REPORT for biennial period, 2010-11 PART I (2010) - Vol. 4 ... - Iccat

SECRETARIAT REPORT TO COC - 20101. IntroductionAddendum 1 to Appendix 7Review of the ICCAT Regional Observer ProgrammeCovering ICCAT Deployments 058/09 to 083/10 (September 2009 - October 2010)Submitted by MRAG LTD. / CAPFISHIn 2006 ICCAT adopted Recommendation [06-11] to establish a Programme for Transhipment in response toconcerns that at-sea transhipment operations constituted a gap in the enforcement scheme of the Commission.The Consortium comprising of MRAG Ltd. and Capfish (the Consortium) has been implementing the RegionalObserver Program (ROP) since its inception in April 2007.The ROP aims to address Member State concerns regarding laundering of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported(IUU) tuna catches by monitoring transhipments at sea from Large-Scale Longline Tuna Vessels (LSLTVs)operating in the Convention area. Recommendation [06-11] states that all tuna and tuna like species transhippedin the Convention area must be done so in port. However, at sea transhipments can be authorised by ContractingParties provided the Carrier Vessel (CV) has VMS capabilities and a trained ICCAT observer is on board tomonitor the process.This report provides a summary of the ROP’s third year covering ICCAT deployments 058/09 to 083/10completed between September 2009 and October 2010.2. Deployments2.1 Summary of deploymentsA total of 756 transhipments have been monitored during 26 trips consisting of 1338 sea days, with an averagedeployment length of 51 days. The total weight of fish observed being transhipped over the period was 38,750tonnes (Table 1). Of this, six transhipments transferring a total of 312.2 tonnes, were monitored within watersunder the jurisdiction of CPCs. There has been a 14 % increase in sea days and a16 % increase in the totaltranshipment weight compared to the ICCAT review between August 2008 and September 2009. Of the 756transhipments 39 % were from Chinese Taipei flagged vessels and 32 % from Japanese flagged vessels (Figure1). The locations of all the transhipments are shown in Figure 2, withTable 2 highlighting the details of those transhipments that occurred within EEZs.Republic ofKorea9%Philippines5%China15%Japan32%Chinese Taipei39%Figure 1. Percentage contribution by flag state to the total number of ICCAT transhipments for ICCATdeployments 058/09 to 083/10 (September 2009 to October 2010).529