Falklands : Falklands Fisheries Committee Meeting Report (31/07/07)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 08.08.2007 (Article Archived on 22.08.2007)
Find out what happened during this important committee meeting.
FISHERIES COMMITTEE MEETING (31/07/07)
Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Fisheries Committee took place on Tuesday, 31 July 2007 in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat. Present were : The Honourable A. Clausen – Chairperson, The Honourable R. Cockwell, Acting Attorney General, Director of Fisheries, General Manager, Drew Irvine, Cheryl Roberts and Lewis Clifton
Declaration of interest:
Industry representatives declared interests: DI, declared interest in items 5 and 12. CR declared interests in item 4b), 5, 6a and 12. LC declared interests in items 5, 6, 11 and 12.
Confirmation of the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 June 2007:The minutes were approved.
Matters arising from the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 June 2007: LC tendered his apologies for non-attendance at the last meeting as he had been dealing with 25thAnniversary matters.
Bio-economic Report;
DoF indicated that ExCo have asked for further work to be undertaken on the methodology for setting fees.
This would also come up in item 12.
Refund of Licence Fees – Loligo; Second Season 2006:
Councillor Clausen gave a brief synopsis of ExCo decisions, including:
Confirming that there would be no refund for 2nd season 2006 Loligo licences. Administrative matters would be at the discretion of the Director of Fisheries. Global matters would be at the discretion of ExCo.
Councillor Clausen confirmed to the Acting AG that this would need amending in the Ordinance. DoF indicated there may be other amendments which could be done at the same time.
Exploratory Licence Policy:
Councillor Clausen confirmed that ExCo had approved the revised procedure for considering applications for exploratory work in inshore waters.
Proposal to introduce AIS:
DoF stated that this item had arisen through BFSAI. The paper outlines the capability of AIS. The system is not mandatory for fishing vessels but could be effective in terms of search and rescue. There was likely to be some resistance from Far Eastern customers. The paper would go forward to ExCo. DoF indicated that his preference would be for options b) or c).
AIS was an International Standard. VMS was satellite based with individual systems. The VMS information was not readily useable by BFSAI and would not provide the same benefit as AIS.
If anyone wished to circumvent AIS it would probably be possible to generate false data on the system.
DI stated that whilst he had no objection to the introduction of AIS, if Far Eastern customers are not enthusiastic about introducing the system it could end up with FI vessels only complying, and hence another cost for FI owners only.
CR stated that it would be seen by Far Eastern customers as an added charge. It was generally felt that option c) in the paper was preferable.
Sustainability Measures:
DoF introduced this item indicating that the sustainability measure on Toothfish – Longlining had been considered and set previously. The significant change relates to introducing some flexibility in terms of the utilisation of the TAC. It is proposed that 15% of the TAC be brought forward or carried forward with an exceptional option to carry forward 20% from 2007 to 2008. The proposed sustainability measure for Restricted Finfish – Pelagic was new.
Councillor Clausen asked why the 5% difference between 15 and 20%.
DoF stated that the Toothfish fishery was a small fishery by comparison with Southern Blue Whiting. It was felt that the smaller amount was preferable for this fishery.
CR having declared an interest in this item explained that there were exceptional circumstances as to why this request had been made.
It was considered that it should not be permitted to both defer catch from one year and bring forward catch to the same year.
The members agreed with the recommendation.
Update on the fishery:
The second Loligo fishery of the year has commenced with modest catches at present. The pre-recruit survey which took place in July, only produced about 55% of catches and catch rates compared to 2006, and that fishery closed early. However, there is further analysis to be done. The distribution of Loligo is different this year with squid spread throughout the Loligo box, whereas last year it was all concentrated around Beauchene Island.
Relatively high levels of Hake were being taken again this year. Bycatch was a source of concern.
DoF reported that this was the final year of the Imperial College contract. Several members of the scientific staff were travelling to London later in the year to discuss assessments and how those are translated into management advice. It was also an opportunity to look at RRAG procedures and software.
DoF indicated that fuel had recently leapt to a record high of $850/tonne, increasing costs for fishing and fisheries protection.
The ITQ system was progressing albeit that a couple of fisheries were delayed due to ongoing disputes.
Next Meeting:
The next meeting of the committee will take place at 0830 on Tuesday, 18 September 2007 in the Liberation Room.
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