NOAA enforcement leads to decreased illegal Chilean sea bass imports

NOAA enforcement leads to decreased illegal Chilean sea bass imports    Increased enforcement action by the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is credited for substantially reducing the import volumes of illegally fished Chilean sea bass.
   Estimates show illegal sea bass fishing within the area regulated by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has decreased 75 percent from 10,070 tons in 2003 to 2,622 tons in 2004.
   The United States is one of the 24 member nations of the commission and is the world’s third-largest importer of Chilean sea bass, also known as patagonian toothfish.
   In recent years, overfishing concerns due to the high volume of illegal sea bass harvests prompted the United States to take action, both within the commission and through domestic regulation, to reduce the financial incentives for poachers.
   “The commission’s catch documentation program is working to ensure long-term sustainable fisheries,” said Bill Hogarth, director of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, in a statement.
   Several high-profile enforcement cases prosecuted against illegal importers in the United States have further discouraged illegal sea bass fishing, NOAA said.
   NOAA Fisheries raised the bar for importers of sea bass in 2003 by banning fish caught in the southern Indian Ocean, an area outside the commission’s jurisdiction. “Current records indicate a drop of 97 percent in this area from 4,500 tons in 2003 to 126 tons in 2004,” the agency said.
   NOAA may soon require the use of the commission’s Web-based electronic version of the catch documents for all imports of sea bass to increase the quality and timeliness of information about them. The commission also requires all sea bass boats to use satellite-tracking equipment when fishing within the commission’s management area.
   NOAA said it may require that these vessels use the equipment from the time they leave the homeport to the time they return, if importing sea bass into the United States.