INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIVE IN SUPPORT OF FISHWORKERS · Paradeep is also the biggest fishing port in Orissa. Along with Chandipur-on-Sea in Balasore district, it is the base for all

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INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIVE IN SUPPORT OF FISHWORKERS

THE ORisSA CyclONESOUTH AfRiCAN FisHERiES

TRAdiTioNAl RiqHTS iN CANAdAQUOTAS iN NORWAY

ARTiSAN"'! FisHERiES of CAMEROON

WebsiTES ON FiSHERiESFisl1ERiES iN CHiNANEWS ROUNd~up

Contents

0 COMMENT 1

0 REPORTOf men and cyclones 3

0 SOlITH AFRICAA new apartheid? 9

0 CANADAFlipped on its head? 17

0 FRANCENo more bounty 20

0 NORWAYThe paradoxes of quotas 24

0 CAMEROONFor a few oil dollars more 28

0 FIRST PERSONThe smoke lingers on 31

0 VIEWPOINTA flag-waving squabble 34

0 WEBSITESWeaving the Net 36

0 JAPANBeyond the sneers 41

0 CHINAChinese puzzle 45

0 NEWS ROUND·UPBangladesh, Sweden, Fiji, India, Mexico. Iran 50

Comment

Sloganeering in Seattle"Hey Heyl Ho Ho! WTO'S got to go!" Thus shouted thoosands al Seattle where, earty thismonth, trade ministers mel at the Third WTO Ministerial Conference to launch newnegotiations to further liberalize international trade. The Conference seems to havecomeunstuci( mainly due to disagreements between the developecl and developing countries,aided by protests from NGOS, trade unions and farmers' groups.

Hundreds of proposals were mooted, including a few on fisheries subsidies and mantetaccess. Northern countries like Australia, Iceland, New Zealand. Norwayand the us. andSouthem ones like the Philippines and Peru, wanted to eliminate aU subsidies thatcontribute to overcapacity. They argue that these distort trade and prevent the sustainable utilization of fish stocks.

Japan, however, urged for a larger mandate on trade, namely, effective fisheriesmanagement, control of flags of convenience, and identifying aD fadOfS, includingtrade-dislorting subsidies, thai lead to irresponsible fishing practices. It caI\ed for anegotiating group for fishery products at the WTO. As the worid's largest importer of fishand fish products, Japan defends tariff and non-tariff measures, mainly in the interestsof conservation and managemen~ whereas Norway, the largest exporter, hopes toeliminate I'lOf}-lariff barriers. Although developing countries acx:ount for over 40 per centof the gIobaJ export marl<et " fish plllducts, few had any proposals for the wro on marXetaccess. This is particularly ironic since, in recent times, several discriminatOl)' tariff andnon-tariff measures have blocked their market access.

Few realize that export eamings are avital part of the incomes of fishing communities inthe South. Very often, fish is the only commodity that fishers produce, and the incomefrom selling fish is vilal to meet their nutritional and other basic needs. If those whomarched in Seallie get their way with labour standards and child labour issues, it will bedifficult tor many developing countries to export fish.

Export species often fetch ahigher price than those sold domestically. This forces tradersto compete for supplies for the export market. The fishers thus bag abeller price and abeller income, despite middlemen. Even in countries ot Africa and Asia, where fish is themost important source of animal protein, the domestic demand is largely tor smallerpetagics, which have less of amarket in the North.

Perhaps the most significant human rights achievement Is the removal of poverty, whichIs crucially contingent upon adecent income. Removing discriminatory tariff and non.tamtbarriers could promote greateraccess to Northern markets, while simultaneously helpingbuild up labour-intensive fish processing facilities at home. That, among other things,could help alleviate poverty in many developing countries.

As for 'child labour', in cu~ures where aparent trains hislher child in afamiliar, traditionalprofession, the term itself is a misnomer. Child labour is not synonymous with abuse. Inmany developing countries, opportunities lor formal training are limited Of unaffordable,and children are often informally trained. In artisanal fisheries, many children WOfX withtheir parents or relatives. Unless they start early enough, they may never overcomeseasickness-an imJXH1ant occupalional consideration IOf a potential, full-time fisher. Aculturally sensitive approach to labour standards and child labour issues is needed toimprove human rights. OtheIWise, any expression of 'concern' would be ssen, tT'IQ(S orless correctty, as a protectionist bogey to have ooe's cake and eat it as well, while~munaneoosly depriving a less privileged person of her humble gruel.

SAMUORA DECEMBER 1999 1

Natural disaster

Of men and cyclones

The ‘super-cyclone’ that hit the coastal Indian State of Orissa has left in its wake untold miseries — and lessons

The dead were the luckiest of all.This is the recurrent feeling onegets as one walks past the huddled

figures of men, women and children whosurvived the ‘Mother of All Cyclones’, asone commentator labelled it. Most deadbodies were ‘disposed of’, yet you couldsense their presence, in the constantrefrain from the survivors: “Why did wesurvive?” They do not mourn the dead,they mourn the living.

That was the most traumatic effect of the‘super-cyclone’ that hit the coast of Orissa,India on 29 October: not the loss oflivelihoods, food, shelter, clothing or evenclose relations — it was the loss of the willto live, perhaps a cumulative effect of allthe other losses.

The official statistics provide reassuringlylow figures and it is difficult to find twosources agreeing on any number, evenafter allowing for wide margins. Underthe circumstances, suffice to say thatOrissa, ‘the domicile of gods’, as a touristbrochure puts it, found itself turned into apurgatory when actually dealing withgods.

The eight coastal districts which havebeen affected by the cyclone were the mostproductive by any standard, and arerightly regarded as the ‘rice bowl ofOrissa’. The super-cyclone has turnedeveryone’s attention away from anothercyclone that had preceded it a couple ofweeks ago. It did enough damage of itsown to seriously affect dozens of villagesin Ganjam district.

In fact, the counting of the dead from theprevious cyclone had not yet beencompleted before the second one struck.The first cyclone took a toll of 1,000 humanlives and 50,000 livestock, besideswashing away an entire crop of paddy and

other crops. Between them, the twocyclones have laid waste the entire coastof Orissa.

From a fisheries perspective, the Bay ofBengal off the Northern Orissa coast is themost productive on the east coast of India.A wide variety of traditional fishing craftsand an eclectic mixture of fishingcommunities characterized the marineand estuarine fisheries in Orissa. Bengalifishermen dominated the northern partsof the coastline, migrant-settlers fromBangladesh fished the waters to the northof Paradeep, fishers from Andhra Pradeshdominated the Paradeep-Puri belt, andTelugu-speaking Orissa fisherfolkaccounted for the southern parts. TheOriya people were not much interested ineating sea fish ("Too salty!" they wouldexplain), were not seafaring people either,and until recently, were not bothered ifpeople from other regions pitched tents enmasse right in the middle of towns likePuri, Paradeep and Astaranga. TheMahanadi’s deltaic region was lush withgreen vegetation, some of the mostbeautiful mangrove forests, mostlyuntouched by human activity, andnumerous creeks lined by magnificenttrees on both sides, which carriedfishermen from villages like Jambo andKharinasi all the way to the river mouth.Now, not a single tree remains, nor, forthat matter, do large sections of thevillages themselves. Mountains of mudhave covered the villages and theneighbouring agricultural fields.

Bustling townBefore the cyclone, Paradeep was abustling, — and not a very exciting —industrial town, with a PPL (ParadeepPhosphates Ltd.) and a PPT (Paradeep PortTrust) (pronounced ppi-ppi-yell andppi-ppi-ttee locally) which accounted formost of the employment in the area.

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Paradeep is also the biggest fishing port inOrissa. Along with Chandipur-on-Sea inBalasore district, it is the base for allmechanized boats in Orissa (and often anemergency base for trawlers from AndhraPradesh and elsewhere, in times ofcyclones).

Besides, a large number of fishermenfrom Andhra Pradesh migrate toParadeep or Puri annually in

September and stay there fishing untilJanuary. These fishermen often take theirfamilies along with them, and live inmakeshift tents on the beaches, and areaccepted as a part of the milieu.

Singiri Narayana, who was fromSubbampeta, near Kakinada, was onesuch fisherman who got caught in thecyclone with his family. He went to Orissain September and the fishing was not goodfor the next two months. He owned an FRP(fibre-reinforced plastic) boat, on whichthere was an outstanding loan of overRs.100,000. The traders in Paradeepadvance huge amounts of money to thefishermen in return for their catches, andNarayana had obtained Rs. 50,000 from atrader. The fishing operations were justsufficient to buy fuel for the next trip andto pay wages to the crew, and Narayanahad begun to despair about repayments.

On Thursday, 28 October, the fishermencould sense that a cyclone was brewing,and berthed their boats in the new fishingharbour, which, though constructednearly five years ago, became functionalonly this year. Cyclones, one mustremember, are a part and parcel of life inthis part of the world, and are often nomore than a nuisance. Normally, three orfour cyclones hit the Orissa coast in a year.The real big ones often manage to go pastOrissa and hit Bangladesh. Narayana hadbeen caught in a few cyclones whilefishing at sea, and though scary, they werenot something that he dreaded. He madesuitable arrangements to anchor the boatsafely in the harbour and returned toSandakhud, the fishing village ofParadeep, where he lived in a rentedhouse with his wife and four children.

“Even if there had been a warning on theradio, it would not have been much helpbecause it would be in Oriya,” he says.There was a cyclone warning out anyway.

The official cyclone warning wing didnotice a storm brewing and sent out awarning notice to all districts. It is said thatthe devices for measuring the wind speedmalfunctioned, which resulted in thedepartment not being able to assess theintensity of the cyclone. Whateverhappened, it was treated as just anothercyclone. The district administrations hadbeen alerted as a matter of course, andthey apparently did whatever they wereexpected to do. That the cycloneultimately destroyed Bhubaneswar,which was a full 60 km away from the sea,indicates that it would have beenpractically impossible to have evacuatedthe entire population. And the fisherfolkthemselves were quite clear that theywould not have been evacuated becausecyclones were a ‘common occurrence’,and they stood to lose more by going awaythan by staying on. The disaster wasalmost inevitable.

Kodanda, a boy of 15, was one of the crewmembers who remained behind on hisboat to keep watch. The fishing boat is themost important possession of a fisherman,and under no circumstances would hesleep undisturbed without knowing hisboat was safe. As Kasulu, another migrantfisherman from Uppada, put it, “Our mostimportant concern during the cyclone wasthe boats and how they fared.” The firstthing the fishermen attempted to doimmediately after the cyclone subsidedwas to rush to the fishing harbour.

By the morning of Friday, 29 October, thewinds and the rain started — andcontinued for the next 48 hours withoutslowing down once. The house tops werethe first to go, and houses startedcrumbling before the very eyes of thepeople. Large trees were uprooted andcarried away. The gales were so forcefulthat a crew member on Narayana’s boatstill nurses the wounds he received whenhe was carried away by the gales andflung on to the bushes nearby. Thingsstarted getting worse by the afternoon.The waves were breaking almost on top ofthe houses — and, within a few hours, notmuch of the village remained.

Worst effectsMeanwhile, Kodanda was experiencingthe worst effects of the cyclone: the boatrepeatedly rose high up into the air and

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fell back with a crash. It was obvious thatit would not survive any more impactsand would destroy whoever was on it.

Kodanda prepared to jump into thewater to reach the shore. Ramana,who was keeping vigil on the next

boat, jumped into the water and wasimmediately hurled against the rocks andcrushed to death. Kodanda was luckier,and he reached the shore with muchdifficulty. From the harbour, it was about5 km to the town, and walking on all fours,it took him about 12 hours to reach thetown.

Narayana and family, whose house wasdestroyed after the first few hours of thecyclone, moved into the nearby temple,which provided sanctuary to hundreds ofpeople. There was not enough space to sit,and everyone was forced to stand for theentire duration they spent in the temple.The kids started crying from hunger.Intense cold added to the general misery.

Meanwhile, water started streaming up,digging channels by the sheer force of itsvelocity, and pincer-like, encircled thevillage and destroyed the smaller hamletson either side of it. Not only have thesehamlets vanished altogether, most of theinhabitants too were carried away. “Wecould see people being washed away, andapart from shouting, there was nothingwe could do,” Narayana recounts.Sandakhud was lucky as it was located on

an elevated spot (a fact that you would nothave noticed at other times), andremained standing like an island, while,all around, the cyclone wreaked itsdestruction.

Bishnu Pattnaik, an elderly entrepreneurwhose small but efficient Oriental DryFish Industries was not only a profitableventure, but one which providedinspiration for many other such units tocome up in Orissa and elsewhere, hadentered into an agreement with an NGO inCuttack to conduct training forfisherwomen on improved processingmethods. He had refurbished theproduction unit at Sandakhud at a cost ofRs. 50,000 and was returning to Cuttack,when he got stuck in the cyclone, andbarely survived the fury of the storm.Now, an empty patch of land remainswhere Oriental Dry Fish Industries usedto be, because it was located right on thebeach and must have been the first to goin the tidal wave.

Pangs of hungerWhen the cyclone finally relented aroundthe afternoon of Sunday, hungercontinued to be the biggest problem: noneof the fisherfolk — including the children— had eaten for three days, and there wasnothing to eat. People were seenrummaging through what were once theirhomes to find anything to eat. They foundpowdered maize in one of the godowns,intended for export from Paradeep Port,

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and grabbed whatever they could to eat.In two days, the army rescue boatsappeared on the scene, and started reliefoperations.

Many other villages, in theneighbouring districts were notso lucky. It would be a week or

more before any help reached people inAstaranga or Kakatpur blocks of Puridistrict and doubtless many otherdistricts. Food supplies were airdroppedfor nearly a month before land routescould be established to several villages. Itwill be quite a while before electricity isrestored in many areas.

The impact of the cyclone was quitewidespread — starting just north of Puri,it extended up to the northern reaches ofBalasore district, about 200 km ofcoastline. And it travelled inland up toBhubaneswar, Cuttack and Baripada,which were quite some distance from thesea. The wind velocities were estimated tohave been in excess of 350 km/hour. In all,the cyclone affected eight coastal districtsvery badly. Erasama block inJagatsinghpur district, Mahakalparablock in Kendrapara, and Astaranga inPuri are the worst affected.

There were more horrors. And more death(official death toll: 10,000): dead bodiesfloating by in the creeks, bloated bodiesflowing down the Mahanadi river and itsvarious tributaries — a commonplace

incident at Nayagarh fish landing centre,which was itself totally devastated. Fourdead bodies lay in Paradeep fishingharbour for three days before somebodynoticed them and had them cremated.Hundreds of thousands of dead cattle layeverywhere (official toll: over 400,000).For a few weeks after the cyclone, the deadbodies from everywhere were brought toa central place, piled up, doused in petrol,and funeral pyres lit.

Hundreds fishing boats were lost ordamaged, often beyond repair. ToNarayana’s dismay, he found no traces ofhis boat. His relatives in Andhra Pradeshmanaged to reach him after a week, andthey helped him get back to AndhraPradesh — completely washed-out,literally as well as figuratively.

Back in Orissa, people continue tohesitatingly explore their villages, whichhave turned into mounds of mud. Theystill huddle together as much as they can,and venture out only in groups. And theytread very carefully indeed: the villagesthey were born and lived in all their livesdo not now exist as they knew them. Andthere is the constant fear of findingsomething new, like a dead body: bloated,blackened, and partially eaten — hardlyhuman, or perhaps too human.

Dirty waterNobody could bring themselves to drinkthe river water because of the bodies.

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Cholera had broken out in many villagesin Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpurdistricts. To add to the troubles, winterhad set in with a vengeance.

Many people were left withnothing more than the clothesthey wore at the time of the

cyclone — some lacked even that. Manyvillages are still inaccessible. Sahana inAstaranga block was reached more than aweek after the cyclone. Not a single houseremained standing in the village. Somevillages in Mahakalpara block no longerexist. What could have happened to thepeople there is anybody’s guess.

Chandrabhaga, near Konark, has anothertale to tell: the fishing community consistsalmost entirely of migrants from AndhraPradesh, who have lived here for a longtime, but they do not have any land rights.The local government wants to developthe beach here into a tourist spot, and haverepeatedly evicted the community fromtheir homes and destroyed the dwellings.A couple of years ago, the villagers weregiven some land to build on and thevillage shifted its location only recently.The cyclone came just as things weresettling into a routine, sweeping away allthe houses, and the fishers are againhomeless.

The famous beach near Konark, once linedby tall casuarina plantations, is totallydenuded of all vegetation, and the Konarklighthouse, which was normally hiddenbehind thick groves of casuarina, standsnaked in the middle of a desert.

The spontaneous gestures of goodwill andco-operation that poured forth fromdifferent corners of the country were ofgreat help. Many international andnational organizations quickly reachedthe State and started rehabilitationprogrammes. Many NGOs bandedtogether and formed task forces toco-ordinate relief efforts. Bhubaneswar,Cuttack, Khurda, Balasore and Bhadrakrailway stations were besieged by hugebundles of clothes, food and otheressential items. And assistance came fromthe fisherfolk in other States also. NGOworkers in Andhra Pradesh reported thateven poor households contributedsomething. Clothes, rice and cookingutensils were donated by many poor

households in the villages. The responsefrom the urban elite was more informedand, hence, more muted.

The administrative machinery is said tohave failed, but it was clear that neither thegovernment nor the fishers fullycomprehended the magnitude of theimpending cyclone. The State’s disasterrelief wing and the districtadministrations were prepared to dealwith the situation basing their calculationson past experiences. But this cyclone wasnot like any of the previous ones (the lastcyclone of similar intensity can be tracedback to 1942, and resulted in the GreatOrissa Famine in 1944). Its impact was sovast and the destruction it wrought socomplete that everybody was totallytaken aback, and it took some time to gettheir bearings right.

Unfortunately, the people who made upthe ‘machinery’ were themselves affectedby the cyclone—rarely did one comeacross government employees who didnot have their families, relations and/orfriends caught in the cyclone. Given asimilar situation, the consequences wouldnot have been much different in any otherState. At the best of times, theinaccessibility of the fishing villages inOrissa is legendary. The basic facilitiesthat the government has at any level arefar from adequate to cope with a disasterthis huge. The total disruption of roadsand communication systems—continuingto this day in many affected areas—madeit even more difficult to access many areas.Under these circumstances, discussionswith local people indicate, theadministration did reasonably well. As forpoliticians, I should quote a senior leader:“The state elections should be held asscheduled, because there is no provisionin the Constitution (of India) to postponethem because of a natural disaster. Thepeople of Orissa want elections rightaway.”

Opposite effectThe moral high ground appropriated byall and sundry at the expense of the‘government machinery’ has achieved theexact opposite of what it was intended todo: it helped engender apathy amongthose who are really concerned andwanted to do something, and thefisherfolk are worse off for it. Stories about

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looting of relief materials also helpedassuage troubled consciences, as somepeople decided that there was no point inhelping looters.

Reports indicate that the actuallooting was no more than afraction of the assistance received.

Maiti, a fisherman-turned-‘looter’ fromNayagarh, was quite honest: “My kidswere starving and so was I. In my position,you would have done the same.”

However, things improved quite fast, andthe more urgent needs of the people beganto be met satisfactorily. Cold and lack ofsuitable clothing continue to remainproblems, but there are indications thatmost of the people would receiveassistance one way or the other.

A few weeks after the cyclone, when thoseof the boats that were still operationalattempted to go fishing, the governmentdeclared a ban on all fish sales in the State.The ban, which is in force at the time ofwriting this article, has crippled thefishing communities yet again. Witheverything they owned gone with thewind, and their only source of livelihoodbanned, they are reduced to depending onthe generosity of the external agencies forsurvival. Even if the ban were to be lifted,thousands of fisherfolk would still have torebuild their livelihoods, and that wouldtake a long time and a lot of money.

Life is resilient, if nothing else. And thefisherman is the best symbol of that. Evenas these lines are being written, word hascome from Orissa—from Paradeep, to beexact—that fishing operations havestarted once again, and very good catcheswere reportedly landing. The Uppadafishermen have got down to business:dozens of boats are being readied for thelong journey ahead. They intend to takeadditional rations, just in case. The fishcaught will generally be sold out of theState, so the ban will not affect them. No,they will not take their families this time.

And so it goes on. Life.

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This report is by VenkateshSalagrama of Integrated CoastalManagement, an independentNGO based in Kakinada, AndhraPradesh, India


Fishing quotas

A new apartheid?

The transformation process in South Africa’s fisheries is a tale of chaos andcorruption

Cape Town, South Africa: the smallknot of men hanging around thedock gates hardly attracts a second

glance. To the casual observer they are justlike any other group of chancers tryingtheir luck for work in the port. However,this group is not just any old flotsam ofwashed up job hunters. They are membersof the Cape Town Harbour FishermenCo-operative, part of a new quota owningelite in South Africa. They are some of thenew quota owners, so-called ‘newentrants’ to the fishery, and the intendedbeneficiaries of the transformationprocesses set in motion in the fishingsector just prior to 1994.

Since 1994 under the leadership of NelsonMandela, the South African governmenthas been attempting a majorrestructuring, or transformation of itsfishing industry. However, there are threemajor constraints to achievingtransformation.

First, the ‘Sunset Clause’ in the newconstitution requires that no official in theapartheid administration is removed fromoffice for at least five years. Thus there istremendous administrative inertia tochange the status quo. Second, theconstitution obliges the government tonegotiate transformation with the existingstakeholders. This means that anyredistribution of wealth and power mustbe negotiated with the large fishingcompanies, and, more importantly, withthe financial institutions that are the majorshareholders in these industries. Thegovernment’s ability to delivertransformation is therefore severelyrestricted by these two aspects of theconstitution

In the third place, to a significant numberof people, transformation meansrestitution. In the 1960s, under the Group

Areas Act, large segments of thepopulation were shifted out of theircoastal homes to townships several milesin-land. Their movement back to the coastto pursue their former livelihoods wasrestricted by their geographical isolation,and also by the Pass Laws. They, therefore,expect the restitution of their rights to earntheir livelihoods from fishing. Anycompromise deal falls short of theirexpectations.

The Cape Town dock workers are onesuch group. But these men have neithervessels nor equipment, and have beendenied access permits from theDepartment of Sea Fisheries. They,therefore, have no means to convert theirquotas directly into livelihoods. In anycase, the token quotas provided to themwould not go far amongst the 450registered members. Most of them live intownships some distance from the coast,and their sole source of meagre income isfrom uncertain casual work as crewmembers aboard the longliners andtrawlers based in Cape Town Docks. Theycan not even afford the bus and train faresto come to work each day, let alone thecosts of investing in, or running, a smallfishing business a basic requirement ofthe quota application.

Quotas have become the main tool fortransformation in the fishing sector. Theyare the means through which SouthAfrica’s fishery wealth is to beredistributed. By making quotastransferable, the system aims for a widergroup of new stakeholders to cash in onSouth Africa’s marine wealth.

UnmanageableHowever, the system is clearlyunmanageable. There are many moreapplications than available quota, andthere is insufficient capacity in the

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Department of Marine and CoastalManagement to process the thousands ofcomplex application forms.

The quota system is also based on anunrealistic model of the SouthAfrican fishing sector. First of all, it

requires all applicants to establish acommercial company, complete with abusiness and marketing plan— quotaswill thus only be awarded to certain typesof corporate structures. Secondly, thegeographical, social and economicisolation of fishing communities hasresulted in low levels of literacy andeducation.

Most new quota applicants, therefore,have to seek help to fill in the forms, andthis has often led to their applicationsgetting hijacked. In many instances thequota awarded has been of a tokenamount, and recipients have been advisedto sell to larger business interests. This hasfuelled the market for paper quotas, andresulted in the access rights merelypassing back into the hands of bigbusiness.

Ministers’ wives, politicians, businessleaders and other people of influence haveall received handouts of quota ahead ofgenuine fishermen. The corruption wasinitiated under the auspices of the QuotaBoard prior to 1994, and continued by theFisheries Transformation Council set upby the new Marine Living Resources Act.This has severely discredited thetransformation process.

Over the last year, court cases have beenfiled against the government by formerquota holders for illegal andunconstitutional quota allocations. As aresult, a significant part of the SouthAfrican fishing sector has ground to a halt.For example, legal wrangling in 1998prevented the Minister from allocatingnew quotas for hake and anchovy for fearof court action from disgruntled formerquota holders. It was only a compromisedeal with the industry that allowed 40 percent of the hake quotas to be allocated andfished in 1998/99. Some new entrants hadto wait until 17 December, when 75 quotasfor 4,000 tonnes of hake were finallyallocated. This gave them only around fiveweeks before the last day of the season. Asthese quotas were distributed in

quantities of 50 and 100 tonnes, most werequickly sold and passed back into thehands of the large companies.

The 1999 fishing season has also beenseverely disrupted by court cases. In onesuch landmark case, in May 1999, it wasruled that the allocation of crayfish quotasfor the 1998/99 season (November to July)made by the minister was irregular. Thismeant that no crayfish quotas could beallocated to small fishermen, but that thelion’s share had to be allocated only to theprevious recipients. Deputy MinisterMokaba criticized the ruling, pointing outthat: we remain with unreconstructedcourts they did not look at the intention ofthe law the interpretation of the court didnot take into account the spirit of the newlegislation.

The issue of access is fundamental to thetransformation process, but there is a widedivergence of view on who should haveaccess. In most fishing communities, it isfelt that priority access should be given tothose who get their hands wet. They needdirect access to the resources in order toearn their livelihoods. For socialreformers, access means opening up thefisheries sector to non-white - mainly‘black’ - interest groups. For them ‘blackempowerment’ is the main objective. Forothers, access means having a share of themarine wealth in a form they can use orconvert into cash.

The new Marine Living Resources Act isnot a very successful attempt to reach acompromise on these divergent views.The Act only recognizes three kinds offishermen: subsistence fishers,recreational fishers and commercialfishers. Essentially, subsistence andrecreational fishers are ‘second-classfishers’, whose activities and movementin the sector are highly restricted. The Actseriously omits to mention the artisanalfishing sector, or how fisheries can beincorporated into, and contribute to, thedevelopment of the wider coastal area.

Wider issuesThe issue of quotas goes beyond accessrights. According to a senior FisheriesDepartment Official, quotas are now usedto meet three key objectives of SouthAfrica’s Marine Living Resources Act:redistributing resource access rights so as

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to redress social imbalances in thefisheries sector; ensuring thesustainability of the resource base; andmaintaining stability in the industry.

The story of the Cape Town harbourfishermen illustrates how the quotasystem is, at best, not working, and,

at worst, is being used to benefit a few atthe expense of the many. Gerry Phakoe, aspokesman for the Cape Town Workers,says angrily, “My father livedSimonstown and was a fisherman. Thatwas until we were forced to move to thetownships. We were called bergies(vagrants), and were exploited by theboatowning fishing companies. We haveseen our brothers drowned at sea, and diein misery and poverty. However, in 1993,we realized that we had certain rights, andthat we could claim these from SeaFisheries (now the Department of Marineand Coastal Management).”

According to Gerry, in 1993, 355 CapeTown Docks fishworkers got together,and, in 1994, they were allocated 63 tonnesof hake quota. This was increased to 951tonnes, after protests. However, they weredenied access permits, and were advisedby a senior fisheries official to sell theirquota to a company nominated by him.They also sought legal advice, and wereadvised to set up a ‘Community Trust’ toinvest their quota money in localcommunity services. However, the lawyerthey hired, together with the department

official, drew up a flawed document, and,as a result, only a part of the quota moneywas released - Rand 500,000 (about US$8,500). Each fishworker received Rand400, and the rest of the money wasmisappropriated. Frustrated and angry,they attacked the lawyer and broke intothe Sea Fisheries offices.

In the court case that followed, theirclaims against the lawyer and SeaFisheries officials were over-ruled. Asubsequent court ruling declared thatquotas could not be allocated toCommunity Trusts as these were notproperly constituted companies. In thecourse of events, they met up withAndrew Johnston, a lobster fisherman,who was trying to unite all small-scale and‘informal’ (unrecognized) fishers underone banner. His vision was to establish afisherman’s co-operative that would acton behalf of its members to acquire anddistribute the quota, and process andmarket the fish catch. He travelled all overthe country, and persuaded 17organizations to join him. These were thenregistered as co-operatives with theRegistrar of Co-operatives.

New companyWith legal advice, they set up the SouthAfrican Commercial Fishermen’sCorporation Pty Ltd (SACFC), whichapplied for quota on behalf of the now 25members (including the Cape TownHarbour Fishermen Co-operative Ltd).

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What the co-operative members did notbank on was the legal and officialinterpretation of the General andTransformation Criteria for quotaapplications: that quotas would only beawarded to companies with ‘ClosedCorporation’ or ‘Pty’ structures. Theirlawyer therefore appointed himself asChief Executive Officer, established aholding company which now ownsSACFC, and took control of the business.The company has an authorized sharecapital of 10,000 shares of Rand 1.00 each,which is distributed amongst the memberorganizations according to the size of theirmembership.

According to Matthys Mocke, ChiefExecutive Officer, in its first year ofoperation (1998/99), SACFC was allocatedquotas for hake (800 tonnes), crayfish (130+ 59 tonnes), and abalone (20 tonnes). Itwas also allocated 40 squid permits. Abusiness arrangement has been struckwith one of the large fishing companies,OCEANA. This has “assisted with cash flowproblems”, and allowed SACFC to use oneof its processing factories.

Yet, shareholders are up in arms. Theyfear that this is just another ruse to deprivethem of their access rights. They have seenquotas hijacked in the past by cleverlawyers, school teachers, civil servantsand businessmen. In Hawston, forinstance, the quota awarded to the FishersCo-operative was sold off by the person

who applied on its behalf. In SaldanhaBay, Denburg Fisheries Pty Ltd, formed bythe local fishermen to apply for quota, hasalso had its quota hijacked.

The quota allocation system does not takeaccount of the immediate and ongoingneeds of the fishworkers and theirdependents: fishermen need access to thesea, and regular food and income fromfishing activities. The system now in placecan, at best, only meet their immediateand short-term needs, if they sell off theirquota.

Despite over five years of democraticgovernment and transformation, thepre-1994 status quo prevails in SouthAfrica. Around 70-80 per cent of theownership of the access rights remainsconcentrated in the hands of the fivelargest players. Racial apartheid has beenreplaced by economic and socialapartheid, with coastal communities andlocal economies still effectively excludedfrom the fishery.

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This article is by Brian O’Riordan, aMember of ICSF


Native rights

Flipped on its head?

A recent Canadian Supreme Court ruling on the traditional fishing rights of the M’ikmaq threatens relations with commercial fishermen

The native peoples of Canadarepresent approximately five percent of the country’s population.

They live along the three ocean coasts ofthe country as well as inland, and havebeen on the continent for thousands ofyears. During the 17th and 18th centuries,the then British colonial power enteredinto various treaties with them,sometimes for purposes of peace andfriendship, and sometimes to guaranteeterritory and trade.

One such treaty was agreed to in 1760between the British Governor Lawrenceand the M’ikmaq peoples who fished andhunted in the regions of Eastern Canadabordering the Atlantic. The treaty itselfgenerally fell into disuse but was used indefence of a M’ikmaq fisherman, DonaldMarshall Jr., who was charged withfishing in a closed area, using unregulatedgear.

The case found its way through Canada’sjudicial system right up to the SupremeCourt. On 17 September 1999, theSupreme Court acquitted Marshall on thebasis that the treaty gave him a right to fishand trade such fish in order to earn amoderate livelihood for himself and hisfamily. The court decision made it explicitthat the treaty right could be regulatedand subject to catch limits that providedfor a moderate livelihood.

However, some M’ikmaq people believedthey now had a recognized right to fishwhen and where they so chose, and beganplacing lobster traps into areas where thelobster season was closed.

As the M’ikmaq built up their fishingpresence in closed lobster areas,commercial fishermen who rely on thesame lobster area for their livelihood grewincreasingly angry as the Government

Department of Fisheries made noattempts to restrain the out-of-seasonfishing.

The situation exploded on 3 October whenfishermen in the Miramichi Bay off thecoast of New Brunswick sent out 100 boatsthat proceeded to haul up native lobstertraps, removed the meshing, returned thelobsters to the water and sank the disabledtraps.

Native persons responded by taking overthe government wharf at Burnt Church onthe Miramichi, burning two fishermen’strucks and bringing in what they refer toas their ‘warrior society’. Native andnon-native people were driven into directand violent conflict with one another, andsimilar situations threatened to break outin other coastal areas.

The Marshall Case was now preoccupyingthe media and the political leaders of thecountry. The decision of the SupremeCourt judges was questioned widely, andtwo of the seven judges also dissented.The Premier of Newfoundland, BrianTobin, blasted the judges for notunderstanding the nature of the fisheryand for not providing a period of time forthe implications of the decision to beproperly managed and implemented.The entire commercial fishing sector inEastern Canada was protesting, calling fora moratorium and political intervention.They felt the fishery as they knew it wasbeing undermined.

Restrictive regimeThe reader not familiar with Canada mustremember that there are 50,000 fishermenin Atlantic Canada fishing under a veryrestrictive fisheries management regime.The lobster fishery is particularly sensitivebecause the species is widely dispersed ininshore waters along a very large

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coastline. It is a fishery broken down byzones (lobster is a sedentary speciesseldom moving beyond 25 km of itshabitat), and each of the 44 zones has aspecified season that is rigidly enforced.

Licences are limited, and their totalnumber frozen. This limited entryhas led, over time, to licences

acquiring a value and being considered asquasi-property. If you had invested$100,000 in a lobster licence, you might geta little anxious if you saw a few nativefishermen fishing out of season,apparently authorized by the SupremeCourt to do so, and catching with eachtrap ten times as many lobsters as thecommercial fishermen catch in season.

The M’ikmaq people, for their part, havehistorically been marginalized into areserve system (although they also havefull rights as Canadian citizens), whererates of unemployment are astronomical,levels of education low, and standards ofliving below the poverty line. Theybelieve their fishing rights have beendenied them under the modern fisheriesmanagement regime.

In total numbers, the M’ikmaq pose noserious threat to commercial fishermen,except in localized areas where there aresignificant numbers of natives adjacent tothe lobster grounds that are fullysubscribed to.

However, if their treaty right is a ‘blankcheque’ to fish whenever, wherever andhowever, then the commercial fishery, aswe know it, has been flipped on its head.But the Supreme Court has made it clearthat it is not a ‘blank cheque’, but a limitedright to a moderate livelihood and,indeed, it is a ‘communal’ right and not anindividual right as such.

The obligation is on the M’ikmaq as apeople to exercise the right in accordancewith regulations. The Government ofCanada has appointed a Chief Negotiatorwho has until 15 April, 2000 to arrive atinterim fishing plans that accommodatethe new treaty rights. Until such fishingplans are tied down, inshore fishermenremain extremely anxious and the socialclimate in fishing areas where natives andnon-natives live in the same broadercommunities remains tense.

The Maritime Fishermen’s Union has beenat the centre of the controversy since ourinshore fishermen are based in all of theareas where there are significant numbersof coastal M’ikmaq bands.

The MFU recognizes the Supreme Courtdecision has been a breakthrough for theM’ikmaq. We believe their new rights canbe accommodated within the presentfisheries management system. Theaccommodation can be done by means ofa voluntary licence retirementprogramme.

We believe strongly that theaccommodation should not be on thebacks of fishermen but should beshouldered by the society as a wholethrough their government.

As we write, it seems the Federal Cabinetwill recognize this principle and allocatethe appropriate monies to make theadjustments. In the meantime, we want tofind ways of making the peace betweencommercial fishermen and first-nationpeoples.

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This article is by Michael Belliveau, aMember of ICSF and ExecutiveSecretary, MFU


Breton fisheries

No more bounty

The artisanal offshore fishing fleet of Britanny is now in jeopardy, but can still be saved

One interesting aspect of Bretonfisheries has been thedevelopment of an artisanal

offshore fleet based on trawling. Artisanalrefers to the independent,owner-on-board, single-vessel enterprise.This sector expanded after the World WarII to reach a peak in the 1980s. In the early1990s, a crisis which had been brewingsince the previous decade, suddenly brokeout violently, and deeply underminedthat attractive model. In the face of thenew challenges thrown up — mostlydwindling resources and appropriation oftraditional markets/niches and alsofishing grounds by capitalistic concerns —stakeholders must now review itsfunctioning, if the artisanal model is tolast.

During the 19th century and thebeginning of the 20th century, Bretonfisheries were basically seasonaloperations, targeting sardines and tuna. Ahost of owner-operated boats wasresponsible for the production that wentmostly for processing. Plant owners were,by and large, the people in command.During the early part of the 19th century,the dominance of these people wasprogressively challenged by a number offactors — resource crisis, relocation ofplants, and new demands by consumers.Before the World War II, someindustrialists had already startedredeploying their assets and investing inlarge trawlers to produce fresh fish.Lorient fishing harbour, built in 1927, wasat the forefront of that evolution. Whenthe war broke out, things came to astandstill.

At the end of the conflict, a number ofentrepreneurs started anew withindustrial trawlers harvesting fresh fish.Over the years, many canneries closeddown and those which survived now

worked all year round. There were feweroutlets for the artisans who were also inthe process of changing from sailing tomecanized operations. The order of theday was trawling and fresh fish, and theextended continental shelf easilyprovided new grounds.

During the war, which lasted five years,fish stocks were plenty enough to cater fornew tastes. Demand was high on marketswhere, for a long time, food supplies hadbeen rather modest. This kept prices goingup steadily. Later on, fish prices wouldagain remain bullish, thanks to risingpurchasing power. Indeed, until the endof the 1980s, the price curve stayed abovethe rate of inflation. These favorableconditions made it easier for the pêcheursartisans previously engaged in seasonalactivities to turn to year-round trawlingand fresh-fish production.

Some would take up several métiers (typeof boat+fishing methods+fish targeted),particularly when there was renewedinterest in albacore tuna fishing withdrift-nets in the late 1980s. In spite ofprevailing inflationary trends, artisanalfishermen could not have made it alone tooffshore fishing, had it not been for theco-operative movement (in management,credit, insurance and marketing) whichbrought extra dynamism among themand propelled them into the high seas.

Renewed accessThe industrial sector too was able to movefurther afield as the establishment of acommon fishery zone within theEuropean Economic Community (EEC)superseded the EEZs and offered renewedaccess to British waters. In Britanny, theartisanal sector and its institutions hadsome political leverage which could affectdecisions at the national level. Largesubsidies were made available for young

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potential patrons (owners-operators) tostep in and start business or forestablished skippers to modernize thefleet.

With only 10 per cent of the initialcapital to be put up personally,a young qualified person could

thus skipper a state-of-the-art fishing unit.The artisanal offshore fleet reached anapex during the 1980s. Its deep imprint ismore visible in the fishing harbours ofSouthern Britanny. Le Guilvinec quartiermaritime (administrative district) is theshowcase of this model, which presents awell balanced array of métiers andsegments of fleet, from the small inshoreboat to the 20-24 m high sea unit. Thepêcheurs artisans were proving theirability to operate right across thecontinental shelf.

But there is a dark side to the rosy story aswell. The limits of the model startedshowing up when prices and landingstook a downward trend. In 1993-1994,there were two violent outbursts ofprotests on the part of fishermen. The firsthint of things to come appeared as early as1985. Within the artisanal sector, theproblem was, for quite some time, lessapparent because new fishing practices(twin-trawling) and new technologies(electronics on board) helped keep catchesat former levels — at a cost, though.

From 1985 to 1990, prices went up, andthat compensated for the decline ofcatches and rising operating costs (despitefairly low fuel prices). But when fish pricesplummeted, the stark realities of

overinvestment appeared glaringly.Many boatowners were no longer able tomeet their loan instalments or pay thecrew. Le Guilvinec district was the worstoff. Out of a total of 338 persons whoapplied to the authorities for debtrescheduling/relief, 130 were from thatarea. And the crisis affected offshore boatsas well as small coastal units.

One should not put the blame foroverinvestment on the artisanal fishermenalone. Some of the policies implementedby the EEC were, to a large extent, alsoresponsible. Indeed, from 1970 to 1995,captures by French boats in the NortheastAtlantic dropped from 505,800 tonnes to297,300 tonnes.

During the same period, Irish fisheries,with substantial aid from the EEC, wereable to jump from 75, 000 tonnes to 377,000 tonnes. In addition, Spanish, Dutchand Belgian boats would also congregatethere. Surely, the Breton pêcheurs artisanswere not the only ones around unleashingtheir fishing capacities. They paid dearly,though, for the bountiful days of the1980s.

The majority survived the deep crisis anda good number of the boats withseemingly intractable problems weretaken over by a co-operative society(Océane).

Critical timesBut these critical times had also allowedindustrial fishing companies (owningfrom 5 to 20 boats) to lay their hands onsome of the larger (16-24 m) artisanal

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Total fish captures (tonnes)

1970 1980 1997

France 78 827 52 025 57 126

Ireland 28 897 20 010 70291

UK (England & Wales) 759 2 708 44 621

UK (Scotland) 0 311 11 208

Total 108 480 74 746 183 246

Total (all countries) 223 325 146 219 331 014

Source : ICES


boats. This trend is accelerating, so muchso that the artisanal offshore fleet is nowin danger.

The market for seafood products isthriving and the traders,distributors and industrialists who

are still in business are increasingly eyeingfresh fish. A young potential patron has toacquire the necessary fishing capacityfrom within a limited quota. He must,therefore, find a second-hand boat, whoseowner is about to retire, for instance,before ever thinking of buying a new one.On the second-hand market, prices haverocketed and only the better-offcompanies can afford such investmentsand corner whatever fishing capacity thatcomes for sale. As they acquire boats thatfall within the technical criteria (up to 25m) of artisanal units, they may evenqualify for subsidies meant to support thatsector.

What can a young patron do, even withthe help of co-operative structures, whenhe is facing competition from retailinggiants like Intermarché, whose turnover is 230 billion FF, or even from Furic, anindustrial fishing company with aturnover of 600 million FF. Since access tofishing capacity has become so highlycompetitive, there is a rampantprivitization of access to the resource,inspite of proclamations to the contrary inthe Loi d’orientation sur la pêchemaritime et les cultures marines

(Framework law on fisheries andaquaculture) passed by the FrenchParliament in November 1997.

The artisanal sector has, in the past,demonstrated its ability to operatethroughout the continental shelf. Theindustrial sector, with a clearly differentstatus, has also suffered from the crisis.The two were undergoing a restructuringprocess along separate lines. They hadtheir own financial/banking systems andtheir own pool of fishing capacity. Today,though, the industrial sector hasmassively surged into the artisanaloffshore segment— and this is sendingshock waves right down to the smallestcoastal unit. Industrialists are now gazingat the nephrops (langoustine) and sardinecoastal fisheries.

The attractive model that had beenpainstakingly established by thepatrons-pêcheurs is now threatened by themighty push of capitalistic concerns. Theonly way out, if indeed there is a will tosalvage what is left of the artisanal sector,is to set up a licensing system forclose-to-shore fisheries, withone-owner/operator-one boat rule. This isa political choice. Politicians, whodispense aid and subsidies, could surelytake that course, if only they wish to !

Sound managementPreservation of the artisanal sector alsodepends on sound management of

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resource and proper use of gear andtechnologies. Managing fishing groundstargeted by a variety of boats coming froma variety of member States is no easy task.

The pêcheurs artisans of Britannycould at least demonstrate theirwill and capacity to manage the

areas where they are the sole operators,the nephrops stocks of the Bay of Biscaybeing a case in point. The resource and thegrounds are well defined.

Until now, whenever they experienced adrop in the yield, they would intensify thefishing effort. Attempts have been madeto limit by-catches and these will have tobe carried out more forcefully. Langoustineproduction has decreased by half, butwith responsible management measures itcould be back to better levels. Aid andsubsidies schemes should now integratethese objectives.

In the past, subsidies towards capitalinvestments have heavily encouragedoverinvestment and have gone far beyondthe original aim, which was helpingyoung skippers to get into business ontheir own. Subsidies should also be madeconditional on improvement of fishingpractices, for instance. This, in the longterm, could create favourable conditionsfor a more stable future.

Companies and investors are keen to bankon artisanal boats. This is ample proof thatthere is still a future for that scctor, andone must now look for the ways andmeans to preserve it, to adapt and reformit in order to steer clear of the unsounddevelopments that went with years ofprosperity.

The pêcheurs artisans of Britanny have beenable to operate right across the width ofthe continental shelf. Their experiencemay prove valuable to coastal fishermenworldwide who want to expand theirfishing grounds.

Let us hope that a sufficient number ofmen and women, fishermen andpoliticians, gather to meet the challengesof the day so that the criteria ofresponsable fishery are implemented bycoastal and offshore artisanal units alike.

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This article is by Alain Le Sann, aMember of ICSF, and Secretary ofthe Collectif Pêche etDéveloppement


Fisheries management

The paradoxes of quotas

Norway’s experience with fisheries quotas reveals the problems peculiar to household economies

Designing proper procedures forregulating the relationshipbetween fish resources and

fishers is a major problem for sustainablemanagement and development. Norwayintroduced individual and maximumquotas following a crisis in the codfisheries in 1990. For equity reasons,quotas were distributed on the perceivedneutral basis of vessel length. However,the fishing pattern of small-scale fishersshows no clear relation between vessellength and annual catches. Small-scalefisher adaptations to this new regimeprovide an interesting exposure of howquotas work in a household economy.

For centuries, cod (Gadeus morhua) hasbeen the mainstay for coastal fishers inNorth Norwegian waters. Vast amountsof North Atlantic cod come from theBarents Sea to the coast of Norway twicea year. The spawning cod give rise to awinter fishery, and the feeding cod giverise to a spring fishery. In addition, coastalcod are present all year around. Bothspring and winter fisheries of cod providesmall-scale fishers with good incomeopportunities. The ecological conditionsare reflected in the structure of the fishingindustry. In 1996, a total of 6,800 boatsparticipated in the cod fishery. Of these, asmany as 5,600 vessels, or 82 per cent, weresmall-scale enterprises, that is less than 13m in length. Their catches amounted to 20per cent of the total Norwegian take ofcod.

Fishery biologists have regularlymeasured the size of the cod stock sincethe mid-1970s. Each year, a TotalAllowable Catch (TAC) is set on the basisof their advice. Cod is managedbilaterally, and the TAC is shared betweenNorway and Russia. The mean annualcatch has been around 430, 000 tonnes forthe last 15 years, but around the turn of the

last decade, Norway and Russia facedwhat appeared to be a crisis in the Barentssea cod stocks. The TAC for 1990 was aslow as 160, 000 tonnes of cod. At that time,only trawlers had fixed vessel quotas.Individual maximum vessel quotas, aswell as public licences to fish, regulatedcatch and access of coastal vessels above13 m in length. Small-scale fishers did notneed licences. The maximum vessel quotawas also too high to represent a limitationon small-scale catches. They rangedbetween 250 and 400 tonnes, and this wasmore than even the most industriousfishers caught. In effect, the small-scalefishery was an open fishery.

Following the fishery crisis, a new andmore detailed system for distributing thelow quota was required. Within theexisting system of maximum vesselquotas as large as 400 tonnes, the largercoastal vessels could take the whole quotawithin the first months of the year. Fishingauthorities decided to share the low quotaas best possible, and criteria fordistribution were developed. It wasdecided that small-scale fishers, giventheir dependency of cod, should be givenpreferential treatment. More restrictionswere put on fishers, with opportunities toswitch to species other than cod.Furthermore, the distribution was basedon merit. A minimum catch for 1987-1989was set, and fishers who fulfilled thedemands for minimum previous catchesfor their vessel length-group got fixedvessel quotas. Other fishers were allowedmaximum vessel quotas. Both quotaswere made dependent on boat size.

Types of rightsIn effect, the new regulations implied theestablishment of different formal types offishing rights. Fishers who were allocatedindividual fixed vessel quotas werelabeled Group I; the maximum vessel

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quota holders were labeled Group II. Verysoon, however, these groups were said tohave ‘full’ and ‘reduced’ rights,respectively. Group I had guaranteedrights to a fixed quota. Group II, besideshaving far lower quotas than Group I, hadto fish them on a competitive basis; fishingwas stopped when the group’s TAC wascaught. Thus, only those who were first onthe scene could fish their maximumquotas.

The effects of these regulations wereprofound, particularly forsmall-scale fishers. Fishers were

rewarded for their previous fishing effort.Had they caught a certain amount of fish,they were allowed a future ‘full rights’position in the industry. Had they fishedtoo little, they were granted only a‘reduced’ rights position. Small-scalefishers in the latter category saw theircontribution to the depletion of cod stocksas minimal, and argued this was unfair.On the other hand, fishing authorities sawtheir small catches as evidence they werenot as cod-dependent as the other fishers.However, fishing small quantities is aninherent and important trait of thesmall-scale fishing household economy.

Looking at small-scale fishers’ practices inthe open fishery of the 1980s, one findsthat fishers used their vessels differently.In one and the same village, fishersequipped with the same type of boat andgear, would spend different amount of

work on board their vessels. Some caughtlarge quantities and some only a fewtonnes of fish during the year. In fact, themajority of small-scale fishers caught lowquantities. In 1984, for example, about 200fishers with vessels in the size of 9-11 mcaught more than 50 tonnes of cod, 900fishers caught less than 10 tonnes, andaround 800 fishers caught between 10 and50 tonnes of fish.

The different catches can be ascribed todifferent needs. A debt- andcareer-dependent fishing patterncharacterized small-scale fishing in the1980s. As newcomers, fishers workedhard to secure their debts, but as debtsdeclined, they reduced their effort.Investments over time in better and moreefficient technology were not always usedto increase catches. The fishers could usetheir investments to enjoy the benefits of along career in fishinga better andcomfortable workplaceinstead of catchingmore and more fish. As such, one can saythat, although being formally open to allin the 1980s, the fishery was restricted byinformal regulations. The household’sneeds was a base for decisions on howmuch to fish. The new regime changedthis situation.

Statistics comparedIf we compare catch statistics for 1994,when the regulations had worked for fouryears, with the figures of thenon-regulated situation of the 1980s,

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interesting shifts in harvest patternsappear. The overall reduction in theNorwegian small-scale fleet was 20 percent from 1984 to 1994.

As the table shows, there were 1,703fewer fishers in the industry in1994. It also shows that there were

115 fewer fishers catching more than 50tonnes of cod and as many as 2,226 fewerfishers catching less than 10 tonnes. For anet reduction of ‘only’ 1,703, some fishersmust have increased their effort. Table Ishows that there were 638 more fishersfishing between 10 and 50 tonnes of fish in1994, as compared to 1984. Paradoxically,the new regime, instituted in the contextof a severe fish crisis, did not provideincentives for reduced fishing effort, andsafeguarding of cod stocks. Instead,regulations were rewarding increasedfishing effort and larger catches.

In terms of workload, fishers now spendmore time on board their vessels. Publicfishery statistics show that the effort offull-time fishers has increased from 175fishing days a year in 1984 to 217 in 1994,roughly a 25 per cent increase. Prior to thenew regulations, some fished for cod onlyin the winter, others only in the spring.With the regulations, most fishers nowparticipate in both seasons, as well as fishcod out of season, in the autumn.

The increased work effort also stems froman increased mobility. In most places,local fish resources can not sustain theincreased demand for fish. Moving toother places to locate fish takes time.Fishing where one’s knowledge is poorlydeveloped also increases the workload.Fishing throughout the year and in newplaces also increases capital costs. Using

the vessels an extra day at home is costly;using them away from home costs evenmore.

Since size of the quota is attached to vessellength, there is also an incentive to buybigger boats. Bigger boats allow fishers tobe more mobile and to use more efficientgear. Thus, investment patterns are in theprocess of changing. Formerly, fisherstried to keep debts low. Low debtsallowed for flexibility and security inyears where natural availability of codwas scarce. Low debts still serve thisfunction, but it has become more difficultto keep them low.

The price of entry also includes buying aquota. Quotas are legally not transferableper se, but attached to boats. To attainrights for the ‘full’ rights positions, onemust buy a boat with a quota. A finitenumber of vessels with these rights existsand the prices of boats have increased toreflect an informal market for quotas.

Fishing authorities now have a strongertool for controlling and distributingfishing opportunities than in the 1980s.Formal limits to expansion in thesmall-scale fleet have been established.Controlling expansion is regarded ascrucial for successful fisheriesmanagement.

A sucess?As such, the new regime is a success. Butits success has a flip side. The new formalregulations have penetrated a system ofproduction where the needs of theindividual fisher and his or her householdwere crucial for fishing effort.Furthermore, the formal regulations seemto undermine the informal management

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Changes in the fishing patterns of Norwegian small-scale fishers (1984-1994)

No. of vessels fishing 1984 1994 Change(No)

Change (%)

- less than 10 tons of cod 6 215 3 989 -2 226 -36

- between 10 and 50 tons ofcod

1 659 2 297 +638 +38

- more than 50 tons of cod 359 244 -115 -32

Total 8 233 6 530 -1 703 -21


among fishers. The new regulationsprovide incentives for expansivestrategies, whereas the former inherentrestrictions are discontinued. One can nolonger enjoy the benefits of a long careerand perhaps enjoy family life while aneighbor fisher is at sea. It could meanbecoming disqualified for fishing thefollowing year.

Fishers’ increased endeavors to fishtheir quota represent an increasedpressure on the cod resource. This

increased pressure is to be controlled bythe new regulations. But there areloopholes in the formal control system,and clear incentives to use them. Changedharvest patterns may also haveramifications for stock composition.

From fishing heavily in the winter, fishingpressure is now shifting toward othertimes of the year. The impacts on stockcomposition might be positive or negativethe point is that we do not know howchanged fishing patterns are affecting thecod stock. Neither do we know how theyare affecting species other than cod.

Restrictions in the cod fishery led to a shifttowards fishing other species. With lowcod quotas, many of those whoexperienced cuts turned to other resourcesto obtain sufficient incomes. Fishers alsocame to see this as a warranty for eventualfuture rights potentials. Fishers hadlearned a lesson and fear the same

regulations may be introduced for otherspecies.

In conclusion, the effect of the newregulations is a transformation ofsmall-scale fisheries. Small-scale fishing isan occupation for people in ruralcommunities, where alternative jobopportunities are scarce. The stated goalsof Norwegian fishery policy areoccupation and settlement in remoteregions, as well as economic efficiencyand sustainability of resources. From theviewpoints of these goals, the results ofthe new regulations are highly debatable.

Postscript: Shortly after 1990, cod stockswere seen as recovering, allowing forquotas corresponding to those before1990. The last years’ positive prognosesare now being reversed, however.Fishery biologists have again found thespawning stock to be below critical levels,and a large quota cut is expected to followfor the year 2000. Apparently, controllingthe small-scale fishers has not beeneffective in controlling the cod stocks

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This article is by Anita Maurstad,Associate Professor at theNorwegian College of FisheryScience, Troms, Norway


Oil exploration

For a few oil dollars more

The current plans of oil multinationals could drastically alter the livelihoods of the artisanal fishers of Cameroon

Oil exploration, production andtransport are major activities inCameroon and its neighbouring

coastal West African States (Nigeria,Gabon and Equatorial Guinea). For overtwo years, a consortium, comprising theoil multinationals Elf, Shell and Exxon,has been developing the largestconstruction project in sub-SaharanAfrica. It not only involves developingoilfields in Chad, but also constructing a600-mile pipeline from these oilfields toCameroon’s Atlantic Coast. The projectalso intends to establish an exportterminal in Kribi, a village situated in oneof the most productive and dynamicartisanal fishing areas in Cameroon (theCampo-Kribi area). The US$ 2.5 billionproject is seeking a World Bank loan of US$115 million.

The transport of oil from the offshoreterminal at Kribi will be done by tankersof 80, 000 to 300, 000 tonnes. Such tankershave been responsible for the many oilspills recorded in the Gulf of Guinea. Inparticular, in 1979, the tanker PetroBousca grounded near Kribi, spilled 800cu m of oil. The present project, therefore,poses a serious risk of oil spillage. Such oilspills directly threaten the livelihoods ofthe 3000 fishermen and their familiesliving in the Campo-Kribi area.

The Cameroon coast is situated in the Gulfof Guinea, and is located at a point ofconvergence of two major currents fromthe West and the Benguela current fromthe South. These currents are capable ofboth bringing in and spreading pollutantsfar and wide along the coastline. TheCameroon coastline is positioned in theGulf of Guinea as a cul-de-sac, whichrepresents special problems for dispersingand getting rid of oil spills. The 350-kmcoastline has important concentrations ofmangrove forests, fish nurseries and

fishing villages, all of which are highlysusceptible to the dangers from oil spills.

Cameroon derives its name from theabundance of shrimp in its coastal waters(camaron and camarao are, respectively,the Spanish and Portuguese names forshrimp). The rich resources of fish andcrustaceans have always played animportant role, particularly in providingthe basis of coastal livelihoods andmeeting local consumption needs.Available data shows that for the last tenyears, fish has provided more than 40 percent of the Cameroonians’ proteinrequirements. As a result of the risingpopulation and declining localproduction, the increasing demands forfish have to be met mainly by increasedimports (60,000 tonnes in 1986).

In 1996, marine fish caught locallyamounted to 64,000 tonnes, half of whichwas caught by small-scale fishermen.Despite the lack of reliable data on theartisanal fisheries sector, it is estimatedthat there could be around 20,000small-scale fishermen, using some 5,000pirogues.

The main species caught are the bonga(ethmalosas), sardinellas and croakers.Shrimp is also caught by small-scalefishermen, mainly for local consumption.Artisanal fishing is mainly performed inthe 2-mile coastal zone, as well as inmangrove areas and estuaries. There aresome 50 to 60 shrimp trawlers.

Anecdotal evidenceAs in other West African coastal States,there is anecdotal evidence to show thatconflicts exist between the shrimptrawlers and artisanal fishermen, but noofficial information is available on thesubject. Neither is there any informationon the activities of foreign fleets fishing in

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Cameroonian waters. This would seem toimply a lack of consideration by theCameroonian government for its fishingsector, particularly the artisanal sector.

In the fishing area of Campo- Kribi,designated for the location of theoffshore oil terminal, there are about

3,000 small-scale fishermen, operating 500pirogues. The different fishingcommunity groups include the Mvae, theBatanga, Mabi and Yassa people. All thesegroups critically depend on fishing fortheir livelihood. Other coastalcommunities from Benin to Nigeria arealso heavily dependent on bothsubsistence and commercial fishing.

Fishing techniques include the use of nets,traps (nasses), and beach seines (locallycalled tirez-tirez or ‘pull pull’). Most of thepirogues belong tonon-fishermen—people from theadministration or from the privatesector—who see this as an opportunity forgood business. Also, most of the fishinggear is imported, and to be fully equipped,a boatowner must invest the equivalent ofaround 40, 000 French Francs (around US$6,000) for a pirogue with outboard engine,fishing gear, etc. This is a considerableconstraint to fishermen becomingboatowners.

For fishing operations, pirogues generallygo to sea for two nights and one day, withthree fishermen on board. Half of the

income from the fish goes to theboatowner, the rest being shared amongthe fishermen. The fish is landed in one ofthe 38 landing points of the Campo-Kribiarea, where women take the leading rolein the post-harvest processes. Grouped inGIC (Groupe d’Initiative Commune),women engage in fish processing (salting,drying, smoking) of species like bongas(ethmalose) and sardinellas, locally calledbilolo.

Fish smoking has an important impact onmangrove wood. In Cameroon, it isestimated that the open fires from burningmangrove wood for fish smoking isresponsible for over 75 per cent of the totalmangrove loss. Some attempts have beenmade to introduce more wood-efficientburning techniques (new designs of fishsmokehouses, Chorkor ovens, etc), butonly one group of women has taken upthese techniques.

Several campaignsSeveral groups have been campaigning inCameroon against the Chad-Cameroonoil pipeline. Their efforts have beensupported by hundreds of developmentand environmental organizations from allover the world. In their campaign againstthe pipeline, these groups, like DEC(Défense de l’EnvironnementCamerounais) have been in contact withthe fishermen from the Campo-Kribi area.The main concerns of the fishermeninterviewed are the diminishing

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resources, the lack of information onfisheries regulations, pollution and thedestruction of the coastal zones throughthe oil industry and exploitation of ironmines.

In November 1999, followingcontinual pressures from theseCameroonian groups and the support

given internationally, Shell and Elf (Exxonis the third partner) officially pulled out ofthe project. But, in view of the past tacticsof these oil multinationals in the area(Nigeria in particular), there is little doubtabout the dangers to be faced in the future.Given the pressures on indebtedcountries’ governments to earn foreignexchange, there are bound to be otherattempts to trade the livelihoods of smallproducers and small fishing communitiesfor a few oil dollars more.

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This article has been compiled fromseveral sources, based oninformation received from Bela NgaJoseph of DEC (Défense del’Environnement Camerounais), aCamaroonian NGO working onsustainable development issues


Fish processing

The smoke lingers on

A grateful grandson recollects the special skills of a grand old fish processor in Ghana

The mid-1960s and early 1970s seemto be fading away fast, especially ifone recollects experiences and the

oral history of that period. It is against thisbackground that this article is beingwritten to highlight memories of fishprocessing in my childhood. Muchreference will be made to mygrandmother as she was the one l stayedwith and from whom I learnt much of theprocessing techniques.

The period under consideration(1963-1973 ) saw the beginning of thedestruction of the Keta township inGhana, as a result of the construction ofthe Tema harbour. Keta used to be thehub of all fishing and fishing-relatedactivities in the south-eastern part ofGhana. Its market was so popular thattraders from Togo, Benin and Nigeriapatronized it constantly until the seaflooded the road leading to it. One can nottalk about fishing in Ghana withoutmentioning this town.

What is left of it today is a thin stretch ofland between the sea and the lagoon,believed to be the largest in West Africa.Behind this lagoon is situated Agbozume,where my grandmother was born and hadpracticed her vocation. It will bemisleading to say that Agbozume was afishing village. The lagoon, the sea, thecoconut plantations and nature’swoodlands provided a rich economicdiversity to this village.

Fish processing was a major economicactivity of the women of the village at thetime. During lean seasons, oil and cakeprocessed from coconut (for animal feed),and mat weaving were the vocations ofthe women. Most of the fishmongers ofthis village carried fuel wood to thebeaches to smoke the fish. Others with lowcapitals exchanged wood for fish that they

normally sent back for processing.Logoshie, my grandma, as her peerscalled her, rose up as a vendor of hermother’s fish products to become aprocessor/wholesaler. A mother of seven,she managed to combine her householdand social obligations to run this businessuntil she died at the age of 78.

Fish smoking and fermentation were herspecialty. These two traditionalprocessing technologies were veryimportant as involve only minoreconomic losses and maximizes the use ofthe resource. Very fresh fish was smokedand those that could not be smokedquickly were either dried or fermented.Smoked-fish buyers will first taste theproduct before purchasing, so it was in theinterest of processors to use quality freshfish.

Grandma had several fish-smoking pointsin almost all the fish-landing villages inthe Keta district. She hired people to helpwhen there was a bumper harvest;otherwise, the main tasks were performedby my mother and her sister. The fresh fishwas purchased from fishermen who hadfamily links with her. This relationshipwas important, as sometimes their fishingtrips were sponsored by her. She alsocollected the fish and made payment aftersales, especially during major seasons.The main species she processed weresardinella and anchovy.

Great skillsThe fish was first washed in fresh waterand laid out on coconut palms to removesome of its liquid content, after which itwas smoked. Great skill was needed insmoking, since the liquid level in the fishbefore smoking, could determine thetaste, while the different types of woodused for smoking imparted differenttastes. For instance, the use of sugar cane

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for smoking led to a very well finished endproduct.

The round traditional oven was theorder of the day. Grandma smokedbetween 100 and 400 basins a week,

depending on the season. Unless therewas a glut, Grandma never sold herproducts on the beach, but would sendthem home for a second smoking. If theproduct could not be sold, periodicsmoking was done to keep insects away.

Fermentation was done with biggerfishes, vava being the first choice, as it wasan important flavouring ingredient for theEwes in Ghana, Togo and Benin. Grandmahad a unique way of fermenting herproduct. The fish was kept in a saltsolution for three days and then sun-driedfor two or three days. She then wrappedthe fish in brown paper and buried it in thesand. The top of the sand was coveredwith thatch to prevent rain water fromseeping down. This product was kept thisway until the market recovered .

The chunk of Gandma’s products weresold by her daughters—my mum sold thesmoked fish, while my aunt handled thefermented product. My mum traveledfrom Dakpa, a village close to theGhana-Togo border, where she lived andsold the wares. Denu and Dzodze marketswere important for my aunt, as theseplaces were patronized by traders fromTogo and Benin. During lean seasons,

Grandma also sold some of the productsto customers who came directly to thevillage to buy.

I found myself in this village at the earlyage of eight, as a result of the loss of myfather. My mother could not cope with theeconomic consequences, as she was thenweaning her third boy. So l was posted tojoin two other cousins living withGrandma at the village.

Social and economic responsibilities wereorganized along gender and age lines inall households. By the rules, as a growingboy, l was not expected to take part inmany home chores, including fishsmoking. Fortunately or unfortunately,my two cousins were much younger thanl, so l virtually became solely responsiblefor all chores. One of them was to take careof the processed fish in Grandma’s storageroom. This involved stacking the fish intothe smokers and heating them up fromtime to time. It was a painful task at thetime, as l had little time to play with mypeers.

DispleasureAdditionally, l had to vend some of thefish, if grandma needed money or realizedthat a portion was going bad. The sale wasdone in the village, to my displeasure, asmy peers gave me all kinds of names andlaughed at me — vending was, andremains, a female’s job, irrespective of age.However, l got a satisfying thrill by

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stealing some fish and sharing it withfriends at school. This was done to spitethose who called me to order duringvending.

Although Grandma was illiterateand therefore organized herbusiness empirically, she was

very successful in making the venturegrow. She had plenty of financialmanagement skills and generally earned alot to cover her fixed and variable costs. Inever saw her broke. The walls of herstorage room were the basis of herbookkeeping. A particular symbol stoodfor a customer and she could tell howmuch each one owed her by counting thestrokes on the wall.

Before her death, Grandma managed tochange her traditional mud house into astructure of sandcrete blocks. With that,the seasonal renovation of our thatch roofbecame a thing of the past. Unfortunately,it was a piece of the iron sheet used in theroofing that saw her untimely death. Thepiece was left in the sand by the artisansand she got pricked by it. The village fetishpriest tried out certain sacrifices to saveher, but the tetanus got her in the end.

Today, l have realized that Grandma’ssuccess story was a result of the fishspecies she utilized, the quality ofprocessing, her perfect control offresh-fish supplies, her access to marketsand the technologies she applied.

In those days, entertainment was a familyaffair, with the impartation of knowledgethrough oral history topping the list. Afterthe evening meals, we, the grandchildren,would gather around Grandma for herstories. That was how l learnt a lot aboutthe fishery. Unfortunately, she is not aliveor I would have loved to pose her somequestions now. Among them would havebeen how she got her capital and theseasonal variations of her activities.

Although Grandma is gone, the ‘smoke’lingers on as, in my work with TESCOD, ltry to improve the oven she used andintroduced me to.

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This piece is by David Eli, who workswith Technical Services forCommunity Development (TESCOD),Accra, Ghana


Tuna fishing

A flag-waving squabble

Some quarters believe that action is needed to eliminate ‘Flag of Convenience’ tuna fishing vessels

Representatives of 128 Japanesetuna fishing boat companies havelaunched a campaign to end

unregulated fishing for tuna in the oceansof the world. Under the acronym ATTACK(All Japan Tuna Boatowners TacticalUnit), the group is demanding that itsgovernment and trading companies banimports of tuna from unregulated piratetuna vessels.

Tuna, one of the world’s most prized foodfish, is currently being fished at, or over,the limits of sustainable use in most of theworld’s waters. To prevent overfishing,most tuna fishing nations haveestablished regional tuna conservationorganizations such as the InternationalCommission for the Conservation ofAtlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and theInter-American Tropical TunaCommission (IATTC), and have adoptedregulations to prevent overfishing. At aglobal level, rules for sustainable tunafishing practices were adopted throughthe UN Food and AgricultureOrganization(FAO) and the UN Agreementon Straddling Stocks and HighlyMigratory Fish Stocks.

Early this year, Japan took the lead inreducing tuna fishing effort by scrapping20 per cent of its tuna fishing fleet, inresponse to the adoption by the 23rd FAOCommittee on Fisheries (COFI) held inRome in February 1999, of a Plan of Actionfor the management of fishing capacity.(Article 39 of the Plan states that Statesshould take immediate steps to addressthe management of fishing capacity forinternational fisheries requiring urgentattention, with priority being given tothose harvesting transboundary,straddling, highly migratory andhigh-seas stocks which are significantlyoverfished. Article 40 (3) further statesthat the required reduction would vary

from fishery to fishery; e.g. a 20-30 per centreduction was mentioned for large-scaletuna longline fleets. Taiwan and theRepublic of Korea also pledged to reducetheir tuna fishing capacity over the nextfew years.

But some tuna fishing boatowners,unwilling to submit to regulations, fledtheir national jurisdictions andre-registered their vessels in countries thatallowed them to operate like pirates,preying freely on tuna stocks, withoutregard to catch quotas or conservationmeasures agreed upon by members ofregional or international conservationorganizations. These pirate vessels,operating under ‘flag of convenience’(FOC), now number around 240, and 80 percent are Taiwanese-owned.

As Japan is the major market forhigh-quality sashimi grade tuna, ATTACKurged the Japanese government to denyJapanese markets to tuna caught by piratevessels. In fact, almost all of tuna caughtby FOC tuna fishing vessels are exported toJapan, currently around 47,000 tonnes ayear, and almost 25 per cent of frozen tunarequirements are imported. Almost twiceas many FOC tuna fishing vessels as thenumber of scrapped Japanese tuna fishingvessels are continuing their fishing eventoday.

Initiative neededATTACK insists that the pain and sacrificethat our fishermen and families as well asthose related to the tuna fishing businesshave suffered from scrapping 132 tunalongline fishing vessels would be nullifiedif FOC vessels continue their pirate fishing.The group believes that Japan should takethe initiative to eliminate FOC tuna vessels,and ban the trade of any tuna caught byFOC vessels. That would be the mosteffective measure to ensure sustainability

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of tuna resources and tuna fisheries in theworld. It has also demanded that Japanesetrading companies stop buying tuna frompirate ships.

The problem of FOC fishing vessels isnow a growing concern in theinternational community. The

International Coalition of FisheriesAssociation (ICFA) discussed the problemat its annual meeting in Fremantle,Australia, during 9-11 November 1999.Members who participated came fromAustralia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand,Russia, Taiwan, the US and the ASEANregion. ICFA adopted a resolutionrequesting nations to refrain from dealingwith FOC vessels and products, includingdenying port access, product transport,and trade and distribution. Further, ICFAurged the Government of Japan to takeeffective measures to prohibit the importof any tuna caught by FOC tuna fishingvessels. The resolution was delivered tothe Government of Japan by an ICFArepresentative.

ICCAT also adopted the resolution toeliminate FOC fishing vessels at its 16thregular meeting held in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, during 15-22 November 1999,where 27 governments and EUparticipated. Each government is requiredto ensure that its fishing vessels do notengage in Illegal, Unregulated andUnreported (IUU) tuna longline fishingactivities. Trade of fish caught by IUU

vessels should also be refrained. Othermeasures were also included in theresolution. The important point is that thelist of FOC tuna fishing vessels submittedby the US and Japan was formallyacknowledged by ICCAT. The list is usefulfor every government to take appropriatemeasures.

Every effort should be continuously madeuntil FOC tuna fishing vessels arecompletely eliminated from the ocean toensure sustainability of the importantmarine resources for people throughoutthe world, both for present and futuregenerations.

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This appeal has been written byYuichiro Harada, Staff Officer,International Division, Federation ofJapan Tuna Fisheries Co-operativeAssociations, with the assistance ofAlan Macnow, Telepress Associates,Inc


Fishworker Organizations’ sites

Weaving the Net

Fishworker organizations need to show that they need to better utilize the power and reach of the Internet through well-designed pages

Fishworker Organizations (FOs) areincreasingly realizing the potentialand power of the Internet as a tool

for communication. Compared to othermeans of communication, the Internet hasgreater reach and is comparativelycheaper. The majority of the FOs with apresence on the Internet are based in thedeveloped countries, mostly in the US. Infact, in all of the North and the South, thereare only a handful of small-scale FOs whohave put up Websites, though more andmore FOs in the North have started usingthe medium.

Though there are many powerful FOs andmovements in developing countries, theyhave only a minimal presence on theInternet. There are some Latin Americanorganizations who are now putting uptheir Websites. The high cost of computersand modems and the high tariffs arerestricting factors that prevent FOs in thedeveloping countries from adopting thetechnology. If the organizations do nothave the technical skills in-house, there isthe added costs involved in designing theWeb pages, developing and updatingtheir contents, and maintaining the sites.

A compiled list of resources related tofisheries and FOs on the Web is availableat the Website of Gadus Associateshttp://www.home.istar.ca/~gadus/links.html#index

There must be many FOs on the Internetwho are not ‘visible’ enough. This isespecially likely of FOs whose sites are notin the English language. The popularsearch engines retrieve Web pages that arein English. At the most, they may retrieveFrench and Spanish documents too.

With popular search engines like Yahoo,AltaVista, Netscape, Excite, Infoseek andLycos, even French and Spanish

documents are rarely retrieved. There aresome specialized search engines whichcan get you the documents in languagesother than English. Examples are ExciteFrance and Yahoo France. Searches usinga search engine which supports keywordsin the local language may retrieve nationaland regional FO Websites. Some Websitesprovide icons to different languageversions on the home page.

The importance given to safety at sea bythe community FOs and commercial FOs inthe developed countries is somethingremarkable. In the developing nations,especially in countries like India, thenumber of fishermen who go ‘missing atsea’ or die at sea is staggeringly high,though the exact figures are not available.The personnel and vessel safetyregulations are, in general, betterorganized and monitored in thedeveloped nations. In comparison, onecan not but help feeling that human lifehas not much value in the South.

There are very few FO Websites that areactively updated and kept alive. For themajority of the sites, once they are created,nothing is done to update the informationor the links they provide.

Better sitesIn comparison, the Websites ofcommercial fishing and seafoodindustries are much better organized andupdated. The Website of the CoastalCommunities Network of Nova Scotia inCanada — http://www.gdlewis. ednet.ns.ca/~coastal/ — is a fishworkercommunity Website which givesinformation on the local fishworkers, theirsocial status and role in the local economy,changes in the pattern of fish landings,specieswise data on yearly fish landingsand quantities, and their value. There isalso a small section on the role of women

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in the local economy. Two reports oncommunity-based fisheriesco-management from 1995 and 1997 areavailable from the link to publications onthe home page. The section, CommunityUpdates, has current updates on variousaspects related to local and regionalfisheries, job opportunities in fisheries andnews releases.

A conference report from June 1998on coastal and rural communitiesis available on the Community

Updates page. The Website also sharestwo traditional Nova Scotia recipes,M’ikmaq Eel soup and Solomon Gundy,complete with warnings on theafter-effects!

The Website of CONAPACH(Confederacion Nacional De PescadoresArtesanales De Chile) —http://www.conapach.cl/ — is inSpanish. It is an active Website, with linksto its accessory bodies/programmesCEDIPAC (Corporación Para La Educación,Desarrollo E Investigación De La PescaArtesanal De Chile) — http://www.conapach.cl/asesoras/cedipac.htm —CFP (Centro De Formación Polifuncional)http://www.conapach.cl/ asesoras/cfp.htm, Unidad de Apoyo y ServiciosEmpresariales para la Pesca Artesanal,http://www.conapach.cl /asesoras/unidadapoyo.htm. On the site, there aredocuments on the campaigns against

Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) andprivatization of fisheries in Chile.

A write-up on the National FishworkersFederation, India (NFF) is available on theURL http://www.corpwatch.org /feature/india /interviews. The GloucesterFishermen’s Wives Association is aunique organization. Unfortunately, itsWebsite — http://www.gfwa.org/%7egfwa/index.html — says it was lastupdated in February 1999.

The Pacific Coast Federation ofFishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) —http://www.pond.net/~pcffa — (“PCFFAis by far the largest and most politicallyactive trade association of commercialfishermen on the west coast of the USA ...”)maintains a monthly column in thehttp://www.fishermensnews.com, awidely read, as well as the oldest,publication in West Coast Commercialfishing industry.

The World Forum of Fishworkers andFish Harvesters (WFF) — http://www.south-asian-initiative.org/wff/intro.htm— gives information on its objectives, itsstructure, a list of members, addresses ofsome FOs, and links to a few other sites.

DownloadableIn the documents section, the report of theWFF meet in New Delhi (17-21 November1997) is provided. The English version isavailable for downloading in

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WordPerfect, MS Word zip and HTML zipformats. The Spanish and French versionsare available in MS Word zip. The Websitelooks like it has not been updated since theNovember 1997 event in Delhi.

The Maritime Fishermen’s Unionsitehttp://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/mfu

upm/ UPM is in English, but has Frenchand Spanish links. It has a section whichexplains what MFU has done for thefishworkers. The MFU site discusses localfisheries management, policies, fishingquotas and catches.

Online fish marketing is gainingpopularity in the developed countries.Fishmart at http://www.fishmart.comprovides various commercial fishermen’smarketing services in the US in variouscategories like fresh fish, frozen fish,shellfish as well as the commerciallyimportant species. Some FO Websites haveprovided links to online fishery marketnews and auction prices. The link CurrentMarket Prices on the Maine Fishermen’sCooperative Association sitehttp://www.mefishcoop.com/ is anexample.

National Fisherman online(http://www.nationalfisherman.com)has, besides other information, a link tothe US Federal laws related to fisheries.This links up to the National MarineFisheries Service (NMFS) to access

important national laws like MagnusonStevens Act and Commercial FishingVessel Safety Act.

New Jersey Fishing (http://www.fishingnj.org) is a site maintained by theGarden State Seafood Association andFishNet US. It covers the New Jersey fishand seafood industry, harvestingtechniques used by the local fishermen,the fish and shellfish they catch, alongwith recipes. It also discusses variouscoastal and ocean issues. Under GearEffects, there is a list of links to resourcesdiscussing the effects of trawl and dredgefisheries. This section also featuresdiagrams of some of these gears.

Many Websites give importance todetailed weather forecasts, which areupdated twice a day or more. The Weathersection of National Fisherman online—http://www.nationalfisherman.com—gives prevalent weather conditions in allthe major fishing areas off the US andCanadian coasts. The area for whichinformation is needed can be chosen froma map on the page. The informationprovided includes air pressure, windspeed, direction and wave height, all ofwhich are crucial information forfishermen.

Weather infoThe weather information provided by theMaine Fishermen’s Co-operativeAssociation — http://www

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.mefishcoop.com — includes data fromweather buoys in the sea as well.

LOST (Loved Ones of Sea Tragedy)—http://www.irishmarine.com/lost.html — is an Irish organization set up tohelp those who have lost family membersat sea.

Women’s Fisheries Network —http://web.mit.edu/seagrant/www/wfn.html — is a

national nonprofit network of women andmen dedicated to educating members andnon-members alike about issuesconfronting the commercial fishing andseafood industry.

North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners’Association (NPFVOA) Vessel SafetyProgram —http://www.halcyon.com/npfvoa/ — is a non-profit organizationdedicated to safety education and trainingfor fishermen and mariners. It wasdeveloped in 1985 in co-operation withthe US Coast Guard.

FishFolk is a very interesting discussiongroup on the Internet for anyone with aserious interest in discussing fisheriesmanagement. There are sporadicdiscussions on the social aspects offisheries and the status of small-scalefishworkers. The list has its own web site(http://web.mit.edu/seagrant/ www/fishfolk.html)with information on how tosubscribe, and biographical informationon some list members. There is asearchable archive athttp://safmc.noaa.gov/safmcweb/library/Databases/Fishflksearch.html, ofmany of the messages previously postedto FishFolk. To join, send the one-linemessage “subscribe fishfolk [email protected]. Before you jointhe list, you may want to have a look at thelist of frequently asked questions and theiranswers at http://web.mit.edu/seagrant/advisory/fishfolkfaq.html.

FishList is intended to cover similarground to FishFolk, but with moreemphasis on the seafood trade. It is alsospecifically intended for the commerciallyoriented messages that are oftenunwelcome on more academic lists, or atleast inappropriate for them. FishList isrun by The Fish Highway ( http://www.fishroute.com/) or “FishRoute”

organization. To join, send the one-linemessage “subscribe fishroute” [email protected].

The Website of CRISLA (http://assoc.wanadoo.fr/peche.dev/ )isin French. It provides information onindustrial fisheries and the damages toartisanal, small-scale sector, fisheriesagreements, women in fisheries,damaging effects of aquaculture,ecolabelling in fisheries, and the WorldFisheries Day (21 November). Theimplications of ecolabelling is an issuewhich has not been adequately discussedby most FOs.

Overall, FOs have to go a long way tomake their voices heard on the Internet.The technology is definitely cheaper thanother conventional means of reaching out,like the print media. And the Internetprovides the reach which no othertechnology has so far offered. So, it isdesirable that we make good use of it.

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This article has been written byOmkar G. Krishnan of ICSF’sDocumentation Centre, Chennai,India


Fishery co-operatives-4

Beyond the sneers

The fourth instalment in the series on the pioneer of Japan’s fishery co-operative movement

After training the members of theregional federations for two years,we dissolved those federations

and established branches of Dogyoren intheir place in those central cities which themerchants were located, such as Nemuro,Hakodate, Hiyama, Kitami, Soya andKushiro.

We had originally succeeded in having theFCAs jointly market scallop, squid andkelp. With this next step, however, wetargeted the strong base of the merchantsand attempted to set up our own base. Forinstance, we opened a Dogyoren branchoffice in Hakodate on the second floor ofa bank building and made our presenceknown by painting ’DOGYOREN’ on thewindows in gilded letters.

The marine product merchants sneered atour venture, saying that if such laymen asthe FCA members opened shop and triedto market their products without theassistance of the merchants, they wouldfail within half a year. I placed specialemphasis on the Hakodate branch, andthus I sent two of the most competent andexperienced men there — Shuzo Ito as thebranch manager and Eio Monai as hisassistant. They performed excellently inthese positions, and the amount oftransactions involving squid increasedrapidly within a very short time period.

With the success of our venture, ananti-cooperative movement arose amongthe merchants. The Hakodate Associationof Marine Products Traders submitted apetition to the Hokkaido government inthe hope of protecting their vestedinterests in the trade. They contended thatDogyoren and the FCAs had an unfairadvantage. They were strongly opposedto our activities, and this created variousproblems, so Mr Okuno, the Director ofthe Hokkaido Department of Industry,

called a meeting of the two sides to resolvesome of the difficulties. About 100representatives met in the Sapporo GrandHotel.

Shortly after the meeting was opened,several merchants delegates arose insuccession to criticise our activities. Theyaccused us of having no knowledge ofmarine goods or trading practices, and offorgetting how much they had helped us.They questioned whether we would beable to repay our accumulated debts, andstated that our joint marketing practicesshould be halted and that we should leavethe professional details to them.

At first, not one person from the FCAsstood up to argue with them. Okunoinformed me that, since it was agovernment-sponsored meeting, hewould not be able to close the meetingwithout hearing from the fishermen, so Iencouraged some of the participants fromthe FCAs to stand up and speak. Finally,Tsutomo Takagi, who had once served asmanaging director of the Kitami RegionalFederation, arose and spoke eloquentlyabout the greed of the merchants. “We areonly trying to sell the goods we producewith our own hands,” he said. “That isn’tso unreasonable, is it? We will definitelyrepay our debts, but how dare you use ourdebts as a pretext to protect your owncommercial interests.” The chairman ofthe Mitsuishi FCA stood up next and statedthat the merchants had no right to meddlein the affairs of the new cooperativemovement, and he accused them ofappealing to the rules of an outdatedcommercial system.

New system“If you want to work with us within thenew system, we will welcome you,” hesaid, “but we will not work with you if youcannot agree to change with the times”.

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The merchants could not respond to thesewell-reasoned arguments.

Okuno determined that thegovernment must act, and hetherefore nominated a certain Mr

Suzuki to be the superintendent of theDepartment of Industry and Commerce.Suzuki said that the merchants had toadapt to the new age so that the businessescould develop. He pointed out that thegovernment always encouraged the use ofjoint capital. He said, that since thefishermen were finally doing just that, itwas shocking to see that the merchantscontinued to act selfishly andsingle-mindedly. Again, there was noresponse from the merchants.

I arose to speak at the end of the meeting.I thanked the merchants for stating theiropinions, which we found to bereasonable in certain ways, as well asinformative and helpful. However, I toldthem, it was wrong for them to insist onthe commercial rights. Since squid wascaught in all the seas around Hokkaido,we could see no reason to sell dried squidto the merchants in Hakodate. “I believe itis your responsibility as merchants tosupply Hakodate with goods. It is not thatwe want to sell to merchants in otherregions; we would appreciate it if youwould agree to buy our prices. However,you must remember that fishermen muststruggle to make a living, and if we cannotget a satisfactory price from you

merchants, we will look for other buyers.We are simply using the cooperative toescape poverty.

“You must understand that the times arechanging, and the cooperatives will beestablished not only in Hokkaido, butthroughout the nation. We will soonestablish a national federation. You arefree to limit the commercial areas ofHakodate or Otaru or other cities as far asthey are related to your personal business,but that does not concern us. We respectyou for your contributions to thedevelopment of Hokkaido, but you mustkeep in step with the times. We have madeup our minds, and we intend to succeed,so please don’t worry about us”.

After this meeting, we were able topromote joint marketing smoothly. Whenspeaking about this process, I have oftendescribed it with the term “cooperativerevolution”. If we had not severed therelationships between the merchants andthe fishermen, we could not havedeveloped the cooperatives. That meetingwas therefore a truly significant event.The FCAs of other prefectures did notundergo cooperative revolutions as wedid, so the merchants in those prefectureswere still able to appeal to the feudalisticconcepts of ‘favours’ and ‘obligations’.

Joint marketingThe first step in joint marketing is for theFCA to collect the fishermen’s products. In

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order to do this, we have to instruct thefishermen regarding the cooperativeideals and have them unite. Then we haveto negotiate with the buyers to determinethe prices. To do this, we have to collect atleast 50% of the total Hokkaido catch so asto gain some control over the market.From my experience, I knew that wewould thus change the conditions fromthose of a buyer’s market to those of aseller’s market.

When negotiating the prices, wehave to determine in advancethe estimated cost and the

potential supply and demand. At certaintimes, we must keep the prices down, suchas when the buyers have retained stock orif the current year’s harvest is good.

The FCAs and the Dogyoren can succeed injoint marketing only if they negotiateproperly. If this is done by tender, themerchants will engage in speculation andwe will fail, as was evident from so manycases. In 1965, for example, the price ofsalmon was 40% higher than in averageyears, since large canning companies werebuying up all the salmon. We warned theFCAs that they had to keep the prices low,since selling at such an extraordinarilyhigh price was too risky.

The cooperative must not sell at such highprices simply to satisfy the producers; itmust take into consideration the demandsof the consumers. The entire societywould benefit if prices were kept stableand reasonable. Furthermore, we had toremember that the cooperative was anongoing venture, not simply a one-timeeffort, and that we had to rely on continualdealing with our customers.

At the time we were developing the FCAs,the military came to have more and moreinfluence on the central government,particularly after the colonization ofManchuria.

It therefore became difficult for us toexport marine products to China, whichhad been the largest market for suchproducts as dried squid, kelp, scallop, andabalone. Therefore, the Ministry ofAgriculture and Forestry was forced tofind a way to export marine productsthrough one channel to China. Itestablished the Japan Marine Products

Trading Company, a venture whichconsisted of three major companies, alongwith the National Federation of FCAs(Zengyoren), and Dogyoren.

Miyozo Takakusa, the chairman ofZengyoren, was appointed president ofthis company, and I was appointed theSapporo branch manager, while retainingmy position as managing director ofDogyoren. We recruited Mr KagatoMatsuo, of one of the participatingcompanies, to be managing director. Hewas not only well-versed in marketing,but he was also very knowledgeable aboutthe role of cooperatives.

All marine products which were to beexported were collected by this company,and the government’s control of tradetherefore became stronger. Not long afterthe company was established, I went toTokyo, and while there, I was surprised tosee in the newspapers that thegovernment had applied an ’Official PriceControl System’ to marine products.

I was shocked by the news. I had neverthought that our joint marketing wouldhave to deal with a system of pricecontrols, and I did not know how wecould operate under such a system. It wasunthinkable that the government wouldset a price for the various marine products,since the production level fluctuatedyearly due to natural conditions. Thegovernment seemed to be preparing forthe coming war by controlling theeconomy as well as repressing freedom ofspeech and the media.

Japa

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This instalment is excerpted fromThe Autobiography of TakatoshiAndo, translated by Naoyuki Taoand James Colyn


Marine fisheries

Chinese puzzle

Despite devolution of power, only better co-ordination between the central and provincial/local governments will save Chinese fisheries

With a seaboard of 320,000 kmand a continental shelf of374,000 sq km, China is the

largest producer of fish in the world. In1997, its marine fish production amountedto over 20 million tonnes. Most of themarine production is taken from the BohaiSea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Seaand the South China Sea. The mostcommercially significant species arehairtail, small yellow croaker, largeyellow croaker, filefish, round scad,Japanese anchovy, chub mackerel,Japanese Spanish mackerel, golden threadfin, pomfret, blue crab, conger pike,Chinese herring and various species ofshrimp.

According to Chinese sources, the notionof fisheries management in China can betraced back to the Xiayu Dynasty (2100 to1600 BC), which prohibited fishing duringthe summer spawning season. There isreference to the finite nature of resourcesof the lake and the sea in a book titledGuanzi, baguanpian, written during thetime of the Chun Qui Dynasty (770 to 476BC). This is interesting because, untilrecently, the world at large believed in theinexhaustible nature of the sea. During theMing and Qing Dynasties (1369-1911 AD),fisheries management-related activitieswere specified — perhaps the earliestattempt in the world to manage thefisheries.

In spite of this hoary past, the marinefishing industry developed in Chinamainly after the 1940s. Bottom trawling,introduced from the US and Japan, hasbeen the principal fishing method,accounting for over half the current fishproduction. The open-door policy of theChinese Government led to privatizationof fisheries since the 1980s, which ledthousands of new entrants into the marinefisheries, many of whom are not even

licensed. Worse, the price liberalizationpolicy of 1985 allowed fishers to sell theircatch anywhere, even at sea.

There are basically three kinds ofownership structure in Chinese fisheries:ownership under the State; under theprivate sector; and under collective units.‘Collective’ is the generic name forcommunes. Since the introduction of theopen-door economic policy, thecollectives have, in fact, becomesmall-scale private fishing companies. So,essentially, fishing vessels operate undereither State or private ownership.

The State-owned enterprises areoperating at a tremendous loss because ofdecline in production and highoperational costs of large fishing vessels.More and more fishers are becomingowners of fishing vessels, and,increasingly, smaller and smaller vesselsare replacing large vessels in Chinesefishing grounds. This puts tremendouspressure on the enforcement machinery,which is basically designed to cater tofisheries with large vessels. Theauthorities also have problems incontrolling indiscriminate fleetexpansion. There is, for example, amarked increase in vessels under 20 mlength. There is a tremendous growth inthe sales of outboard motors, which arenumerous — there are no reliable statisticson how many are, in fact, operating.

Unreliable statisticsChinese fisheries statistics, which werefairly reliable about 15 years ago, are nolonger so accurate because of the difficultyin keeping track of the fishing effort ofsmaller vessels. There are reportedlyabout 300,000 fishing vessels in Chinatoday, most of which would be less than24 m in length. The vessels, however, areclassified according to horsepower (HP).

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Most of the boats in operation are thesmall ones (below 20HP) and they havebeen growing at an annual rate of about 15per cent.

Fisheries managers are acutely awareof the need to reduce capacity, butthey do not know what to do with

the large fishers population, about fivemillion in the marine fisheries sector.There is a smattering of labour migrants toTaiwan and countries like Korea andJapan but there are certainly more peoplemoving into the marine fisheries thanmoving out.

The Chinese fisheries managementcurrently relies mainly on input controlmeasures, which are perceived to beinadequate by the fisheries authoritiesthemselves. The most significantmanagement measure currently in use isthe closed season. Since 1978, there was atwo-month closed season, which in 1998was extended to three months. During theclosed season, it is illegal to even haveyour fishing gear either in the water or onboard a vessel, irrespective of whetheryou are fishing or not. Although this is themost effective Chinese fisheries

management tool, it does not really takecare of the overcapacity problem: fishingpower continues to exist; it is not reducedas a result of the annual closed season.According to official sources, Chinesefisheries managers would actually like tosee a combination of input and outputcontrol as well as technical measures toresolve the problem, but the political willat, and below, the provincial level is stillnot strong enough.

One of the political means to reducefishing pressure in Chinese waters hasbeen to encourage distant-water fishing(DWF) operations. The Chinese have beenin DWF since 1985 and about 1,200 Chinesetrawlers are currently operating in DWF.About 15,000 Chinese work on boardthese vessels, which operate in the EEZs ofMauritania, Guinea-Bissau (for octopusand fin fish), Morocco (squid andoctopus), Senegal (fin fish and octopus),Sierra Leone (shrimp and squid), Yemen,Argentina (squid) and some South Pacificcountries (tuna).

Capacity limitsCapping capacity is an important policyconsideration and there is a moratorium

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Inside viewA small-scale fishing unit that I visited in SanYan town, Jinsan District, Shanghai, mainlyoperated 10-m set-net units. Crews of three, ata depth 10-20 m, operate these units. Thecatch composed mainly of trash fish. Anothercollective fishing unit operated larger fishingvessels.

My visit was at a time when the fishery wasclosed. Most of the boats that I saw were over20 years of age. They looked really dilapidatedand old. Some of them had heavy stoneweights; none was painted and those thatwere, had the paint all peeled off. It was saidthat some of the boats were, in fact, over 60years old.

An average fishing trip reportedly lasts 10 days.There are about 180 fishing days in a year.During the closed season, no financialassistance is made to the fishers by the State.On an average, a fisher earns about US$100 amonth. For State-owned companies, however,the Government pays the minimum wageduring the closed season.

The investment in fisheries is made, in mostinstances, from own or family savings. Thereare, however, instances when bank loans aretaken. There is no auction of fish. The fish issold according to prevailing market prices. Thecaptain of the boat receives a payment about20 to 30 per cent above the crew.

Stock declines due to increased fishing effort isa major problem. In the past, women wereinvolved in making fishing nets. None of thewomen who belong to the commune is involvedin fishery-related activities now; they all work inindustries owned by the commune that producetextiles, shoes or car safety belts.

The fishers above 50 years of age are oftenilliterate; however, those younger than thathave mostly completed secondary education.To join fisheries, you should be at least 17years old and should have completedsecondary school. The fishers have to belicensed but there is no licence fee. Fishingwithout a licence can lead to the confiscation ofthe craft and gear as well as the imposition of afine.


on building new vessels, except to replaceexisting ones. There was a ceiling, forexample, in 1981 on the total number ofvessels, but the provincial and localgovernments would not comply with it.The ceiling is periodically revised andobserved mainly in its violation. There iseven a thriving market for old vesselsbetween the provincial government andthe collective fishing units. Now, with thecollapse of several stocks, the market forsecond-hand vessels is poor.

Any planning for better fisheriesmanagement in China has to overcomethe most pressing problem of the lack ofco-ordination between the Central andprovincial/local governments. While the

Central Government is interested ineffective fisheries management, theprovincial and municipal governmentsare still concerned with recovering theirinvestments in fisheries. The localgovernments apparently have aninvestment protection policy. They areprimarily interested in protecting theshort-term interests of their fishingindustry. The management measuresproposed by the Central Government areoften not implemented.

Devolution of power in the case of Chinaseems, sadly, to have led to a situation ofoverfishing and overcapacity. The Centreis concerned about these problems but ithas yet to find a positive response from the

Chi

na A company in trouble

The Shanghai Marine Fisheries Co. Ltd. usedto be one of the biggest in China and is ownedby the municipal government. Once it operated238 fishing boats, mainly trawlers andpurse-seiners. Now only 23 fishing boats areoperating in the Chinese waters.

The largest vessels owned by the company arefactory trawlers fishing in the northwest Pacific,which have a capacity ranging from2000-3000GRT. These vessels were importedsecond-hand from Germany. Large squidjiggers, about 63 m long, are also operated.

Due to the decline in fish production, 10 bigtrawlers that belong to the company have beentied up in the wharf. The resources aredeclining very fast. Collective fishingoperations, which are small-scale, make itdifficult for the vessels to effectively compete.The company has ceased its trawlingoperations in, for example, the East China Sea,because of competition from collective fishingoperations, which operate much smaller fishingvessels with lower capacities.

As a result, since1985, the company has beendiversifying into distant-water fishing operationsand factory trawling. Distant-water fishingoperations take place in Yemen, Argentina,Mauritania, Morocco and the South Pacific. Thecompany operates 69 vessels under 17 jointventures with local companies. Thirty-three ofthese vessels are in squid jigging.

Three reasons were attributed to overfishing ofChinese marine fisheries resources: first, there

was too much capacity built into the fishingcompanies under State control; second, theemergence of smaller fishing vessels under thecollective ownership; and third, marine pollutionfrom industrial activities. It was observed thatthe stocks will not recover in the short run andthat controlling fishing effort is very importantfor stocks to recover, which means manyfishing units should withdraw from fishing.

About 1,900 workers were laid off as a result offleet restructuring. Those above 50 years ofage were given compulsory retirement althoughsome were absorbed into non-fishery jobs.Some went back to their villages. And somewere retrained to participate in thedistant-water fisheries.

The workers on Chinese vessels are paidsalaries linked to production. Although a basicminimum is guaranteed, the ceiling is not fixed.There are labour unions in fisheries, and theirrepresentatives participate in managementdecisions. All policies of the company have tobe discussed and approved by the labourunion. The company provides housing, healthand schooling facilities to its workers.

Faced with overfishing and overcapacity, thecompany wants to decrease its participation infisheries. The main problem they face is withthe big vessels, which are less amenable todiversification. The alternative options they areconsidering are marine transportation, startingmariculture/aquaculture operations andconcentrating on shore-based fisheries-relatedbusiness.


provincial and local governments. Severalof the controls introduced by the CentralGovernment are apparently violated. Thetotal quantum of fish production has asignificant proportion of lowertrophic-level species and juveniles.

Although, for instance, a potentialcollapse of green filefish stockswas predicted as early as 1988, no

action was taken to prevent their collapse,which finally happened in 1991. Theoutput of hairtail is now high, but the sizeof fish caught is getting progressivelysmaller, which makes scientists fear arepetition of the green filefish collapse.

In the national waters, the Bureau ofFisheries is responsible for implementingboth the central and provisional fisherieslegislation. The enforcement capacity ofthe Bureau is, however, rather weak. It isbeleaguered by lack of financial resources,a dearth of trained staff and a shortage ofpatrol boats. Retired army hands oftenman the enforcement activities.

To make matters worse, there is a largeinflux of peasants into marine fishingoperations. About 10 to 20 per cent offishers are believed to be formerlyagricultural peasants. There is migrationof peasants into fisheries in Sichuan, HeNan, An Hui and Guanzhou Provinces.

Most of these farmer-turned fishermen arein the small-scale sector and work as crewfor fishermen who own boats. Since thelabour is cheap, owner-operatorfishermen hire workers from thehinterland.

On the whole, it is reported that thequality of life of a fisher is better than thatof a farmer, even in the prosperous coastalbelt.

The Chinese capture fisheries areincreasingly beleaguered by overfishingand overcapacity. How long China will beable to maintain its high production levelsin relation to capture fisheries is open toquestion.

Unless quick measures are implemented,China will lose it primacy in marinecapture fisheries to other countries.Although attempts are being made todiversify into distant-water fisheries, the

future prospects in these fishing groundslook rather bleak, since they are alsoincreasingly overfished. Unless theproblems of overfishing, overcapacity andunderemployment in fisheries areeffectively managed, the Chinese fisherieswill face a major crisis in the near future.

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This article by Sebastian Mathew,executive Secretary of ICSF, is basedon a recent visit to Beijing andShanghai

Lobsters and King CobrasShanghai Chaoan Siping Aquatic Market is thebiggest fish market in China. Its frozen fishmarket is more than 30 years old. In addition tofishmeal, which goes entirely to the aquacultureindustry, it imports an amazing variety of fish,ranging from hairtail to Patagonian tooth fish,which is sold at US$150 a kg in some fancyrestaurants. The high-value fish are allconsumed in restaurants. The most expensivefish caught in Chinese waters is thegolden-coloured large yellow croaker, whichfetches about US$100 a kg. The main marketfor high-value species is big businesses thatbuy expensive fish on entertainment expenseaccounts. The Chinese love to take their guestsout to restaurants, as part of their tradition. Inthe restaurant where I was taken out for dinner,there were live lobsters from Australia, NewZealand and Norway, and stone crabs from theUS. Of course, there were also live King Cobrasin cages!

One of the marketplaces that I visited wasrecently set up and managed by a woman. It isnow in the process of developing facilities tohandle imported live fish. The market is ownedby a co-operative that has a variety ofbusinesses, including tea. The market not onlyhandles fish, cephalopods and crustaceans butalso farmed snakes and turtles.


Baywatch

Massive pollution inthe Bay of Bengal isthreatening the stockof marine fisheries,and the volume offishing inBangladesh hasdeclined alarminglyin the last few years,the official BSS newsagency has recentlyreported.

Experts fear thatfisheries resourcesmight dwindlefurther, and fin fishand shellfish couldbecome extinct ifpollution in the Bayof Bengal’s watercontinues. The Bay isenriched withnutrients, suppliedby a network of riversand their tributaries

The present problemsspring fromindustrial toxic waste,oil spills, dumping oftrash fish, illegal andoverfishing, siltationand flood water

stagnation, increasein inland wastes,artificial hatcheries,fishermen’signorance of thebay’s fish stock andmismanagement ofthe marine sector.

A survey by theFisheries ResourcesInstitute of theDepartment ofFisheries, ChittagongUniversity, revealedthat the use ofpesticides hasincreased by 400 percent since 1977.

Giant needs

In Sweden, giantshrimps are arelatively newproduct, not atraditional fare forwhichwell-establishedeating habits haveevolved. This fact isworking to the

advantage of theSwedish Society forNature Conservation(SSNC), which, since1995, has been tryingto draw attention tothe problem of theproduction of giantshrimps. The SSNCbelieves that it will bepossible to persuadeconsumers and thetrade to managewithout giantshrimps.

The SSNC is workingwith severalenvironmentalorganizations in theSouth — in Ecuador,Honduras, Malaysia,

Thailand and India —which are in variousways heavilyinvolved in theproblems associatedwith the demand forgiant shrimps. Theproblems concernboth farmed suppliesand natural shrimpscaught in the opensea. The SSNC is partof an internationalnetwork that consistsof members fromproducing countriesas well as consumercountries.

Mangroves forever

The rapid depletionof the mangroveforest area that oncecovered the entirecoastline of Orissa inIndia is being cited asone important reasonfor the recent cyclonelashings that havebeen plaguing thecoastline area.

Several times in thepast, ecologists havewarned that theOrissa coast washeaded for majordisaster. The firstwarning was issuedin 1971, when asevere cyclonic stormbattered the shores,claiming more than10,000 lives, anumber farsurpassing previousrecords. Although theOrissa coast wassubject to twodevastating cyclonesin 1885 and 1892, the1971 cyclone was farmore damaging.Several villages and

hamlets close to thesea near Paradipwere swept away bywaves and the tollwas officiallyrecorded at morethan 10,000.

Citing theseinstances, ecologistsclaim that the

frequency of cycloneshas registered analarming trend sincethe 1970s andattribute it to thelarge-scaleexploitation of themangrove vegetation.Remote sensingpictures taken bySalyut-7 during the1970s revealed thatevery year, nearly 2.5sq km of mangrovevegetation has beendepleted or cleared inthe Orissa coast.

Virus at large

A strange new virusis attacking the larvaeof shrimpaquaculturists in theState of Sinaloa,Mexico, raising themortality of Sinaloa’sfarmed shrimp.Mexican officialsbelieve that theappearance of thisnew shrimp diseasecould giveinternationalenvironmentalgroups that areopposed to theindustry a pretext tocall for a boycott ofMexican seafood.

News Round-up


This new affliction,which some are

calling ENH virus, issaid to be undercontrol now,according to officialMexican sources, butthe final diagnosticwould not be knownfor another couple ofweeks. Nevertheless,the president of theAquacultureChamber, admittedthat in Nayarit and inthe central zones andsouth of Sinaloa,there has been a highincidence of this newvirus strain.

Reserved forgood

The Islamic Republicof Iran hasdesignated GovaterBay and Hur-e-Bahuas its 19th Wetland ofInternationalImportance. This75,000-ha areacomprises the

riverine and estuarinewetlands of the lowerSarbaz River,including permanentfreshwater pools andmarshes, mangrove

swamps andintertidal mudflats,and also the sandybeach of the adjacentGulf of Oman coast inthe extreme southeastof Iran (PersianBaluchistan) right upto the border withPakistan. The site isimportant forCrocodylus palustrisand winteringwaterfowl, notablyPelecanus crispus,shorebirds, gulls andterns.

World FisheriesDay

Fishworkers all overthe world celebratedthe World FisheriesDay on 21 Novemberunder the banner ofthe World Forum ofFish Harvesters andFish Workers (WFF),which has a memberrepresentation of 23organizations from 21countries from all thecontinents of theworld. Althoughmany countries haveofficially declared 21November as WorldFisheries Day, theday still remains anoccasion forcelebration by theworkers.

The main idea behindthe celebration,according ThomasKocherry,Co-ordinator of theWFF, is to buildtransnationalsolidarity among thefishworkers of theworld. Just as theirseas do not have anyboundaries, so tootheir love andsolidarity find noboundaries. Apartfrom the celebratoryaspect, it is also a dayof thanksgiving and

affirmationthanksgiving to our mother seawho is the protectorand sustainer of ourlives, and affirmationto protect her from allkinds of exploitation.

Customary owners

Indigenous fishermenof Fiji will soon beable to claimownership rights totheir customaryfishing grounds orqoliqoli. Fiji’s Cabinethas recentlyapproved thedrafting of newlegislation to bringthis into effect. TheCabinet says that thedecision honours along-standing requestfrom the GreatCouncil of Chiefs andon therecommendation ofthe Prime Ministerand Minister forFijian Affairs.

Until now, theFijians’ customaryrights of usage oftheir qoliqoli havebeen provided for inthe Fisheries Act. Theownership rights tothese areas are vestedin the State under theCrown Lands Act.

The Cabinet has beenquick to reassureother communities inFiji that their rights ofaccess to the watersand fisheries willcontinue to berespected.Commercial fishingactivities will stillneed to have a licenceto continue.

Pay, no pay

The Government ofKiribati has agreed

on a revised workingcontract as well asnew wages forKiribati seamenemployed on Germanships. The seamenwill now enjoy thesame ratings as theirGerman counterparts.

The agreement also

has a financialbenefits componentthat will provide aidin the event ofaccidents and deaths.Those seamen whowork on board shipsplying in a war zonewill now get 100 percent of their salariesas bonus.

Meanwhile, Kiribatiseamen employed onKorean fishingvessels are sore thatthey have not beenpaid salaries sinceJune. Following theKiribati government’stakeover of themanagement of theseamen’semploymentconditions aboard theKorean ships, thefamilies of theseamen wereexpecting theremittances to bepaid regularly. TheKiribati governmentis said to beinvestigating thematter.


'11ie strong, unstO!J!Jering 6reeze a60untfetfso, tliat sf;:y antfairseemetfVast out6e{(ying sails; tIie whofe worUf600metf6ef0re tIiewind. Mujffetf in thefu(( morning figrit, tIie inviswfe sun wason6; f::!wwn 6g the sprwtfintensity ofIUs proa; where IUs6agonet rags movetfon in stad;{. 'Ern6fazonings, as ofcrownetf'1!a6gfoniJJn K:Jngs antfqueens, reignetfoVer even;triing. '11ie seawas as acnu;wfe ofmo(tengoUl, thot 6u66fing6; feaps with. (;gritantf fiwt.

-from Mo6y 'Di£{by Herman Melville

lesF Is an Inlernatlonal HGOwor1dng on issues 1hal concemflshworkers the WOf1d over. II isin status with the ElXlnOmic andSocial Council of the UN and Ison LO'S Special Ust of NonGovemmentallntemaOOnal Organizations. II also has I..JaisonStalUs I'r'ith F.t.O. R~efed InGeneva, lCSf has offices InChemal, India and Brussels,~. AJ aglobal ne\'worll; 0/community organl18rs,teachtrs, technicians, rltsearchers and scientists, lCSFS

tclivities encnmpass rnormril'lg and /asla/eIl, exdlanglland tralnng, ca~ an:lIICIlon, as wei as lXlmrmlica·bons..$AloIlJ(lAA REPORT lnvlllISlXltICti:1Ulion ¥Ill responses.CorTespolldEll'll:::fl sI'loUd be actlhssed to" 0Iennai otIce.

The opn:InS and positionsaxpmsed i'I .. artides aretI105e fA lhe aufxn CUIOIln'ltdand do no! necessIItt ..sen! Ihe oIIbII views fA lCSF

SIoIoI.ov. REPORT can now be accessed UI an home Pl9l onthe WOIkl Wille Web athlIp:IIwww.i:sl'JIllt

Published bySebastian Mathew lor

Inlernational CoIectiYe In Support of FlShworkers27 Co/Iege Road, Chenoa) 600 006, India

TIt!ephone (91) 44·827 5303 Facsimile (91) 44-825 4457E·mail: [email protected]

ICSF Brussels Office:65 Rut du Mkfii, B-HXIO 8russ&Is, Belgium

Telephone (32) 2- 5131565 Facsimile (32) 2-513 7343E·maH; gilietpOskypro.be

Edited bySNI..O'LI. Editorial

DesIgned bysalish Babu

eo.MI\-ogtJes 00 /he Besch by Kwame MotI

Photographs courtesy ofSwapan NayaItfo.m.oa(, NO, SebastiorI Mathew

Brian O'Rion:lan, Jotvl KLrien

Additional news courtesy ofUN', RelAeB. ffA, FishFc6

Printed at~ and Corrl*l'f Pvt lid" Chemai

SAIUIfIA IIQ'QIIT No. 24 Deoerrtler 1999RlR l.MTEII CR:UATUl ON.Y

Documents

INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIVE IN SUPPORT OF FISHWORKERS · Paradeep is also the biggest fishing port in Orissa. Along with Chandipur-on-Sea in Balasore district, it is the base for all