Strict ban on shark finning Mon 15 Jul The Cook Islands enforces a strict ban on shark finning according to the Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR). It was revealed last week that Luen Thai Fishing Venture - a multinational fishing company licensed to fish in Cook Islands waters with 14 vessels - has been fined US$120,000 and stripped of its fishing licence for Marshall Islands waters. MMR secretary Ben Ponia says there are many licensing conditions here the ministry is required to monitor which are conducted under various methods. These include vessel boarding and inspections, placement of observers onboard vessels, catch and offloading reporting, and portside inspections. “The police patrol boat spends at least 100 days at sea on patrol and have a ship-rider agreement for surveillance officers onboard US coastguard vessels,” said Ponia. “We would do a major sea operation about once every quarter.” A 1.9 million square kilometre shark sanctuary was established in the Cook Islands late last year with widespread public and government support. Combining the efforts of the Cooks with regional partners, an area totalling 6.7 million sq km – nearly the size of Australia – is now subjected to a ban on shark fishing and the possession or sale of shark products. Ponia made a distinction between regional regulations and local laws on shark finning. In the Cook Islands, if a commercial longline vessel or transhipment vessel is found with any shark part (fin, body or other) it is a prosecutable offence with fines ranging from a minimum of NZ$100,000 to a maximum of $250,000, with each shark part considered a separate offense. Regional rules, established by the Tuna Commission, require “a certain ratio of fins to carcasses to ensure that there is not targeted finning taking place.” A 2006 Greenpeace report cites shark fin prices of up to US$700 per kilogramme, many times the price of tuna at local outlets. The ministry’s surveillance programmes were allocated no addition funds in the 2013-14 budget, said Ponia. He says there is also an ongoing request for government support to establish a modern office that he describes as a “marine house” concept. Ponia said new facilities will allow the ministry to “... set up a proper surveillance operations centre where we can co-ordinate joint police and MMR maritime surveillance activities and host more sophisticated sub-regional and joint country patrolling operations.” “Our current accommodation is woefully inadequate,” he said. There have been several shark-related prosecutions in the past eight years. In June 2005, US authorities assisted the government in the investigation and eventual detection of a breach by a Cook Islands licensed fishing vessel suspected of violating a condition of its license related to the taking of sharks. The following month US authorities investigated a foreign flagged fishing vessel that off-loaded a bag of about 40 pounds of dried shark fins intended for local sale and landed without corresponding carcasses. Another incident in October 2008, saw a surveillance patrol by a US Coast Guard vessel with a Cook Islands authorised officer on board detain a US vessel operating in the Cook Islands carrying shark fins. Under the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000, it is illegal for a US vessel to have shark fins on board. Last year there were allegations that a Luen Thai vessel fishing in the Cook Islands had been found with shark parts on board, but local officials say it was nothing but a rumour. “My responsibility is to enact the laws of this country and not to pass judgement,” said Ponia when asked for his reaction on the recent Luen Thai incident. cinews.co.ck
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 06:01:20 +0000
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