In 1991 the United Nations passed a resolution which called for a moratorium on the use of driftnets on the high seas. Driftnets are defined by the UN as gill nets over 2.5 kilometres long and left to drift beyond the exclusive economic zone of any nation. Before the moratorium, driftnet vessels would use approximately 55 km of net each per night, catching everything larger than the mesh size, causing over-fishing to the point of stock collapse and endangering other species such as turtles, dolphins, whales and marine birds. One report estimated that in 1989 alone, between 300,000 and 1 million dolphins died in commercial driftnets. While a moratorium is in place, not everyone is abiding by it. The UN has no policing power. This function is instead being left to those dedicated to the protection of the marine world — people such as those in the "Driftnetwork", whose members include scientists, fishermen and conservationists around the world. The Driftnetwork is part of the Hawaii-based conservation group Earthtrust. SUSIE WHITE, coordinator of this small but committed network, spoke to CAROLYN COURT.
White: Now is our chance. If we don't stop driftnetting now while there is a moratorium and only a few boats working, we will face a proliferation of these boats within a few years as they figure out that the UN moratorium doesn't have any teeth. The UN doesn't have an enforcement mechanism, so it's time we hit hard, hit them now and shut them down while we can.
Which parts of the high seas is the network trying to cover?
The areas that we are really concentrating on are where we believe the driftnet boats are working. Boats from Asian countries are primarily in the Indian Ocean, possibly in the South Pacific and the North Pacific. We're also concerned where there are European driftnet boats working, the Mediterranean being the one of most concern to us.
Is driftnetting still occurring on a significant scale since the 1991 UN resolution?
Driftnetting is a very lucrative business, and although we really do not have any numbers of boats, we have indications that there are boats still working. We've sent people to China, to Malaysia, to Indonesia, and from talking to people at the docks as well as actually seeing driftnet boats in port, this indicates that there are boats that are still working.
It is below the number active at the peak, when perhaps 1500 Asian driftnet boats were working. But we have to remember that each boat has the potential to wipe out an entire pod of dolphins. These boats are using nets that are up to 30 or 40 miles long and in some cases longer, and anything that swims into them smaller than the mesh size — that is 6 to 8 inches and in some cases as small as two inches. We're looking at devastation of whales and dolphins and certainly a great many fish that are not intended to be caught are being wasted.
Has the Driftnetwork had any successes? Have you been able to achieve anything over the last few years?
We certainly have, and the Network is continuing to grow. In 1993 in Singapore, for instance, we found two boats that had been driftnetting in the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific. We got our camera crew over there and talked to the crew, found out they were a Taiwanese-owned boat, and had taken untold numbers of dolphins and other marine life. We turned this video tape over to the Taiwanese government, and when the boats came back into Taiwan, their licences were revoked.
We're very proud of that example, but unfortunately we're still a very small network and we're still out there looking for more boats. We need much more documentation on these boats and any collusion by governments. That is why we are making this issue public. We're continuing to look for people who will send us reports when they see a boat while yachting, or when they happen to be in harbour and see a driftnet boat.
So you're interested in help from South Pacific countries and Australia.
The South Pacific has been strong in the anti-driftnet movement. The people in these countries greatly care about the fisheries and the wildlife of the ocean, and they were key in 1989 in the effort to stop driftnetting. There was a Wellington Convention on driftnetting that was key to the subsequent UN moratorium.
These nations have resolved to see that driftnetting doesn't revive in their area. But these boats can be so opportunistic. We need everyone to be looking out for them.
What sort of information are you looking for?
We have pamphlets that show what to look for, what the characteristics of a driftnet boat are. We would really like to have photographs of any boat. Photographs of the boats showing the name of the boat and where it's from.
For instance, in the case of the gentlemen who called us from Singapore, when our crew got there the name of the boat had been in Chinese, then had been switched to English. However, the real name, in Chinese characters, was still there on the life buoys. That's how we were able to prove that they were Taiwanese.
[This interview — here abridged — was first broadcast on One World, an environment awareness program for the Pacific, produced for Radio Australia by Carolyn Court. One World can be heard on Saturdays at 5.30, 7.30 and 19.30 Universal Time. For frequencies phone Radio Australia on c/- the ABC in your capital city.]