Course:ECON371/UBCO2009WT1/GROUP2/Article5

Group 2

Article 5: Greenpeace calls for arrest of illegal fishing boat

Summary

Greenpeace has issued a press release calling for the arrest of the captain of a Japanese vessel caught illegally fishing in the territories of the Cook Islands. The Koyu Maru 3 was discovered illegally fishing and proof was submitted to the Japanese government. Greenpeace goes on to say that $9 billion is lost each year to pirate fishing vessels. It is estimated that 36% of total Pacific catches are caught illegally, higher than the global average of 18%. This illegal activity is making it hard to sucessfully manage fish stocks.In response Greenpeace is asking Japan to take initiative in reprimanding such actions in order to protect the tuna fishery, and Pacific ocean countries GDP relative to such markets.

Open Access Resource Problem

This issue highlights one of the biggest problems surrounding this open access resource - inability to enforce regulations. Nearly 1/5th of fish caught worldwide are caught illegally, with that number nearly double in the Pacific. One of the main issues surrounding this problem is that even when ships are caught fishing illegally (as is the case here) it is still difficult to ensure that a punishment will be handed out by either the ships home country or the region in which it was caught. Even with proof (such as photographs), Japan is still resistant to pressing charges or issuing fines. Rational behind government resistance to dole out fines or reprimand actions of illegal fishing practices are due to the contribution towards a fishing company's respective country's GDP. This scenario represents what is called a prisoners dilemma. Japan would have an incentive to issue fines and other repercussions to such illegal actions if other countries would follow suit. This is because all countries would benefit in such a circumstance, with the fisheries properly protected, stocks replenished, and a population equilibrium that allows long run sustainability. But if just one country, such as Japan, stops fishing this open access resource, other countries are slightly better off while Japan is severely worse off. Due to this dilemma, all countries choose to maintain fishing the open access resource and provide minimal to no punishment in the illegal actions of such pirating acts as the Koya Maru 3.

Enforcement on a limited budget

Many smaller nations (especially island nations) have proportionally huge sections of ocean in their jurisdiction. Unfortunately, with relatively small GDP most of these countries lack the monetary ability to effectively enforce their fishery laws. When ships are encountered fishing in these waters illegally, it is very often that they are caught by other fishermen (or in this case Greenpeace) and by the time they are reported to authorities they have fled to international waters. This creates a problem of jurisdiction and also of proof. Even after fines are collected by the mother country of the pirating vessel, it is unclear as to what proportion of that fine should go towards the country that is losing immediate finical means in loss of GDP, and what amount should be held by the issuing government in costs of legal proceedings, collecting, monitoring, and maintaining enforcement fleets and regulative measures.

Small chance of being caught + small fine = no deterrent

Illegal fishing is difficult to quantify as it can be found almost anywhere in the world, and makes no distinction between national waters and the high seas where international agreements are necessary for action. It also covers all types of fishing vessel, regardless of their registration, size or state of repair.

Illegal fishing or poaching cases by foreign nationals caught are referred to local courts as a special court fishery court has not been established. Many reasons, including language barriers, may cause it to takes months to finish all legal proceedings and the punishment has been criticized for being "too lenient" - often fishing pirates are released with small fines and it does not cause enough risk to pirates for them to discontinue fishing illegally.

The Cook Islands government has been able to use Greenpeace's evidence to formally start legal proceedings against the Koya Maru 3 and have requested that the Japanese government take action against it. The end of this process, hopefully, will be that the vessel is called back to port in Japan for further investigation, meaning one less pirate fishing vessel on the seas. Each vessel can catch hundreds of tons of tuna at a time, as well as many other species being killed as a byproduct of the catch.

Ships like the Koyu Maru 3 are literally stealing fish from Pacific islanders. People from these Pacific island nations have lived off of these waters for thousands of years, and their way of life is threatened by the depletion of Pacific fisheries. Pirate fishermen like these ones from Japan are, in addition to breaking fishery laws, are directly reducing the income of these island nations.

Promoting the protection of domestic fishermen and controlling illegal fishing are interconnected, and therefore any policies or measures geared toward overcoming problems and promoting the protection of domestic fishermen should also be integrated with policies/measures to combat illegal fishing. Legal charges, detention and severe punishment should be imposed as necessary to make this happen.

The main issue at hand here is that in order to provide incentive to stop fishing illegally, governments must increase surveillance in order to increase the risk of being caught, increase penalty levels to reduce expected returns for illegal operators, and apply trade measures to countries whose vessels are fishing illegally.

Prof's Comments

Good analysis.

Small penalty for being late.