Progress Report on Ending the Italian Driftnet

UNCLAS ROME 003484

SIPDIS


RULSJGA Commandant, US Coast Guard
RUCOCGA Commandant, Atlantic Area US Coast Guard
RUCPDC Commerce/NOAA/NMFS Enforcement, Sustainable Fisheries

DEPT FOR OES FOR ACTING DAS BALTON; OMC FOR TINKHAM, WARNER-
KRAMER, PLE

DEPT FOR EUR/WE

COMMERCE FOR NOAA/NMFS/IA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIS SENV PHSA ETRD IT EUN
SUBJECT: Progress Report on Ending the Italian Driftnet
Fishery

REFS: A) STATE 210780 B) 2002 ROME 5662


1. Summary: On 25 July 2003, Department and Embassy Rome
officers met with Italian Department of Fisheries Deputy
Director Plinio Conte to discuss Italy's implementation of
the 1999 US-Italy driftnet agreement. It appears that Italy
has made significant progress towards ending the use of
large-scale, high seas driftnets. Embassy Rome will forward
documents provided during the meeting to the Department.
End summary.


2. On July 25, as requested by ref A, EST section arranged
a meeting for OES/OMC officer Stetson Tinkham with
appropriate Italian fisheries officials. Tinkham opened the
meeting with a brief statement of USG concerns that a lack
of reporting by Italy on how it was fulfilling the terms of
our 1999 bilateral agreement might cause the driftnet issue
to become an irritant in our bilateral relationship once
again.


3. Italian officials (list in para 6 below) led by
Fisheries Deputy Director Plinio Conte then described a
series of steps that they had taken to bring driftnet
fishing to an end. These include:

--Enacting new legislation that requires "compulsory
dismissal or conversion" (boats could be scrapped or convert
to another gear type) of the driftnet fishing licenses of
the last 89 licensed actively fishing Italian driftnet
vessels. The legislation entered into force on December
2002 and allocated a total of 5 million Euro (equally
distributed between compensations to boat owners and to crew
members),including funds provided by the Sicily and
Calabria regional governments.

--Identifying crew members and vessel owners who would be
compensated under the retirement scheme. They noted that
each valid crew member (about 320) would receive 7,500 Euro
in compensation, even if they convert to another type of
fishing. Note: According to the law, the compensation for
the owners, who decide to convert to another type of
fishing, will vary from 9,861 to 60,333 Euro depending on
vessel tonnage. If the owners decide to be compensated for
scrapping these vessels, the compensation (which will also
include EU funds) will be much higher, varying from 75,000
to 353,560 Euro for the same-size vessels. Italian
officials told us that "many" owners would apply for the
scrapping. End note.

--Canceling the driftnet portions of the fishing licenses of
all of the 89 remaining vessels.

--Deleting the names of these vessels from the EU vessel
registry, which contains a unique registry number for each
vessel.

--Seizing and sealing the nets from all 89 vessels.
According to the law, the driftnets can be "recycled or
transformed" and the owners keep the profits of these
operations.

--Receiving European Commission approval for their
compensation plan in February 2003. Part of the
Commission's review included a finding that the buyback
funds were not a "market-distorting measure." Note:
according to the text of the EU approval, the GOI
compensation to convert is considered "reasonable", since
the owners would receive only 15 pct and the crew only 50
pct of the EU compensation for definitive retirement (as
mentioned above). End note.

--Seeking to initiate a uniform sanction scheme among all EU


member states in order to reduce disparities in the level of
sanctions applied for fisheries violations. Fisheries
International Affairs Giannella mentioned that the Council
will establish a catalogue of sanctions to be applied by
Member States for serious infringements. Comment: this is
a complicated matter because the Justice system is within
the competency of member states. End of comment. Giannella
also mentioned the idea of establishing a EU Joint
Inspection Structure at Community level, pooling national
and EU monitoring and inspection resources for more
effective implementation of control across the EU.
Regarding enforcement, Giannella pointed out that non-EU
(e.g. Malta and Cyprus) and North-African fishermen are
still allowed to use driftnets. For this reason, the EU
will try to transform its driftnet ban into a Mediterranean-
wide ban, using the instrument of the General Fisheries
Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM). According to
Giannella, Italy insists on the need of a comprehensive
approach by the EU of Med fisheries issues. For this
reason, the GOI has organized the Euro-Mediterranean
Conference on Fisheries and Agriculture that will take place
in Venice on November 25-27, 2003.

--Considering the use of marine reserves and marine
sanctuaries to protect spawning and nursery areas for marine
species.


4. Italian officials were not aware of recent NGO reports
of driftnet fishing out of ports on the island of Ischia,
but suggested that there will always be some who try to
break the rules. They then provided copies of several
documents that will be forwarded to the Department
(OES/OMC). These include: the July 2002 law establishing
the mandatory end of driftnet fishing; a summary of driftnet
enforcement activities for 2002 (through October, the end of
the fishing season); and related documents. Note: 2002
driftnet enforcement data were already known to us (ref. B).
In summary, Port Authorities dedicated 15,101 hours and
93,614 nautical miles to driftnet monitoring in the 2002
season. During their monitoring activity, they caught and
seized the nets of 9 illegal driftnet vessels in Palermo, 44
in Calabria, 19 in Catania, 12 in Bari, 2 in Naples, and 17
in Sardinia. End note.


5. GOI officials promised to provide information about
seized or surrendered driftnets recycling and a summary of
driftnet enforcement efforts for 2003 later in the year.


6. A list of participants in the meeting follows:

U.S. - Stetson Tinkham (OES/OMC); Federica Signoretti
(Science Office, Embassy Rome).

Italy - Plinio Conte (Fisheries Deputy Director); Comm.
Pietro Verna (head of National Center for Fishery Control
and Operations); Pasquale Giannella (International Affairs
director); Giovanni Granato (EU Funds Director); and Felice
Mazzeo (Fishery Regulations Director).


7. This cable has been cleared by OES/OMS Stetson Tinkam.

Dwyer


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2003ROME03484 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED