Altwegg, R.

Gomper, M.E.

Gordon, I.J.

Katzner, T.

Mock, K.

Penteriani, Vincenzo

Pettorelli, N.

Redpath, S.

Gordon, Iain J.

Digital.CSIC

   New European Union fisheries regulations could benefit conservation of marine animals V. Penteriani1,2, N. Pettorelli3, I. J. Gordon4,  T. Katzner5, K. Mock6, S. Redpath7, R. Altwegg8,9 & M. E. Gompper10  1 Department of Conservation Biology, Estacio´ n Biolo´ gica de Don˜ ana, C.S.I.C., Seville, Spain 2 Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 3 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK 4 CSIRO Davies Laboratory, Aitkenvale, Australia 5 Department of Conservation and Field Research, National Aviary, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 6 Wildland Resources Department, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 7 Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability (ACES), University of Aberdeen & Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, UK 8 South African National Biodiversity Institute, Claremont, South Africa 9 Animal Demography Unit 2010, Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa 10 School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA     Correspondence Vincenzo Penteriani, Department of Conservation Biology, Estacio´ n Biolo´ gica de Don˜ ana, C.S.I.C., c/Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain. Email: penteriani@ebd.csic.es      On the 29th of September 2008, the European Commission (EC)  established  a  system  [Council  Regulation (EC)  No. 1005/2008] to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated ﬁshing (hereinafter, IUU ﬁshing). Illegal ﬁshing mainly occurs where vessels operate  in violation  of ﬁshery  laws,  independently   of  whether  the  ﬁsheries  are under  the  jurisdiction  of a  coastal  state  or  are  high  seas ﬁsheries regulated  by regional  organizations. Examples  of illegal ﬁshing are the taking of ﬁsh without  (or without  the correct)  licence, the  use  of  illegal gear,  or  taking  ﬁsh in excess of the allocated  quota  or in closed areas or seasons. Unreported ﬁshing contravenes  ﬁshery laws and regulations through  failure to report,  or misreporting, catches to the relevant  authority or organisation. Unregulated  ﬁshing in- volves vessels without  nationality   or  ﬂying  the  ﬂag  of  a country not party to the regional organisation managing the ﬁshing area or species concerned. The IUU regulation is the outcome of a long process initiated with the EC’s 2002 IUU Action  Plan,  which  was  directly  inspired  by  the  United Nations  FAO International Plan of Action, (http:// www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/y1224e/y1224e00.htm). The IUU ﬁshing regulation came into force on the 1st of January 2010, and so 2010 potentially marks the beginning of the end of one of the most dangerous  threats to global marine biodiversity. IUU  ﬁshing can cause devastating  effects on ﬁsh species and  serious  damage  to  the  marine  environment through overﬁshing and the use of irresponsible ﬁshing practices and techniques (Field et al., 2009; Kemp et al., 2009). It is one of the most signiﬁcant threats to the sustainable exploitation  of living aquatic  resources  and  marine  biodiversity  (Grafton et al., 2008; Agnew et al., 2009). Fish populations are not the only marine biological resource that can be affected by IUU ﬁshing or its accidental bycatch, as declines in abundance  of diverse vertebrate  and invertebrate  taxa have been linked to IUU  harvest  practices  (see e.g. Jennings,  Kaiser  & Rey- nolds, 2001; Watkins,  Petersen & Ryan, 2008). Global  harvest  of  marine  resources  is valued  at US$10–23.5 billion  annually,  which represents  11–26 mil- lion tonnes of ﬁsh (Agnew et al., 2009). The EC is a particularly attractive  target for IUU  ﬁshing operators as it is the largest importer,  and one of the world’s main produ- cers and exporters, of ﬁsh products  (Directorate General for Maritime  Affairs and Fisheries, 2009). On the other  hand, developing countries  pay a particularly high price for IUU ﬁshing, because the incomes of their coastal communities generally depend on ﬁsheries but they lack the resources to prevent the pillage of their waters by illegal ﬁshing (MRAG, 2005). What will this new regulation do? A crucial element of the IUU  ﬁshing  regulation  is the  catch  certiﬁcation  scheme, which  ensures  the  traceability  of all marine  ﬁsheries pro- ducts entering EC markets  and supplied by the EC. Under this scheme the ﬂag country of the vessel taking the ﬁsh must certify that the catch complies with applicable laws, regula- tions   and   international  conservation  and   management    1     measures. In addition,  the regulation calls for improved monitoring  and  supervision   of  ﬁshing  vessels  and  their catches  entering  EC state  ports.  The IUU  regulation  pro- vides an improved framework for port control, allowing EU Member State authorities to better monitor and supervise incoming ﬁshing vessels and their catches. One of the aims of this new regulation  is to establish that  all marine ﬁshery products  are accompanied  by a catch certiﬁcate  regardless of the mode of transport (e.g. marine, air or surface). It also establishes speciﬁc sanctions  to act as a deterrent  to infrin- gements of the law. Those countries  that  fail to implement adequate   measures  to  deal  with  IUU   ﬁshing  may  incur punitive actions including prohibitions on the import of ﬁsh products  from vessels ﬂying their ﬂag, freezing of negotia- tions over new ﬁsheries partnership agreements with the EC and  immediate  termination of existing agreements  (http:// ec.europa.eu/ﬁsheries/iuu). How will this new regulation  help conservation  of marine animals? Obviously, such regulation  is expected to help management of marine  ecosystems through  improved  con- trol  of ﬁshing efforts  and  offtakes.  But application  of the catch certiﬁcation scheme and increased regulation of ﬁshing gear, catchment  effort, and ﬁshing areas could have positive and cascading community-wide effects on marine ecosystems as a whole (Daskalov  et al., 2007; Casini et al., 2009). These community-wide  beneﬁts are anticipated because IUU  ﬁsh- ing commonly targets species whose removal can destabilize food webs (Bascompte, Melian & Sala, 2005). Thus, IUU regulation  could facilitate recovery of threatened animal populations and mitigate the community and ecosystem declines that derive from poor ﬁshery management. Application  of the IUU regulation  is clearly urgent, particularly as pressure on already depleted ﬁsh stocks is predicted to increase over the next 50 years owing to escalat- ing demand (Agnew et al., 2009). Future  management of ﬁsheries by the EC will not  be easy. However,  if the IUU regulation  is strictly applied in accordance  with scientiﬁc advice, 2010 could mark an important practical step towards reducing the massive deterioration of marine resources.   References  Agnew, D.J.,  Pearce, J., Pramod, G., Peatman, T., Watson, R., Beddington, J.R. & Pitcher,  T.J. (2009). Estimating the worldwide  extent of illegal ﬁshing. PLoS  One 4, e4570. Bascompte, J., Melian,  C.J. & Sala, E. (2005). Interaction strength combinations and the overﬁshing of a marine food web. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 5443–5447. Casini, M., Hjelm, J., Molinero, J.-C., Lovgren, J., Cardinale, M., Bartolino, V., Belgrano, A. & Kornilovs, G. (2009). Trophic cascades promote threshold-like shifts in pelagic marine  ecosystems.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 197–202. Daskalov, G.M., Grishin, A.N.,  Rodionov, S. & Mihneva, V. (2007). Trophic cascades triggered  by overﬁshing  reveal possible mechanisms of ecosystem regime shifts. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 10518–10523. Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. (2009). Handbook  on the practical  application of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated ﬁshing (the IUU Regulation). Brussels: Directorate General for Mar- itime Affairs and Fisheries. Field, I.C., Meekan, M.G., Buckworth, R.C. & Bradshaw, C.J.A.  (2009). Protein mining the world’s oceans: Austra- lasia as an example of illegal expansion-and-displacement ﬁshing. Fish Fish 10, 323–328. Grafton, R.Q.,  Hilborn, R., Ridgeway, L., Squires, D., Williams, M., Garcia, S., Groves,  T., Joseph,  J., Kelleher, K., Kompas, T., Libecap,  G., Lundin, C.G.,  Makino, M., Matthiasson, T., McLoughlin, R., Parma, A., Martin, G.S., Satia, B., Schmidt,  C.C., Tait, M. & Zhang, L.X. (2008). Positioning ﬁsheries in a changing  world. Marine Policy 32, 630–634. Jennings,  S., Kaiser,  M.J. & Reynolds, J.D. (2001). Marine ﬁsheries ecology. Oxford:  Blackwell Science. Kemp,  L.V., Branch,  G.M., Attwood, C.A. & Lamberth, S.J. (2009). The ‘ﬁshery’ in South  Africa’s remaining coastal stonewall  ﬁsh traps.  Afr. J. Marine  Sci. 31, 55–62. MRAG. (2005) Review of impacts of illegal, unreported and unregulated ﬁshing on developing countries. Final  Report, MRAG, London. Available  at http://www.imcsnet.org/ imcs/docs/iuu_ﬁshing_synthesis_report_mrag.pdf Ofﬁcial Journal of the European Union. (2008) Council Regulation (EC) No. 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008 establishing a Community system to prevent,  deter and eliminate  illegal, unreported and unregulated ﬁshing, amending Regulations (EEC) No. 2847/93, (EC) No. 1936/ 2001 and (EC) No. 601/2004 and repealing  Regulations (EC) No. 1093/94 and (EC) No. 1447/1999. Watkins, B.P., Petersen,  S.L. & Ryan,  P.G. (2008). Interac- tions between seabirds  and deep-water hake trawl gear: an assessment  of impacts  in South  African  waters. Anim. Conserv. 11, 247–254.               

New European Union fisheries regulations could benefit conservation of marine animals

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New European Union fisheries regulations could benefit conservation of marine animals

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