The Indian Ocean is a crucial ecosystem
in the race to protect the high seas.1
From safeguarding marine biodiversity to
promoting sustainable, socially responsible
fishing, the changes needed to protect the
Indian Ocean could pave the way for ocean
protection the world over.
The timing has never been more critical. Across
the global oceans, fish populations have been
decimated by industrial fishing and marine
habitats are reeling from the cumulative impacts
of overexploitation and climate breakdown. The
Indian Ocean is a frontline for these crises. The
climate emergency is transforming the region,
multiplying the pressures already exerted on
wildlife and local communities by the industrial
fishing vessels that plunder the high seas. It is
estimated that around one third of the assessed
fish populations in the Indian Ocean are
overfished.2
In this report, we will focus on fishing pressure
on the high seas of the western Indian Ocean;
the threats this industry poses to biodiversity
and livelihoods, and the need to transform ocean
governance with a Global Ocean Treaty.
The Indian Ocean is the smallest and shallowest
of the ocean basins, lying primarily in the
southern Hemisphere with a relatively narrow
continental shelf.3 It spreads over almost
seventy five million square kilometers, from the
southern tip of South Africa to the west coast of
Australia. Surrounded by thirty six coastal states
and eleven hinterland nations, the combined
population of the circumferential land mass
represents 30% of humankind.
The region is home to immense biodiversity. It
contains 30% of global coral reef cover, 40,000
square kilometers of mangroves, some of the
world’s largest estuaries, and nine large marine
ecosystems.4,
5
Yet the region suffers from a multitude of
destructive fishing activities. A Greenpeace
report on tuna fisheries released in 1993
described how the tuna industry has “been
allowed to develop under a philosophy that
ocean life is limitless and available without
restraint for private profit.”6 The continued
development of the global tuna industry,
including in the Indian Ocean, over the last three
decades has shown that statement to be spot
on.
Industrial purse seiners have substantially
modified pelagic habitats and some of the
Indian Ocean’s most important tuna stocks
are overfished. Large-scale driftnets, described
as “walls of death” and banned by the UN
General Assembly 30 years ago, continue to be
used extensively, leading to the decimation of
whale and dolphin populations, whilst deep
sea trawlers drag their gear over highly diverse
seamounts. Recently, new fisheries targeting
squid—a species which plays a fundamental
role in the marine food web—have boomed
unchecked.
Well-managed fisheries are critical to the
food security of coastal communities around
the world, particularly in the Global South.
The contribution of fish to food security is
staggering: capture fisheries and aquaculture
provide three billion people with almost 20% of
their average per capita intake of animal protein,
whilst a further 1.3 billion people get about 15%
of their per capita intake. Further still, people
in Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Maldives
and Sri Lanka get more than half of the animal
protein in their diets from fish.7
Yet despite the region’s reliance on seafood,
fisheries are being grossly mismanaged by
weak institutions and political decisions that
disregard long-term conservation and the
urgency of the ecological crisis. As a result,
many key marine populations are endangered.
The concerning trend of declining ocean health
in the Indian Ocean is a clear example of how
the current mechanisms in place to govern the
oceans are broken. That’s why it is essential for
governments to create a strong Global Ocean
Treaty that can prevent harm from extractive
activities and put the needs of marine life and
coastal communities first. As we approach the
final stages of the Treaty negotiations at the
United Nations, world leaders have the chance
to transform the fate of the high seas, creating
tools that can turn back the clock on ocean
destruction and resuscitate marine ecosystems,
protecting invaluable species and sustaining
coastal communities for generations to come.HIGH SEAS FISHERIES:
Fishing in the Indian Ocean—both in coastal
and international waters—accounts for
approximately 15% of reported marine
catches globally.
Since the 1980s, catches have been growing,
particularly in the eastern Indian Ocean where
catches of small pelagics, tuna and shrimp
have increased.
8 However, it’s important to note
that data on Indian Ocean fisheries are often
inaccurate due to poor monitoring of fishing
activities. Most fish stocks have not been well
assessed, so figures need to be treated with
caution. Therefore, according to the information
available, around one third of the assessed fish
populations in the Indian Ocean are considered
overfished.
9
On the high seas of the Indian Ocean, the most
valuable fisheries target tuna and tuna-like
species such as swordfish, marlins and others—
species that are critical to the region’s marine
ecosystems and coastal economies. High seas
fisheries also target deep sea fish and, more
recently, squid.
Tuna fisheries straddle the waters of coastal
countries and the high seas. They are managed
through a Regional Fisheries Management
Organisation (RFMO) and the Indian Ocean
Tuna Commission (IOTC)—where all countries
participating in these fisheries, both from the
region as well as distant water fishing nations,
meet to discuss conservation and management
measures. Unfortunately, the lack of an adequate
response to overfishing has made clear that the
work of the IOTC has been heavily influenced by
industrial fishing interests and guided by shortterm profits. This has resulted, as this report
explores, in a number of key fish populations
being seriously impacted by overfishing and
destructive fishing.
Another RFMO, the southern Indian Ocean
Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), is responsible
for the management of deep sea fisheries in
the southern Indian Ocean. Deep sea fisheries
are very poorly managed, posing a threat
to vulnerable marine ecosystems such as
seamounts (see ‘The ocean floor in need of
protection’ on p14). Fisheries targeting squid
have rapidly expanded in recent years and, as in
many other parts of the world,
10 there is currently
no international management organisation
overseeing them.
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU)
fishing is considered a major threat to the ability
to manage fisheries resources sustainably in
the Indian Ocean, with “monitoring, control and
surveillance systems known to be weak and
with fisheries governance fragmented across
multiple organizations and agreements.
”11 IUU
fishers operate with disregard for conservation
and management measures and do not report
their catches, thereby undermining national and
regional efforts to manage fisheries sustainably.
IUU fishing can lead to the collapse of local
fisheries, with small-scale fisheries in developing
countries proving particularly vulnerable—
threatening livelihoods and exacerbating poverty
and food insecurity.
12
INEQUITABLE AND UNSUSTAINABLE
"Despite the region’s
reliance on seafood,
fisheries are being grossly
mismanaged by weak
institutions and political
decisions that disregard
long-term conservation
and the urgency of the ecological crisis."
Download the full report here -->
https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-international-stateless/2021/04/1a103d35-high-stakes.pdf
