Compliance: illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

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Compliance: illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

Australia is party to a range of conventions that establish global, regional and subregional management organisations that manage highly migratory, straddling, pelagic and demersal fish stocks.

Australia plays an active role in the following Commissions:

  • Convention on the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT);
  • Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC);
  • Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
  • has also signed the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific (WCFPC).
Many of these organisations are now focussing on the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as a major threat to the effective management and conservation of regional fish stocks and are consequently seeking to identify vessels engaged in IUU fishing within respective areas of competence in order to combat effectively and eliminate these operations.
Australia is taking a lead role in addressing IUU activity by:
  • continually seeking to strengthen existing fisheries management and conservation arrangements:
  • pursuing the development and adoption of new measures to combat IUU fishing;
  • urging other countries not to support IUU fishing operations
  • fully implement key international instruments to ensure that their vessels do not act in contravention of their international obligations. 

Illegal fishers – particularly those operating in the Southern Ocean - are well organised and sophisticated, and the government is pursuing various avenues to have the maximum impact on the beneficial owners of illegal fleets.

In July 2003, the Australian Government decided on a multi-facetted strategy to combat IUU fishing in Australia’s Southern Ocean territories, which aims to combat IUU fishing through:

  • better coordination and information use in government 
  • enhanced on-the-water surveillance and enforcement
  • strongly pursuing international action at bilateral and multilateral levels (including through CCAMLR) to strengthen existing international instruments and arrangements
  • where appropriate develop new instruments to combat IUU activities.
Australia was a driving force behind the development and implementation of the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU), adopted by FAO members in 2001. Australia is committed to continuing its efforts, in concert with other concerned members of the international community, to eliminate IUU fishing.
At the national management level, Australia already applies a stringent management regime to vessels operating under its flag within the EEZ and on the high seas. The fishing operations of Australian-flagged vessels within the AFZ are controlled by federal, state and territory fisheries legislation. 

Fishing operations are authorised through the issue of licences and concessions that are subject to specific management rules that are directed towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of the fisheries resources. Risk-based fisheries monitoring and compliance regimes are developed and implemented by both the federal and state governments to ensure that the integrity of the fisheries management arrangements is maintained. The nature of each compliance program is dependent on the requirements for each fishery and involves a mixture of physical surveillance both on the water and from the air, the monitoring of unloads of catches in port, the auditing of paper trails to determine catch landings and technical applications such as Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS).
 
In December 1999, the Australian Government introduced legislation that requires Australian‑flagged fishing vessels to be authorised to fish in waters outside the AFZ. Consequently, it is an offence for an Australian‑flagged fishing vessel to operate on the high seas without the appropriate authorisation. Among other things, operators using Australian-flagged vessels on the high seas are required to mark their vessels in accordance with the FAO standard specifications, facilitate the carriage of observers, complete catch and effort logs and operate a VMS which reports to The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA). In addition, Australian-flagged vessels are required to operate in a manner that does not contravene Australia’s obligations under international agreements and other arrangements to which Australia is a party.
 

Australia presently implements many of the measures contained in the IPOA-IUU through its domestic legislative framework, including through provisions in the Fisheries Management Act 1991. Australia is also considering a national assessment on IUU fishing with a focus on foreign vessel incursions. This assessment will form the basis for developing Australia’s National Plan of Action on IUU fishing.

 



Last reviewed: 14 Oct 2008
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