S.Georgia : Should Observers be Put Aboard Krill Vessels?
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 25.11.2005 (Article Archived on 09.12.2005)
Why does food that fish eat have to be caught and processed for them?
SHOULD OBSERVERS BE PUT ABOARD KRILL VESSELS?
An Editorial by J. Brock (FINN)
During the recent meeting of CCAMLR (The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Resources) in Hobart Tasmania last month there was an in-depth discussion about putting observers on Krill vessels in CCAMLR waters. When last in South Georgia in 2004 I asked the Director of Fisheries, Patrick Lurcock about it and he mentioned that the research vessel fishing for Krill did not reach its experimentally set quota before it stopped fishing.
Evidently things have changed and a larger amount of Krill has been caught during the last season around the Island. According to the Calling the Falklands article transcribed below there will no longer be experimental fishing and another purpose built factory ship will be sent to the area. During the experimental period there were observers aboard the Krill vessel and hopefully they will be aboard the commercial vessel as well. It seems that the South Georgia Fishery is the only one to put observers aboard Krill vessels.
It is my feeling that observers are necessary, especially since the target species is at the bottom of the food chain for marine life in the area. It is not fully known how much Krill is feeding that wildlife – both avian and marine – and observers could log the amount caught and the affects on the local wildlife.
Vessels around the South Sandwich and the South Orkneys need to have observers so that regional catch data can be compared and the fishery closed if too much is being caught.
Personally, I don’t understand why anyone would want to eat something that looks and smells like Penguin pooh. I’m glad the majority of it is going to be used as fish food but wonder why it has to be caught and processed if fish eat it au natural.
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