COLOMBIA INSTITUTES TUNA MORATORIUM; PLEDGES NEW

UNCLAS BOGOTA 002902 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIS PHSA SENV CO SUBJECT: COLOMBIA INSTITUTES TUNA MORATORIUM; PLEDGES NEW IATTC TACT REF: STATE 77701 ¶1. (U) On July 22 the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA),Colombia's lead agency for fishing-related issues, published resolution 002557 creating a moratorium-period on tuna fishing from July 22 to December 31. Luisa Maldonado, the marine biologist who drafted the resolution, told Econoff that Colombia's largest tuna fishing boats, which account for over 90 percent of the country's annual 50,000 plus tuna catch, must choose a continuous 49 days during the moratorium-period during which they will not fish. Smaller boats must chose a continuous 30 days during which they will not fish. Foreign-flag boats licensed to fish in Colombian waters must abide by their own countries' tuna moratoriums. ¶2. (SBU) ICA Director-General Andres Valencia publicly stated that ICA issued the resolution in accordance with the recent decision by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) to allow each member country to unilaterally determine when it would suspend tuna fishing in its waters. Martha De La Pava, ICA's Director of Fishing and Aquaculture, gave Econoff a more nuanced explanation. De La Pava said ICA, the Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development (MinEnv),and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MinAg) were furious at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for having excluded them from the June IATTC meeting and, more importantly, from having prevented a consensus position on conservation and management measures for tuna stocks (reftel). ¶3. (SBU) De La Pava admitted the resolution was not perfect: rather than creating a simultaneous closure of the entire fleet it allowed fishing companies to choose their own down-time thus weakening the impact (since they would have to take down-time anyway for maintenance, unloading, etc.) However, she argued that because the down-time must be for a "continuous" period the resolution will still have a positive impact since boats do not need 49 continuous days for maintenance, unloading, etc. (and they will still need to do those functions during the period they fish). ¶4. (SBU) De La Pava described the resolution as a partial win, taken after three weeks of "in your face," 12-hour days negotiating with the MFA and fishing industry representatives. More importantly, she called it a temporary measure, and said the GOC had reached tentative agreement that ICA, the MinEnv and the MinAg would attend the October IATTC meeting, and that Colombia would agree to a simultaneous fishery closure for all boats for the next fishing season. ¶5. (SBU) Comment. The MFA has been blistered by the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, as well by NGOs, for its IATTC performance in Panama. The message has appeared to have gotten through, helped in part by a new Foreign Minister having taken office in the interim. Post will make the formal demarche requested reftel to MFA Vice-Minister Camilo Reyes next week. At that point we hope to confirm that De La Pava's representation of a shift of GOC posture has indeed taken place and that we can expect a different GOC approach in La Jolla. BROWNFIELD