Italy and France are using illegal driftnets

THE international marine conservation organisation, Oceana claims it has evidence documenting 71 Italian and 37 French illegal driftnetters as they were carrying out fishing activities or preparing to leave port.

Oceana has presented reports to ACCOBAMS (Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black and Mediterranean Seas and Contiguous Atlantic Area).

Furthermore it says it has presented evidence of fraud regarding European subsidies and illegal marketing of tuna and swordfish, as well as incidental bycatch of cetaceans, sea turtles and sharks.

Maria Jos? Cornax, an Oceana scientist, has participated as an expert in the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee meeting, accepting an invitation by the presidency of this organisation to present the results of the research carried out by Oceana regarding the use of prohibited driftnets (surface gill nets) by various Mediterranean fleets.

ACCOBAMS is the result of two United Nations Conventions: the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and the Barcelona Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Mediterranean Coast; plus an independent convention of the European Council: Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. It was created in 1991 with its headquarters in Monaco; the majority of Mediterranean countries are signatories of this international agreement, including all European countries.

The fourth meeting of the ACCOBAMS Scientific Committee is being held from November fifth to eigth in Monaco. At this meeting, Oceana has decided to present the results from their June/July campaign to document illegal driftnetters in Mediterranean waters carried out during the 2006 Expedition at the Oceana Ranger research vessel.

Oceana has presented photographic evidence as well as lists of the names of the vessels, and their positions at sea and base ports in France and Italy in two separate reports. It claims these reports reveal at least 71 illegal driftnetters in Italy and 37 in France, and show large quantities of illegal nets stored in Italian and French ports.

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Furthermore, Oceana investigators also presented evidence of illegal marketing channels for swordfish, tuna and other species captured by these nets, which have been prohibited by both the European Union and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM-FAO), the United Nations body that regulates fisheries in this sea, and by ICCAT (the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna), another UN body, since 2002.

Oceana also claims its reports reveal Italy?s fraudulent activities with subsidies provided by the European Union. More than 200 million Euros have been given to Italian shipowners to eliminate the illegal driftnets, and replace them with more selective and sustainable fishing methods. A large number of these shipowners, however, have pocketed the subsidies and continue to fish with this illegal tackle, the organisation says. Oceana says it has documented and photographed 21 of these vessels.

In the case of the French driftnetters, these receive economic aid from the Regional Council of Provence- Alpes-C?te d?Azur, and the majority of the vessels use the luxurious ports of the Gulf of Lyons as base ports, Oceana says.

The reports presented by Oceana at ACCOBAMS also reveal data from various studies which it claims prove the Italian fleet accidentally captures approximately 8,000 striped dolphins each year, as well as dozens of sperm whales, pilot whales, beaked whales and even Minke and fin whales. All of these species are protected by Italian, European and international legislation. A similar situation occurs with the 350 dolphins the French fleet admits they capture, but other species of cetaceans are trapped in the nets as well.

Driftnets, a type of fishing tackle that measures 12 km in length (although they are sometimes twice as long) and 30 meters in height, are non-selective and capture not only swordfish, tuna and cetaceans, but also sea turtles and many sharks and species of rays that are included in the IUCN (the World Conservation Union) Red List of Threatened Species.

?French and Italian use of driftnets constitutes not only a serious threat to the sustainability of fisheries and the conservation of marine biodiversity, but also a scandalous mockery of international legality. The governments of these countries, which are both European and developed, should be ashamed of the example they are setting for the rest of the international community. The prohibition of these nets should be made effective immediately,? declared the marine biologist Xavier Pastor, Director of Oceana in Europe.