El mayor fallo de la gestión es que ni los pescadores ni los gestores poseen los conocimientos necesarios para dirigir algo tan complejo como un ecosistema marino costero. El derecho a pescar no se debería basar en si uno dispone del dinero suficiente para comprarse un barco, sino en los conocimientos y la voluntad de trabajar en colaboración con los gestores y los científicos para hacer que la pesca sea sostenible. El derecho a pescar se debería ganar o perder según la voluntad de aceptar unos límites razonables a las capturas.

Paul Greenberg

15 de noviembre de 2014

Peru, la pesca ilegal y barcos abanderados de dudosa reputacion

La pesca ilegal, no declarada y no reglamentada (INDNR) representa una amenaza mundial para la pesca sostenible, así como para la ordenación y la conservación de los recursos pesqueros y la biodiversidad marina. En los últimos 10 años ha adquirido cada vez más importancia, como instrumento de lucha contra la pesca INDNR, que los Estados rectores de los puertos dispongan de mejores medidas de control. La importancia que han cobrado los Estados rectores de los puertos en la lucha contra las prácticas pesqueras insostenibles se debe en gran medida a que los estados de los pabellones no han controlado con eficacia las operaciones pesqueras de los barcos que enarbolan sus banderas.

En las edición de diciembre de la Revista Pesca se podrá apreciar que la embarcación Lafayette, ya con el nuevo nombre de Damanzaihao y con bandera peruana ha sido presentada formalmente por el Estado peruano ante la Organización regional Pesquera del Pacífico Sur.

Esta es una decisión sectorial que tiene implicaciones internacionales que pueden ser complicadas.

La pregunta es si la decisión de Dicapi y Produce cuentan con el aval y/o conocimiento de Palacio de Gobierno.

Asumiendo que lo actuado por el estado peruano en relación al buque pesquero Lafayette está encuadrado dentro de la legalidad, es conveniente conocer a lo que esta acción ha obligado al
Perú de aquí en adelante.

Mención aparte es destacar la censurable e indebida actuación de las autoridades peruanas al otorgar la bandera peruana a un buque pesquero cuestionado internacionalmente y a la “ingenua” comunicación del Ministerio de la Producción informando a la OROP del Pacífico Sur que dicho barco actuará en actividades de apoyo logístico en el Pacífico Sud oriental, amparado por la bandera del Perú.  Todos saben que el mencionado buque es el barco factoría más grande del mundo, por lo cual su actividad principal es procesar pesca y congelarla. A menos que se entienda a dicha actividad como apoyo logístico, aunque la definición correcta es de abastecimiento de materiales, víveres y combustible. ¿Alguien puede creer que semejante embarcación será usada en esas actividades nada más?

Como evidencia la carta de la Secretaria de la OROP que se publica en la Revista Pesca de Diciembre en su versión original en inglés, el barco en cuestión ha sido observado como vinculado a la pesca ilegal, no declarada y no reglamentada.

Resulta pues que la acción de funcionarios de Dicapi y Produce, totalmente legales seguramente, han puesto o deben haber puesto a la Cancillería Peruana en un problema. Han expuesto al país internacionalmente como carente de políticas pesqueras sólidas y comprometidas con la erradicación de la pesca ilegal en el mundo.

Han convertido al Perú en un vientre de alquiler de banderas colocándolo al nivel de todos los países que otorgan bandera a embarcaciones cuestionadas y de dudosa reputación.

En el siguiente link se puede leer la noticia en inglés que está circulando por toda la web:

Y en los siguientes enlaces se puede acceder a las comunicaciones entre el Ministerio de la Producción y la OROP





PACIFIC ANDES’ DAMANZAIHAO ON DRAFT IUU LIST
October 30, 2014, 10:11 am
Eva Tallaksen

Pacific Andes in talks to raise more debt as share price drops on high trading
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Peru fuels controversy as Pacific Andes’ factory-ship transships in South Pacific

Damanzaihao, the flagship mothership of Pacific Andes formerly known as Lafayette, has been included on the draft list of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing drawn up by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization, Undercurrent News has learnt.

The IUU list will be circulated on Friday Oct. 31, the SPRFMO’s executive secretary Johanne Fischer wrote in a letter seen by Undercurrent.

In the letter, dated Oct. 29 and addressed to a Peruvian fisheries official, Fischer refers to a notification from Peru which it received the previous day.

In the notification, Peru said it had now authorized Damanzaihao to take part in the SPRFMO fishery.

However, said Fischer, Damanzaihao’s activities in the SPRFMO zone over the summer — as reported by Undercurrent last month — before having received any such authorization “makes it difficult for the secretariat to accept this vessel for inclusion in the SPRFMO record of authorized vessels”.

The letter, addressed to Carlos Carillo Mora, director of fishing and production for human consumption within the production ministry Produce, starts by stating that a previous notification referenced by Peru was never received by the SPRFMO.

Fischer then notes that under SPRFMO rules, authorizations are valid 15 days after the notification to the secretariat.

This means Damanzaihao — which changed its flag from Russia to Mongolia and then to Peru in mid July — would only be allowed to start taking part in the fishery as of Nov. 12.

But these are “technical details”, said Fishcher.The main problem, she said, is that including Damanzaihao on the list of authorized vessels would send a signal that the SPRFMO is not effectively combating IUU.

“[There] is a more serious and fundamental concern regarding the Damanzaihao which makes it difficult for the Secretariat to accept this vessel for inclusion in the SPRFMO Record of authorized vessels,” wrote Fischer.

“The vessel has been accused of severe breaches of the SPRFMO Convention and the [conservation and management measures] adopted by the Commission … and is consequently included in the SPRFMO Draft IUU List which will be circulated on 31 October 2014.

“Therefore the Secretariat is concerned that incorporating the Damanzaihao in the official Record of authorized vessels could convey the impression that the Organization is not effectively combating IUU fishing, and might also prejudice the final IUU determination in respect to the vessel.”

The attention to Damanzaihao’s activities in the media makes it even harder for the secretariat to accept the inclusion, wrote Fischer:

Furthermore, in the case of the Damanzaihao the situation is made more serious by the fact that its unauthorized presence and activities in the SPRFMO Convention Area since early this year has been widely noted and has attracted attention in the international media.

Accordingly it is likely that an inclusion of the vessel in the SPRFMO Record of authorized vessels could generate international public discussion as to the level of commitment of the SPRFMO Commission and its Members to the international efforts to eliminate IUU fishing.
Damanzaihao is owned by Pacific Andes’ fishing arm, the Singapore-listed China Fishery Group.

On Monday, Pacific Andes said is in talks to refinance debt, after it failed to convince holders of Copeinca’s $250m bonds to guarantee up to $1.2 billion in group debt for China Fishery.

The Hong Kong-listed company added it was not aware of any reason for the “unusual” fluctuation in its share price and trading volume seen on Monday, Oct. 27.

The group’s share price dropped sharply that day, from HKD 0.375 to HKD 0.335, while the trading volume rose to 25.1 million shares traded. The drop has continued since and trading opened this Thursday at HKD 0.320, according to Bloomberg data.

According to an Undercurrent source citing satellite information, the factory ship is currently docked in Chimbote, north of Peru’s capital Lima, and might have been processing squid in recent weeks.

The pelagic catchers Liafjord, Pacific Hunter, Pacific Voyager and Pacific Champion are also docked in the harbor, said this source.

Satellite data obtained by Undercurrent last month and reproduced here showed that the factory-vessel had been most likely transshipping for jack mackerel since mid to late August until early to mid September at least.

Vessel tracks from satellite images showed Damanzaihao had been in international waters off the coast of Peru from mid June to mid August, and then off the Chilean coast since at least Aug. 23.

AIS data from Marine Traffic service, to which we had access for a few days in early September, clearly showed the mothership amid a group of fishing vessels including the four above catchers off Chilean waters.

Fishing for jack mackerel and taking part in new or exploratory fisheries in those waters is managed by the SPRFMO, which is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand.

Undercurrent has been unable to obtain clarity on the matter from Peru, despite requests for comments to numerous officials at both Peru’s foreign ministry and Produce before and after our last article in mid September.

An email from the ministry of foreign affairs simply stated that Peru is looking into the situation. “The competent bodies of [Produce] have been carrying out the investigations, the results of which will keep you informed,” Luis R Arribasplata, director of maritime affairs at Peru’s ministry of foreign affairs, responded in a statement to Undercurrent on Sept. 11.

Pacific Andes itself had told Undercurrent that Peru granted an authorization for Damanzaihao to take part in the SPRFMO fishery on Aug. 15.

“Our understanding is that the vessel is authorized as we were copied on a letter from the Peruvian government on 15 August, 2014, providing the vessel details to the SPRFMO,” Geoffrey Walsh, spokesperson for the company and its Hong Kong-based fishing subsidiary China Fishery Group, told Undercurrent on Sept. 15.

Vague communication from Peru could have caused confusion and led Pacific Andes to believe it did have authorization to take part in the SPRFMO, an industry source told Undercurrent at the time.

A request for comment to Pacific Andes on Oct. 8 was not answered.

The letter from the SPRFMO is reproduced below and can also be accessed here.