Chapter V — International 



and North Banks has been substantially greater in each 

 of the past five years than either the authorized or the 

 reported catch. In 1995, for example, the Scientific 

 Committee estimated that the actual catch was 6,171.1 

 mt while the reported and authorized catches were 

 3,301.1 mt and 2,800 mt, respectively. Much of the 

 unreported catch appears due to continued fishing 

 after the authorized catch level has been reached and 

 legal fishing has ended for the year. Many of the 

 vessels that have been sighted apparently fishing 

 illegally were registered in Argentina or Chile. Both 

 countries have taken steps to identify and prosecute 

 the owners and operators of vessels fishing illegally. 

 The efforts to date appear, however, to have had 

 limited success. 



At both the 1994 and 1995 meetings of the Com- 

 mission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine 

 Living Resources, the U.S. delegation has proposed 

 mandating use of an automated satellite-linked vessel 

 monitoring system to help identify vessels fishing in 

 closed areas or during closed seasons. Other coun- 

 tries have proposed that fishing vessels be required to 

 report when they are entering and leaving areas where 

 fisheries are regulated by agreed conservation mea- 

 sures. Some parties believe that both mandatory 

 reporting and automated vessel monitoring would 

 infringe on either high seas rights or national jurisdic- 

 tion in claimed areas. Thus, while the need to stop 

 illegal fishing is recognized, it has not been possible 

 to develop a consensus on how to do so. 



Possible means for detecting and stopping illegal 

 fishing will be considered again at the next meeting of 

 the Antarctic Living Resources Commission. The 

 Marine Mammal Commission will continue to work 

 with the Department of State and the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service to identify and prepare working 

 papers proposing measures that might be taken to stop 

 illegal fishing. 



The Crab Fishery — At present, the crab fishery 

 is the only Southern Ocean fishery in which a U.S. 

 fishing vessel is involved. As noted in the Marine 

 Mammal Commission's previous annual report, this is 

 an exploratory fishery governed by conservation 

 measures enacted in 1993 and continued each year 

 since then. The fishery is limited to statistical area 

 48.3 and the total allowable catch is 1,600 mt. The 



management plan developed for this exploratory 

 fishery has established an important precedent for 

 other new and developing fisheries. 



Incidental Mortality — Many species of marine 

 mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and non-target fish 

 species are caught incidentally in commercial fisheries 

 throughout the world. Many also are caught and 

 killed in lost and discarded fishing gear or die from 

 eating plastics and other non-digestible material 

 discarded at sea. 



As noted in previous Marine Mammal Commission 

 annual reports, the Commission and Scientific Com- 

 mittee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine 

 Living Resources have taken a number of steps to 

 assess and prevent such mortality in the Southern 

 Ocean. Fishermen are required to report both lost 

 fishing gear and all incidents of marine mammals, 

 seabirds, and other non-target species caught inciden- 

 tally in the convention area. Placards and information 

 brochures have been prepared and distributed to 

 ensure that fishermen are aware of hazards posed by 

 lost and discarded fishing gear and other potentially 

 hazardous materials and to advise them of what they 

 can do to prevent such materials from being lost and 

 discarded at sea. To prevent seabirds from being 

 attracted to bait from hooks on longlines, longlines 

 can be set only at night, trash and offal cannot be 

 dumped when longlines are being set or hauled and 

 streamers must be towed during deployment of 

 longlines to discourage birds from attempting to take 

 bait from hooks. 



Incidental catch data reported to the Antarctic 

 Living Resources Commission in 1995 indicate that 

 the mortality of albatrosses incidental to longline 

 fisheries in the convention area has been reduced by 

 nearly 80 percent and that the reduction would have 

 been nearly 100 percent, had all longliners complied 

 fully with the mortality-reduction measures described 

 above. However, catches of white-chinned petrels 

 increased, presumably because this species is active at 

 night when longlines are to be set and retrieved. 



As noted earlier, there is evidence of substantial 

 illegal longline fishing, particularly in statistical area 

 48.3. Vessels fishing illegally do not report catches 

 of either target or non-target species and probably do 



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