Last chance saloon?

Think you've never been involved in the illegal trade of endangered animals and plants? Think again. If you've ever eaten Chilean sea bass or mero, there's a 50 per cent chance that what was on your plate was caught and traded illegally. And if you've recently bought any mahogany furniture, there's a good chance the wood is illegal too.
 
Poachers and pirates are driving a number of valuable species towards commercial extinction. Their illegal activities are big business, worth millions of dollars each year. But the money doesn't come from clandestine, black market trade.

Lack of international trading regulations for many threatened species means that the products of illegal activities are often sold through regular market channels around the world — with you and me as the final buyers.

Take the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), for example. This deep-water inhabitant of the Southern Ocean was virtually unknown until a specimen was caught off Chile in 1982. Appearing on menus as Chilean sea bass (UK and North America), mero (Japan), and bacalao de profundidad (Chile and Spain) — just a few of its market names — the Patagonian toothfish quickly became a sensation in restaurants around the world, even winning Bon Appetit magazine's "Dish of the Year" in 2001.

Fetching prices of up to $US35 per kilogram, it soon earned the name "white gold" amongst fishers. But like all gold rushes, the supply of Patagonian toothfish is not unlimited. By 1998, South African toothfish fisheries were no longer commercially viable because stocks were so severely depleted. Other toothfish stocks are also dangerously depleted, and could face commercial extinction in the near future if current fishing rates continue.

The rapid decline of the Patagonian toothfish is due to a combination of biology, pirates, and lack of trading regulations. Living for up to 50 years and growing to two metres long, the Patagonian toothfish takes some 10 years to reach sexual maturity, and even then females produce only a relatively small number of eggs. These factors make the species particularly susceptible to overfishing.

Recognising this, the body responsible for fisheries in the Southern Ocean — the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) — developed a proactive scheme for toothfish conservation and the sustainable management of toothfish fisheries. Measures implemented under this regime include total allowable catches and a catch documentation scheme to monitor toothfish trade. CCAMLR's measures, if implemented effectively, should be enough to protect the toothfish from over-exploitation. The problem is that pirates — fishers carrying out illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing — do not abide by CCAMLR's rules.

Pirate fishing accounts for at least half the Patagonian toothfish in the market, and is the single biggest threat to the species. The problem is widespread, with illegal and unregulated longliners operating from some 11 countries, often using so-called “flags of convenience”. The collapse of one of South Africa's toothfish stocks was due to just three years of pirate fishing. The same could happen to other stocks in Australian waters. The pirates don't only threaten to wipe out the Patagonian toothfish. The longline fishing gear they use drowns more than 100,000 seabirds each year — including 20 endangered albatross species — that dive to catch bait set on the lines.

Sperm whales, elephant seals, and other animals that feed on toothfish may also be affected by its decline. Legitimate fishers who follow CCAMLR rules are also threatened. South Africa has reportedly lost some US$290 million to toothfish poachers since the mid-1990s, and legitimate fishing has been virtually wiped out.

Australian fishers also fear their livelihoods will disappear with the toothfish. Australian forces actively go after and arrest poachers, with the Australian government pledging this month to place even more patrols in the Southern Ocean. But is policing the best way to enforce legitimate fishing?

The Southern Ocean is vast and remote, making patrolling extremely difficult. Catching the poachers is also difficult and expensive: this April, Australian and South African naval forces chased the Togo-registered longliner South Tomi for 6100 kilometres across the Southern Ocean before managing to halt it. Even when patrolling has been effective, it has simply resulted in IUU fishing shifting to unpatrolled areas. Stricter regulation of trade would assist enforcement — the pirates wouldn't go after the toothfish if they couldn't sell what they catch.

Although CCAMLR regulations are designed to prevent the trade of illegally caught toothfish, there are a number of loopholes. The regulations only apply to a limited number of countries and do not include many states involved in toothfish harvest, landing, and trade. Even when toothfish is caught within the jurisdiction of CCALMR, regulations can easily be avoided by misreporting the location of the catch. In addition, many boats catching toothfish operate through “flag of convenience” states that do not rigorously apply CCAMLR's rules, allowing illegally caught fish to receive valid documentation. There's also an enforcement problem in countries that import toothfish.

For example, Canada is one of the largest importers but has not implemented CCAMLR's documentation system. Strict international trading rules to complement CCALMR regulations would go a long way towards closing the current loopholes. Such rules do exist, and have effectively protected other species. However, these rules do not cover the toothfish.

CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — has well-established processes to protect species that are traded internationally. Trade of species listed in its Appendices is strictly controlled to ensure that trade is legal and does not harm the species' survival in the wild. Not one of the more than 30,000 species protected by CITES has become extinct as a result of trade since the Convention entered into force, even though some, such as queen conch (Strombus gigas; caught for food) and crocodiles and alligators (caught for their skins), are traded at very high commercial volumes. In addition, CITES has already proved its value in regulation of a commercial fishery through the listing of sturgeon species to combat the illegal trade in caviar.

Listing of the Patagonian toothfish in CITES Appendix II would allow transparent global monitoring of trade flows and provide measures for ensuring that only legally caught fish is traded. Listing would also apply to the Antarctic toothfish (D. mawsonii) as a "look alike" species, and by supporting CCAMLR conservation measures would combat the large-scale killing of seabirds as bycatch in IUU operations. The Patagonian toothfish clearly meets the criterion for listing on Appendix II, and listing would complement existing fisheries management under CCAMLR.

So, given the critical condition of toothfish stocks, why isn't it listed?

The issue is a long-running debate as to whether or not marine fish should be listed in CITES, particularly those that are subject to large-scale commercial harvesting outside the waters of any country. Some nations resist all efforts to further regulate fisheries to ensure their sustainability, in order to maximise harvest in the short term. The biology of the toothfish can't be changed. Trading rules can, and will provide an effective measure to combat poaching. The upcoming CITES Conference of the Parties in November — ironically being held in Chile, the same country that first brought the toothfish to the eye of commercial fishers — provides an opportunity for CITES to offer the Patagonian toothfish, as well as many other species threatened by unregulated trade, what could be their final chance. 

* Emma Duncan is Managing Editor at WWF International, based in Gland, Switzerland.
 
Further information:

Common names for the Patagonian toothfish
The Patagonian toothfish is commonly sold as: • Merluza negra (Spain) • Bacalao de profundidad (Spain and Chile) • Chilean Sea Bass (US and Canada) • Legine (France) • Mero (Japan) • Patagonian toothfish (UK) • Butterfish (Mauritias) • Black hake

CCAMLR members
The CCAMLR Member States are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, European Community (EC), France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UK, Ukraine, USA, and Uruguay. States party to the Convention but not members of the Commission are: Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Peru, and Vanuatu.

“Flags of convenience”
A "flag of convenience" vessel is one that is registered in, and flies the flag of, a country other than the country of ownership. The benefits of a flag of convenience to a ship owner include lower registration fees, low or no taxes, and, in some cases, a lack of Flag State control exercised over the vessels’ activities.

CITES
CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — is an agreement between governments designed to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Through trade regulations, CITES offers protection to over 30,000 plant and animal species and is one of the oldest (1975), largest, and most successful international conservation treaties. Species may be listed on one of three Appendices, according to the level of threat they face: • Appendix I lists species in danger of extinction. International commercial trade in these species is banned. • Appendix II lists species not necessarily currently threatened with extinction, but which may become so unless trade is subject to strict regulation. Commercial trade in these species is allowed on the condition that specimens are legally obtained and the trade is not detrimental to the wild population. • Appendix III lists species that are protected in at least one country, where that country has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the species' trade.

Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (COP12)
COP12 will be held in Santiago, Chile, from 3–15 November. The 158 state Parties to CITES will make a range of decisions relevant to international trade in wild species including Patagonian toothfish, elephants, mahogany, sharks, hawksbill turtles, musk deer, and many more. WWF will be working at CoP 12 to secure positive outcomes for these species. To download WWF's positions on species up for discussion at COP12, visit www.panda.org/species/cites

Further information on the Patagonian toothfish and CITES can be found in the TRAFFIC report Uncharted Waters: Implementation issues and potential benefits of listing toothfish in Appendix II of CITES