, so we can use our resources to the greatest extent possible. And we need to see the commitment of many more nations to our regional fisheries management organisations, such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. "Australia will shortly be in a position to sign the agreement with France, and ratification can then take place following consideration by the Australian Parliament. "During my meeting, I will also be discussing the proposal by an Australian company with interests in the legal fishing of toothfish, Austral Fisheries, to conduct aerial surveillance around the French Kerguelen Island, and Australia's adjacent Heard Island and McDonald Islands. "Australia is as determined to protect its fisheries and sovereignty in its far southern territories as it is in mainland Australia. My meeting with the French minister will further that commitment in a cooperative way, " said Senator MacDonald. (FIS/MP).-

Report slams US fish management and urges halt to fish farming

Citing over-fishing, coastal over-development, and increasing pollution, a new report by the independent Pew Oceans Commission released on 4 June says the US is facing "the collapse of ocean ecosystems" and calls for "immediate reform of US ocean laws and policies to restore ocean wildlife, protect ocean ecosystems, and preserve the ecological, economic, and social benefits the oceans provide." The report, titled "America's Living Oceans: Charting a Course for Sea Change," is the result of a three-year, nationwide study of the oceans. "For centuries we have viewed the oceans as beyond our ability to harm and their bounty beyond our ability to deplete. The evidence is clear that this is no longer true," said Leon Panetta, chair of the Pew commission. "The good news is that it is not too late to act. This report offers practical solutions for bringing ocean management into the 21st century." The 144-page report calls for a "bold, new conservation ethic" in US ocean and fishery management that "practices precaution as we manage ocean resources." The report concludes that US ocean policy is a confusing mix of laws that has grown over the years and is in need of reform to reflect substantial changes in knowledge of ocean systems. The Commission calls upon the federal government to pass a National Ocean Policy Act that embodies a national commitment to protect, maintain, and restore US territorial oceans. The Pew Commission also found that overfishing, wasteful bycatch, the destruction of habitat, and changes in marine food webs threaten ocean ecosystems and the fishing industry. As a remedy, the report urges the adoption of ecosystem-based management that "restricts destructive fishing gear, eliminates the wasteful practice of discarding unintended catch, and places a priority on the long-term health of marine life and marine ecosystems." The commission concluded that US fisheries managers need to separate conservation issues from allocation decisions within the fishery management process. The Commission also urges the doubling of the federal ocean research budget, which for more than a decade has hovered near USD 755 million, less than four percent of the nation's total research budget. In response to the environmental risks associated with the emerging aquaculture industry, the Commission calls for a moratorium on the expansion of finfish aquaculture (including salmon) until national policies and standards are in place. The Commission's report has already been challenged by the Marine Conservation Alliance (MCA), which says the current ecosystem-based, sustainable fisheries management is already working well for many fisheries. MCA President Terry Leitzell believes the focus should be on improving the existing system rather than trying to implement the Commission's "impossibly ambitious solution". The Pew Oceans Commission was funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust, widely known within the US commercial fishing industry for bankrolling environmental challenges to the industry. (FIS/MP).

Brazilian Fisheries Institute reforms go ahead

Proposed reforms to the Brazilian Fisheries Institute promised by previous administrations and shelved for the past three years - are to begin in August. José Sidinei Gonçalves, São Paulo Agrobusiness Technology Agency (Apta) coordinator, said the aim was for the institute to become a centre of excellence in marine research. The building itself will be renovated in a ten months period and eight scientists will be hired to staff the centre. Part of the building work involves setting up a fish processing laboratory to improve production techniques involving the use of minced fish in the manufacture of burgers, soup, sausages and kanikama, among other products. Such products could be used in school cafeterias or in anti-hunger programmes throughout the most deprived areas of Brazil. The Institute already has the equipment for mechanically recovering fish flesh that was acquired by the Secretary of State at USD 35,000. But the Institute was not properly set up to use it, so in 2000 the equipment was sent to the Institute of Food Technology (Itau) of Campinas, reports A Tribuna. The function of the new laboratory is to develop techniques that allow the industry to use fish as raw material for food production on a large scale, says researcher Cristiane Rodrigues Pinheiro Neiva. What is needed now is the "political will" to include fish in the nation's diet, since the country has all the necessary raw material and technology it needs, she stressed. The Brazilian Fisheries Institute was officially created in April 1969 to carry out scientific and technological research aiming at improving the diversity and quality of fish and aquaculture products plus guaranteeing the sustainable use of the country's resources. Today it provides important services to the sector by promoting the transfer of knowledge and skills to help local industry become more competitive. (FIS/MP).-

Multinational salmon farms to quit Scotland for Chile?

The closure of the Marine Harvest's processing factory in Stornoway could be the start of a withdrawal by multinational salmon farming firms in Scotland, claims an independent fish farm owner in the Western Isles. The multinational animal feed and farmed salmon conglomerate Nutreco, which owns Marine Harvest, last week announced the loss of 82 jobs with 60 of them coming from the closure of the processing facility in Stornoway. The remaining 22 jobs would be shed from the salmon harvesting teams in the Western Isles, Wester Ross and Skye. Angus MacMillan, the owner of the West Minch Salmon Group and the processed salmon marketing company, Hebrides West, said that development agencies in the Highlands and Islands really should focus on indigenous businesses. He claims that for years now he has been calling for assistance to be provided for the smaller company in terms of transport costs, in a bid to stay competitive. MacMillan told the Aberdeen Press and Journal: "This will affect the whole industry and with WISCO, owned by multinational Fjord Seafood, also saying their processing facility could be under threat, the likelihood is that neither will be operating in the Western Isles or even in Scotland in the near future the way things are going." "The processing facilities are just the beginning. They will also shut the smaller fish farm sites, and then the larger ones. "Given the advances they are making in Chile, I would not be surprised if they close down their operations in Scotland. "The Executive should find out from the companies what their long-term plans are." MacMillan says that the company was making more money for its operations in Norway, Chile and the Faroes than it was in Scotland. "Marine Harvest wanted to do away with the minimum import price the EC had in place until last week to protect Scottish and Irish salmon, so that they could get more salmon into the EU from these other countries. "The rules in Scotland mean that fish can be produced more cheaply in the other countries and they can sell them cheaper than we can produce them in Scotland. Marine Harvest was losing a lot of money in Scotland." MacMillan has also called for an investigation to be carried out into the amount of public money that Marine Harvest received, and to see if any could be reclaimed. He does not believe the company should receive any additional funding to open a new plant in Mallaig, where the company wants to build a new processing plant. The transport costs for his own and other companies are considerable, he said. "Transport costs are a big problem. It costs me at least an extra GBP 150,000 to process salmon in the islands, than if I were to process them in Mallaig, because of transport costs."