World Swordfish fisheries : an analysis of Swordfish fisheries, market trends, and trade patterns past-present-future / prepared by The Office of Science and Technology

252 Pages·1997·10.9 MB·English

by  United States. National Marine Fisheries Service. Office of Science and Technology

C
55.13/2:
NMFS-F/SPO-24/V.2
WORLD SWORDFISH FISHERIES
Volume
II.
Africa and the Middle East
U.S. Department ofCommerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Marine Fisheries Service
Thisvolumeshouldbecitedas: WilliamB. Folsom. AfricaandtheMiddleEast-SwordfishFisheries. Publishedin:
"WorldSwordfishFisheries: AnAnalysisofSwordfishFisheries, MarketTrends,andTradePatterns, Past-Present-
Future. VolumeII." PreparedbytheOfficeofScienceandTechnology,NationalMarineFisheriesService, NOAA,
U.S. DepartmentofCommerce,SilverSpring, Maryland, 1997.
Preparedby:
TheOfficeofScienceandTechnology
NationalMarineFisheriesService,NOAA
U.S. DepartmentofCommerce
1315East-WestHighway
SilverSpring,MD20910-3225
TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
WORLD SWORDFISH FISHERIES
An Analysis ofSwordfish Fisheries, Market Trends,
and Trade Patterns
Past-Present-Future
Pennsy
LI
Volume
II. FEB 2 4 1998
Africa and the Middle East DUo.Sc.unDepiositoryopy
Prepared by
TheOffice ofScience and Technology
William B. Folsom
November 1997
NOAATech. Memo.NMFS-F/SPO-24
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National MarineFisheriesService
SilverSpring,Maryland

PREFACE
The DivisionofInternationalScienceandTechnology, NationalMarineFisheriesService, nolongerhasan
AfricaandMiddleEastDeskOfficer. Asaresult,thisreportdoesnotcontainthein-depthanalysisprovidedintheother
regionalreports. Theauthor,however,servedasU.S. RegionalFisheriesAttachetoAfricafrom 1975-78andvisited
manyofthecountriesexaminedinthereportandwasabletoprovidesomebackgroundinformationaboutlocalfisheries.
TheDivisionofInternationalScienceandTechnologyhashistoricallymaintainedextensivefilesonAfricanfisheries.
Theauthorhasattemptedtoprovideinformationaboutworldswordfishfishingoperationsinafactualformat.
Insomeinstances,however,thiscanbeverycomplicated. In1991,forexample,threeEuropean-designed,Japanese-style
freezerlonglinerswerebuiltintheAstillerosGondanSAshipyardsatFigueras,Spain. ThevesselsincludedtheAl-Shafq,
theAl-Nasim, andtheZarqaAl. Theownerofthevessels,PecheurOverseas, Inc. operatedoutofofficesinPireaus,
Greece, London, England,andtheCanaryIslands. ThevesselswereflaggedinLiberia,butbasedinTripoli, Libya.
They were tobeoperatedby acrewofJapaneseofficers, and Europeanengineers anddeckhands fromthird world
countries. ThevesselswereexpectedtofishacrosstheAUanticOceanfromthecoastofWestAfricatoBrazilduring
annualtunamigrationsandthenbackacrosstheAUanticOceantowardSouthAfrica. Thevesselswerealsoexpected
tofishfortunaintheMediterranean. ItwaslaterreportedthatallthreevesselswerereflaggedinPanamashortlyafter
theywereflaggedinLiberia.Theauthorassumesthattheselonglinersarecatchingswordfisheswhichareprobablybeing
exportedtoEuropeanand/orAsianmarkets.
Thissurveydependsheavilyonunconfirmedpressreportsfrommanyofthecountriesinvolved. TheNational
MarineFisheriesService(NMFS)doesnotcertifytheaccuracyofthesereportsnordoestheirselectionreflecttheofficial
viewoftheU.S.Government. TheauthorisawareofmanymissingdocumentsintheNMFSfileswhichmighthaveshed
additionallightonthissubject. Unfortunately,shiftingnationalprioritieshaveresultedinacutbackintheAfricaand
Middle Easternareas and NMFS files are notcurrent. The authorencourages individuals or firms with additional
informationtowritetotheauthorattheaddressprovidedinthisreport.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TheauthorwishestoexpresshisspecialappreciationtoRichardB. Stoneforhis interestand support inthis
project. Mr.Stonehasworkedtirelesslytosupportmanagementprogramsfortunasandbillfishformanyyearsandwas
instrumentalinpromotingprogramstomanageandprotectswordfishresourcesonaglobalbasis. Heretiredfromthe
NationalMarineFisheriesService(NMFS)onJanuary3, 1996,aftermanyyearsofdedicatedservicetotheGovernment
andthefishingindustry.
Dr.RebeccaJ.Lentcontributedhertimeandknowledgebyreviewingeachsectionandofferingherinsightand
guidance.DeanSwanson, Paul Niemeier,andKimberlyBlankenbekerintheInternational FisheriesDivision,Officeof
SustainableFisheriesinNMFS,werealsoextremelyhelpfulinreadingthisdocumentandprovidingconstructiveadvice.
RachelHustedandNinaLoewingeroftheOfficeofInternationalSciencebothgavethisreportafinal,carefulproofing
whichhelpeduncovermanysmallerrors. SpecialthanksareduetoSarahA. McLaughlinwhowasinstrumental inthe
preparationandthefinalreviewofthisreport. TheauthoralsowishestothankLarrySneadandBrianHallmanatthe
OfficeofMarineConservation(OES/OCM)attheDepartmentofStateforreviewingandprovidingStateDepartment
clearanceforthedocument. A. Srour,Morocco'srepresentativetotheInternationalCommissionfortheConservation
ofAtlanticTunas(ICCAT)andtheirleadingswordfishscientist,reviewedthesectiondealingwithMorocco'sswordfish
fisheries. AndrewI.L. Payne,whorepresentsthegovernmentofSouthAfricaatICCATmeetingsandMrs. JoelleRow
oftheBroadbillFoundationbothreviewedthesectiononSouthAfrica'sswordfishfisheriesandprovidedinformationused
inthatreport. ScottSmullenandGordonJ. Helmproofreadthefinaldraftandgaveclearanceforpublicationonbehalf
oftheNationalOceanicandAtmosphericAdministration(NOAA).
SpecialacknowledgmentisprovidedtoWilliamE. Martin, DeputyAssistantSecretaryforInternationalAffairs
intheOfficeofthe AssistantSecretaryand DeputyAdministratorofNOAA forhispersonal efforts toconserveand
manageinternationalstocksofswordfishintheAtlanticOceanasUnitedStatesCommissionertoICCAT. Theworkof
otherU.S. CommissionersatICCATandthosescientistsandmanagerswhoassistinthiseffortarerecognized. The
authoralsowishestoacknowledgethehelpfulassistanceofotherinternationalscientistsandmanagerswhoworkwithin
theICCATorganizationorthroughotherinternationalbodiestoregulateandmanageworld-wideresourcesofswordfish.

NOTES
The author used primarily statistical data collected by ICCAT in Madrid and the Food and Agriculture
Organization(FAO)ofthe UnitedNations inRome. Unfortunately, those data are notalways consistentand some
discrepanciesexist. ICCATandFAOdatafrequentlydonotagreewithinformationsuppliedbyvariouscountries. In
addition,ICCATandFAOdataarefrequenUyupdated,sothatdatareportedinonestatisticalreportmaynotagreewith
dataprovidedinmorerecentpublications. Theauthorusedpressclippingsreportinglandingsofswordfishbycountries
whoselandingstatisticsshow "nolandings" inbothICCATandFAOcatchstatistics. Inotherareas, theauthorused
importstatisticsprovidedbytheEuropeanUnion(EU)todocumentshipmentsofswordfishfromcountriesthatdonot
reportharvestingswordfish. Theauthorbelievesthattheseinstancesarerare,buttheydosuggestthatreadersshould
allowformodestadjustmentstofigurescitedinthereport.
Theauthorattemptedtoprovidethereaderwiththelatestavailabledata. Initially,thisreportwaswrittenusing
1994data.However,adecisionwasmadetouse 1995data(albeitpartiallyincomplete)afterthisreportwascompleted.
Some dataaccurately reflects 1995data, including UnitedStatesand EU import statistics. Informationprovided in
ICCAT,ReportoftheStandingCommitteeonResearchandStatistics (SCRS),TenthSpecialMeetingoftheCommission,
San Sebastian, Spain, November22 to 29, 1996, COM/95/26, Madrid, Spain, 1996, contained importantupdates.
However, thisreportdidnotincludeabreakdownbytypesoffishinggearand, insomecases,didnotincludeactual
harvestsofswordfishbysomecountries. Readerswillhavetorefertofinalreportstoobtainthefinal 1995figures.
InaccuratestatisticsarefrequentlyaproblemencounteredindealingwithmanyAfricancountries. Limited
fundingfortrainedstatisticians,limitedbudgetsforpublications,poorroadstodistantlandingpointsalonghundredsof
kilometers(km)ofbeaches,andotherfactorsresultinfragmentaryreportsandsometimesslowpublication. Information
aboutexportsandimportsarealsodifficulttoobtain.
One importantareaofomissionistheoperationofflag-of-conveniencevessels; thatis, vessels flaggedina
country without the resources necessary to enforce proper reporting and management procedures. These flag-of-
convenience vessels operate inwatersthroughoutthe worldandsimplydonot reporttheirharvests, thus making it
difficultforfisherymanagersaroundtheworldtotracktheactualstatusofdifferentstocksoffish.
Thereisworldwideconcernovertheuseofdriftnetsbecauseoftheindiscriminateharvestingcapacityofthese
nets. Theuseofhighseasdriftnets-stretchingmanykm-ledtoaUNresolutionlimitingtheuseofpelagicdriftnets
to2.5kmininternationalwaters. Driftnetstypicallyconsistofpanelsmeasuring50meters(m)inlengththatarelinked
togethertoformlongnets. InmanypartsofAfrica,fishermenstilluse"driftnets,"butthesedriftnetstypicallyareanifa-
anifadriftnetsthatrangefrom90to350minlength. Thustheterm"driftnet" mightbemisunderstoodbythecasual
reader. West Africanfishermentypically fish in small, woodencanoes which would quickly sink ifthe fishermen
attemptedtoretrieveanetthatstretchedmuchmorethan350m. InNorthAfrica, some fishermenalsousedriftnets
(calledfiletmaillantinFrench). ThefiletmaillantwasdevelopedforFrenchalbacorefishermenandconsistsofpanels
of50-mofnettingthatislinkedtogethertoformalongnet. MostNorthAfricanvesselsarelargerthantheWestAfrican
canoesandcanhandledriftnetsupto2.5kminlength. Thosewithlargerpowerblockscanhandlelongernets. Most
North African states have adopted legislation limiting the size ofdriftnets used by their fishermen to 2.5 km and
complianceappearstobethenorm.