Looting the Seas III

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After years of intensive fishing, jack mackerel stocks in the southern Pacific have declined dramatically. Some experts say the only way to save the fishery is to impose a total ban for five years. Periódico El Ciudadano

TALCAHUANO, Chile — Eric Pineda peered deep into the Achernar’s hold at a measly 10 tons of jack mackerel after four days in waters once so rich they filled the 57-foot boat in a few hours.

The dock agent, like everyone in this old port south of Santiago, grew up with the bony, bronze-hued fish they call jurel, which roams in schools in the southern Pacific.

“It’s going fast,” Pineda said. “We’ve got to fish harder before it’s all gone.” Asked what he would leave to his son, he shrugged: “He’ll have to find something else.”

But what else is there to find?

Jack mackerel, rich in oily protein, is manna to a hungry planet, a staple in Africa. Elsewhere, people eat it unaware; much of it is reduced to feed for aquaculture and pigs. It can take more than 5 kilos of jack mackerel to raise a kilo of farmed salmon.

Yet stocks have dropped from an estimated 30 million metric tons to less than 3 million in two decades. The world’s largest trawlers, after depleting other oceans, now head south toward the edge of Antarctica to compete for what is left.

An eight-country investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists of the fishing industry in the southern Pacific shows why the plight of the humble jack mackerel foretells progressive collapse of fish stocks in all oceans.

Their fate reflects a bigger picture: decades of unchecked global fishing pushed by geopolitical rivalry, greed, corruption, mismanagement and public indifference.

Daniel Pauly, the eminent University of British Columbia oceanographer, sees jack mackerel in the southern Pacific as an alarming indicator.

Looting the Seas III

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The Santa María II belongs to Lota Protein, owned by the Koppernaes Group in Norway, which has waged a 21-month legal war with eight powerful groups that own rights to 87 percent of jack mackerel in Chilean waters. Juan Pablo Figueroa Lasch/ICIJ
It is 10:30 a.m. on an August Sunday, seven miles off Corral port, and crewmen on the Santa María II haul in the net after half an hour in the water. Captain Eduardo Marzán watches from the bridge, face grim. To his left, 14 other ships circle slowly as his has done for four days in fruitless search of sardines.

Looting the Seas III

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The Willem van der Zwan is one of 25 EU-flagged vessels represented by the Dutch-based Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association. Ships like this catch fish with nets that measure up to 82 feet by 262 feet at the opening. Christian Åslund / Greenpeace

Members of the Animal Party asked the Dutch government Wednesday to ban catches of threatened jack mackerel that vessels from the Netherlands and other European countries have overfished in the South Pacific.

"For years there have been meetings to bring to a halt the activities of big floating fish factories in whose nets whole soccer stadiums could fit," MP Anja Hazekamp of the Animal Party, said, according to the Dutch daily Trouw. “But there are still no binding fishing quotas established.”

The parliamentary debate was sparked by a recent exposé by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which revealed that European, Asian and Latin American fleets have decimated the jack mackerel population in the once-rich waters of the southern Pacific. The stocks have declined from 30 million metric tons to less than 3 million in just two decades.

The bony, bronze-hued jack mackerel plays an important role in the marine ecosystem as food for bigger fish and is a key component of fishmeal for aquaculture. It can take more than 5 kilos of jack mackerel to raise a single kilo of farmed salmon.

Fleets compete in a free-for-all in the southern Pacific, the ICIJ investigation found, because governments have failed since 2006 to create and ratify a regional fisheries management organization that can impose binding regulations. In the meantime, quotas are only voluntary.

Looting the Seas III

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Jack mackerel, fresh off the boat, is prepared for markets in Peru. Mort Rosenblum/ICIJ

Fishing states meeting in Santiago, Chile, left the way open for fleets to catch jack mackerel far beyond the 390,000-metric ton limit that scientists say is vital to protect the already decimated species. In all, the actual catch could reach a whopping half-million tons.

Asian, European and Latin American nations agreed to limit catches to 40 percent of 2010 levels, a total of about 300,000 metric tons in 2012. But Peru claimed rights to an extra 120,000 metric tons within its exclusive 200-mile zone.

In addition, Chile might not be able to honor its proposed limit because government and industry had already agreed on a much higher quota. And nobody knows what Ecuador will do. The country landed almost 70,000 metric tons in 2011 but took no part in the recent South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) negotiations in Santiago. The SPRFMO — an intergovernmental organization charged with protecting fish stocks — has not been ratified, so it cannot impose binding limits.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported on Jan. 25 that fleets in an essential free-for-all have reduced jack mackerel from around 30 million metric tons to less than three million in two decades. The bony, bronze-hued jack mackerel is a key component of fishmeal for aquaculture. It can take more than 5 kilos of jack mackerel to raise a single kilo of farmed salmon.

Looting the Seas III

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Peru’s anchoveta is the world’s largest fishery. Most of it is reduced to fishmeal, a feed for farmed fish and pigs. Milagros Salazar/ICIJ
This northern port reeks of rotten fish year-round, but when anchoveta season begins in late November, its long row of factories belch oily columns of nauseating smoke that impregnate everything within miles.

Looting the Seas III

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After years of intensive fishing, jack mackerel stocks in the southern Pacific have declined dramatically. Some experts say the only way to save the fishery is to impose a total ban for five years. Periódico El Ciudadano
Eric Pineda se asomó a la bodega del Achernar y sólo vio diez míseras toneladas de jurel después de haber estado faenando durante cuatro días. Hace un par de décadas, las aguas del Pacífico Sur eran tan ricas en pescado que se podía llenar ese barco de casi 18 metros de eslora en apenas unas horas.

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