An Intergovernmental Consultation on the Establishment of a South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission was held in St Denis, La Reunion 6 - 9 February 2001. In a special session at that meeting, participants expressed their concern about the rapid development of fisheries in the Southwest Indian Ocean, especially those for the deepwater stocks. They noted the absence of any common procedures for collection of fisheries-related data. (This concern is expressed in Appendix F of the Intergovernmental Consultation's report, given below). It was agreed at a session of the Consultation, that an ad hoc technical meeting be arranged to explore these issues. The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Namibia, kindly offered to hold the meeting in Swakopmund with the technical assistance of FAO. This report records the results of that meeting.
FAO has agreed to publish this report as a basis for promoting understanding of the technical issues that will need to be considered in the management of deep-sea resources in this area whether or not a Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission is established. The document is based on the report adopted by the ad hoc technical meeting to facilitate further discussions and was circulated, in draft form, to those attending the meeting for further comments (none were received). It is not intended to prejudge the future establishment of a fisheries body in the region, nor is it intended to have any formal legal status.
Appendix F
Intergovernmental Consultation on the Establishment of a South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission, St Denis, La Reunion 6 - 9 February 2001
STARTING SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES RELATING TO DEEPWATER FISHERIES
Delegates, in an informal post-session meeting, discussed scientific issues relating to the future management of deepwater fish resources in the proposed convention area.
The group noted the high level of uncertainty and lack of documented information regarding the distribution of deepwater resources in the proposed convention area. However, it was felt that the proposed 20ºS parallel in the area east of 80ºE would enclose target fish populations and minimize the risk of stocks straddling convention area boundaries.
The group expressed its concern that the recent rapid development of the deepwater fisheries in the area may result in catch and effort levels that could be unsustainable in the long term. The group also noted the urgent requirement to start collecting available information such as data on catch volumes, target species, catch species composition, fishing effort and the locations of past catches, which would be required to enable management of the fish resources to begin. Some countries are already collecting this information and it was agreed that such data collection should be requested from all countries fishing in the area as soon as possible.
Delegates also noted that there were, as yet unresolved, issues relating to the confidentiality of fishing data and that fisheries departments are bound by national laws governing the release of information provided by fishing companies. It was also noted that fishing companies would be most concerned by the possible implications for the competitiveness of their operations by dissemination of information provided in confidence to their national authorities. Despite this, it was agreed that unless this problem could be resolved there could be no timely management of the resources in question.
Thus it was agreed that a scientific meeting should be held as a matter of urgency to which representatives of countries whose vessels had been fishing deepwater fish resources in the proposed convention area AND who would be prepared to bring relevant data for collation and tabulation would be invited. In this context it was noted by some that catch rates of certain species had already fallen in some areas and that an important objective of such a meeting would be to assemble fine-scale data on past, and existing, fishing effort and levels of catches that were being achieved over the southern Indian Ocean.
A further objective of the meeting would be to document the past geographical and chronological development of deepwater fishing activity in the proposed convention area as a way of indicating what might be the overall development potential and to avoid unrealistic expectations concerning sustainable levels of catches from the fisheries.
Australian scientists are developing predictive distribution models for major commercial demersal fish species in the southern Indian Ocean. The validation of this model requires catch data from participating fishing countries. New Zealand scientists have developed a modelling approach to estimate long-term sustainable yields for orange roughy seamount fisheries based on their physical characteristics and it may be possible to use this approach to estimate indicative sustainable yields in the proposed convention area.
It was agreed that the FAO be asked to arrange and facilitate this meeting, possibly to be held in Namibia. Such a meeting would be without prejudice to the form and activities of a future fisheries commission for the region. In summary, the objectives of the meeting would include:
i. to share information on the distribution and levels of past catch and effort and biological data
ii. to develop processes for (a) future data collection, (b) verification and analysis and (c) its distribution and (d) to develop the methods needed for estimating indicative sustainable catch levels for deepwater species in the proposed convention area.
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FAO. Report of the Ad Hoc Meeting on Management of Deepwater Fisheries Resources of the Southern Indian Ocean. Swakopmund, Namibia, 30 May - 1 June 2001. FAO Fisheries Report. No. 652. Rome, FAO. 2001. 61p. ABSTRACT The Ad Hoc Meeting on Management of Deepwater Fisheries Resources of the Southern Indian Ocean, organized and hosted by the Government of Namibia with the technical cooperation of FAO, was held in Swakopmund, Namibia, from 30 May to 1 June 2001. The Meeting reviewed the status of information available relating to these fisheries and the events in their recent development. The perspectives that were discussed tried to include those of governments whose vessels were fishing on the high seas in the study area and those of the industry with commercial operations in the area. A major concern of those present was how to move to a responsible form of management in the absence of a treaty system, though it was unanimously agreed that preparations for future technical meetings able to undertake stock assessments should begin immediately. A major focus of the meeting was how data could be made available given the informal status of discussions. General agreement was reached that government fisheries scientists who had access to these data would bring such information to future stock assessment workshops on the basis that circulation of the information would not go beyond the meeting venue and that no permanent records of the data would be made available to other participants. Discussion covered various other relevant topics, including movement towards a standard of data collection and involvement of other international agencies in activities in the area, e.g. that of the Global Environmental Facility. |
Distribution:
Participants at the Meeting
Other interested nations, relevant national and international Organizations
FAO Fisheries Department
Fishery Officers in FAO Regional Offices
Seaflor Bathymetry - Southwest Indian Ocean
The coastline of South Africa is shown on the left side, the southern tip of Madagascar on the top margin and the Is. Kerguelen in the bottom right-hand corner. The Is. Crozet is shown at the same latitude about 50°E. The Southwest Indian Ocean ridge runs SW-NE. Spawning aggregations of orange roughy occur on elevations along this bottom feature. The African plate is to the NW of the ridge and the Antarctic plate to the SE. The Mozambique Fracture is evident in the NE area of the figure.
