BRAZIL HOSTS THE I SOUTH AMERICAN FISHERS FORUM ON SOLVING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BRASILIA 000071

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USAID TO LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, PPC/ENV
INTERIOR FOR DIR INT AFFAIRS: K WASHBURN
INTERIOR FOR FWS: TOM RILEY
INTERIOR PASS USGS FOR INTERNATIONAL: J WEAVER
COMMERCE FOR NOAA: K RIVERA
COMMERCE FOR NMFS: A GUTIERREZ
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES: JWEBB
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL: CAM HILL-MACON
USDA FOR ARS/INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH: G FLANLEY
NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL: HAROLD STOLBERG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID TBIO ECON SOCI XR BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL HOSTS THE I SOUTH AMERICAN FISHERS FORUM ON SOLVING
THE INCIDENTAL CAPTURES OF SEABIRDS IN FISHERIES -SAFF1

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Summary


1. On December 12-14, an OES-sponsored workshop with the slogan
"Catch Fish Not Birds" brought together 50 experts from across the
world to take a look at the potential to reduce seabird bycatch
throughout the South American long-line fishery via the adoption of
mitigation measures in South America fishing fleets. As a result of
the event, several solutions to reduce the incidental catch of sea
birds were identified between fishers, fishing entrepreneurs,
researchers, NGO's and governments. In addition, the partners
conducted a full discussion of the economic and environmental
benefits of reducing sea bird bycatch and committed themselves to
implementing some of these mitigation measures throughout South
America. End Summary

The event - SAFF 1


2. The event, the "First South American Fishers Forum on Solving
the Incidental Captures of Seabirds in Fisheries-SAFF-1", was held
December 12-14 in Guaruja, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The workshop
was funded with a USD 29,500 OES-I grant administered through the
Instituto Albatroz and sponsored by the NGO The Care for the Wild
from the United Kingdom in partnership with Southern Seabird
Solutions from New Zealand. The key organizers of the event were
Tatiana Neves, Projeto Albatroz General Coordinator, and Janice
Molloy, from Southern Seabird Solutions, New Zealand. The Brazilian
Environment Agency (IBAMA) also contributed to organizing the event
and in coordinating the implementation of the Brazilian National
Plan for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels -
NPOA-Seabirds/Brazil. In total, the workshop attracted
approximately 50 participants from eleven countries (Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, United
Kingdom (Malvinas/Falklands),Uruguay, and USA).


3. The SAFF1 opening session was attended by Dr. Altemir Gregolin,
Ministry of Aquaculture and Fisheries Special Secretariat of the
Brazilian Presidency; Dr. Romulo Mello, IBAMA's Fauna Director;
Patricia Palumbo, President of Instituto Albatroz; and the Guaruja
Municipality Environment Secretariat. The unified message was that
the forum was being held so that institutions from different
countries could take advantage of opportunities for greater
collaboration in developing new paths to improve the environmental

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and social performance of the fishing business in South America and
to promote solutions to reduce seabird bycatch in longline
fisheries.

Seabird and Fisheries Interactions - An overview


4. Incidental bycatch from longline fishing operations has been
identified as a major source of mortality for many seabird species
throughout the Southern Ocean threatening some species with
extinction. More than 100,000 seabirds are killed every year due to
interactions with the longline fishing industry. For many species,
this mortality rate often exceeds the population's reproductive
rate. This has led in part to what the IUCN 2006 report on
albatrosses indicated was nineteen of the world's twenty-one
albatross species now being faced with extinction.


5. Simple methods for reducing the number of the birds caught have
been developed. For example towing bird-scaring lines (torilines),
dying the bait blue and setting lines at night are some mitigation
measures that have been tested and implemented in some fisheries
such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine
Living Resources (CCAMLR) Treaty area resulting in decreases in sea
bird mortality of over 90 percent. In addition, the issue of
seabird mortality is directly linked with improving efficiency in
the longline fleets. When the seabirds eat the bait, the main
consequence is the reduction of the production capacity of the
longline vessels. For example, it has been estimated that the
Japanese longline fleet in the Tasmanian Sea suffers an annual loss
of USD 4.3 million because of this particular interaction.

Seabird and Fisheries Interaction in South America - Country
Updates


6. Dr. Carlos Moreno, from Universidad Austral de Chile, noted that,
in Chile, 25 percent of the reduction of the Black-browed Albatross
population is due to the industrial Patagonian toothfish fisheries
in Chile operating since 1990. According to Moreno, since 2003
Chile has been developing the National Action Plan to Reducing
Seabird Interaction in the Chilean Longline Fisheries (PAN-AM) and
defined measures to revise some fisheries, such as pelagic and
demersal (bottom) longline fisheries. According to the research
program of the PAN-AM the main techniques that need to be re-tested
are the effectiveness of integrated weighted lines in demersal

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fisheries, the use of streamer lines, also known as bird-scaring
lines or torilines, in combination with other simple measures to
nearly eliminate seabird mortality.


7. In Peru, research on small-scale longliners confirmed a high
seabird mortality rate - as much as 7.4 birds/1,000 hooks in some
areas, with an average range of 0.74-1.75 birds/1,000 hooks.
Approximately 40 percent were albatrosses, and other seabirds
frequently caught included shearwaters, boobies and pelicans.


8. In Brazil, vessels primarily targeting swordfish, but also tuna
and shark, have increased dramatically since 1998, and more than
12,000 seabirds are killed each year in these fisheries, including
some species threatened with extinction. However, since 2001, the
Projeto Albatroz has worked for the seabirds' conservation in the
Southwestern Atlantic, which is an extremely important feeding area
for many albatross species. The Projeto Albatroz goals are to make
the domestic longline fleet aware of the problem, to implement
mitigation measures, and to monitor the seabird bycatch using the
Brazilian National Plan of Action for the Conservation of
Albatrosses and Petrels (NPOA-Seabird/Brazil) as a model to
implement fishing practices and adopt safe and inexpensive
mitigation measures to reduce seabird bycatch in the region.

How conservation groups, researchers and government can support
fishermen - Workshop Conclusions


9. On the final day of the forum, the participants were split into
small groups to discuss specific issues. The first group addressed
observer programs such as BirdLife International's Albatross Task
Force, that works at-sea and on-shore to encourage the adoption of
mitigation measures and to collect baseline bycatch data, where
required. The Task Force currently has three full-time mitigation
instructors working in South Africa and two employees working in the
pelagic fisheries of Brazil. There are also plans to have two
people based in Chile by the end of 2006 or early 2007, and
negotiations are underway to have a further 4-6 people working in
South America in 2007/08. The Task Force was designed to provide
capacity and experience to help advance research into the
development of pelagic fishery mitigation measures. BirdLife was
congratulated on progress made over the last 12 months in the
implementation of the Task Force and was encouraged to further
expand the scope and size of the project.

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10. The second group addressed the effective ways to introduce
fishermen to mitigation measures and concluded that the economic
efficiency approaches to define economic loss analysis in the
fisheries business could be one possibility. In addition, other
factors that could result in the fisheries adopting these measures
included market threats such as the "Chilean sea Bass" ban, as well
as the positive incentive of potential certification of well-managed
fisheries. The need for awareness-raising materials in appropriate
languages using fishermen to talk to other fishermen to get a
message accepted and also providing critical training for key
fishermen players, including fishery compliance observer officers
and fishery monitors in ports and harbors throughout South America
were also viewed as key elements of the strategy.


11. The third group addressed the strategies to attain the benefits
of sustainable seafood markets for South America. According two
experts Dr. Martin Hall, from IATTC and Douglas Meyer from Bernuth &
Williamson Consulting/Seafood Choices Alliance, the key strategy is
to develop an environmental standard for sustainable and
well-managed fisheries to help pre-certification by the Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC). As of November 2006, 21 fisheries have
been certified under this system and there are more than 450
products on the market worldwide with the label. The role of large
consumers of fisheries products such as Wal-Mart and their stated
goals of buying only MSC certified fisheries products was also
underscored.


12. The main actions to improve emerging markets for sustainable
seafood and its relevance to seabirds should be addressed by an
identification of fisheries which have the potential for export, to
involve local governments into the process of local certification,
to integrate the certification process into the marine conservation
approach, to define criteria and specific standards for each
certification, and to improve the knowledge of the chain of custody
of the product. This group thought it would be useful to contact
institutions to produce Wallet cards of the sustainably harvested
species, to look into the possibility of creating regional
approaches to certification, and to search for regional partnerships
(local governments, fisheries industries, cooperatives and NGO's)
for environment solutions with a market incentive.

Comment:

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13. The forum was successful in achieving its stated objectives of
bringing together fishers, seabird bycatch experts, and others to
introduce the fishing industries to the various methods to reduce
interactions with seabirds and to obtain commitments from these
industries to reduce seabird bycatch. The long-term success,
however, will depend on how the efforts to reduce seabird bycatch
levels in fisheries will be implemented by the industry and whether
or not regulations requiring these measures are legislated by the
governments in the region.


15. Workshop information, presentation, photographs and results will
be posted at
http://www.forumdepescadores.com.br. For further information
contact Tatiana Neves, Instituto Albatroz General Coordinator,
tneves@projetoalbatroz.org.br.

SOBEL