State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004 - Library

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The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004
old vessels often do not conform to current minimum requirements for newly built
vessels.
The slowdown in new construction of larger vessels suggests that improvements
in safety and conditions may also be slow. While it is clear that capacity management
plans may require some reduction in the fleet of large vessels, it is also clear that there
will always be a need for larger vessels for fishing in distant waters and in bad weather
conditions. In addition, many offshore pelagic fisheries tend to be more economically
feasible when operating with larger vessels. It is expected that the construction of
larger fishing vessels will increase over the next ten years, compared with the current
low levels. In this context it may be noted that the International Labour Organization
(ILO) is currently establishing a new Convention on labour conditions in the fishing
industry (which includes accommodation standards for a new fishing fleet) (see Part 2,
pp. 74–76). FAO, the ILO and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are also
finalizing a major revisions of the Code of Safety for Fishermen and Fishing Vessels
and of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Design, Construction and Equipment of Small
Fishing Vessels.
Although detailed indications of trends in the entire fishing fleet are not available
on a global scale after 1998, the fleet size of some major fishing nations has continued
to decrease. The European Union (EU-15) fishing fleet decreased from 96 000 vessels
in 2000 to 88 701 in 2003. Of the total fleet, 13 percent were trawlers, 6 percent
seiners, 33 percent gillnetters, 16 percent longliners, and the remainder operated
other gear. Of the 87 833 vessels of known length, slightly over 80 percent measured
less than 12 metres, the majority of these belonging to Greece, Italy and Spain. Some
15 percent of EU fishing vessels were between 12 and 24 metres in length, and fewer
than 340 measured more than 45 metres (a decrease of 60 units compared with five
years earlier). In December 2002, Norway had a registered fleet of 7 802 engine-driven
decked fishing vessels and 2 847 open vessels. Comparative statistics indicate a further
decrease of 628 units (8 percent) for the decked fleet since 2000, and a decrease of
nearly 40 percent in the number of open vessels. At the end of 2003, the Icelandic
fleet had 1 872 vessels on register, 50 percent of which were undecked; this implies
63 units fewer than in 2002 and a decrease of about 7 300 in GT. Nearly 40 percent
of the trawlers (about 75 percent of all decked vessels) are more than 20 years old. In
New Zealand, whose exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the world, the
number of domestic commercial fishing vessels numbered 1 700 in 2001 and these were
complemented by 36 foreign chartered vessels; these figures represent a decrease of
1 102 domestic vessels and 43 chartered vessels compared with 1992.
Over 90 percent of the Japanese fleet are vessels below 5 gross tons. All segments of
the fleet declined between 1997 and 2001; in particular, the number of vessels greater
than 50 gross tons (fewer than 1 percent in 2001) decreased by over 20 percent.
Important advances have been made by several RFBs 8 through the establishment
of lists of “positive” (authorized to fish in the area of the RFBs’ jurisdiction) and
“negative” (unauthorized, or “non-cooperating”) vessels in order to improve the
monitoring and control of fisheries on the high seas and transboundary stocks. Other
RFBs 9 are in various stages of establishing such lists, and some countries and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) have initiated lists of vessels reported to be
engaged in unauthorized fishing.
As of mid-2004, 5 517 vessels are recorded in the High Seas Vessels Authorization
Record maintained by FAO. Only 19 countries 10 out of 30 parties to the Compliance
8
These include the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA),
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Inter-American
Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission
(NEAFC).
9
Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (West Africa), Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, and Commission for the
Conservation of the Southern Bluefin Tuna
10
Benin, Canada, Japan, Namibia, Norway, United States and 13 EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom).