The NGO Greenpeace warned, in a report published Thursday, of the “shocking failures” in the management of fisheries in international waters, causing, according to it, significant overfishing of fish populations.
To counter this “ocean crisis”, the environmental defense organization calls on States to ratify the Treaty on the Protection of the High Seas and Marine Biodiversity (known as BBNJ), adopted in June 2023 at the United Nations in New York.
On the eve of the opening, Friday in San José (Costa Rica), of the “Immersed in change” conference on ocean protection, Greenpeace looked at the role of regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), international organizations responsible for managing one or more fish stocks in the international waters of a given ocean.
These bodies – such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) – “have failed in their mandate to regulate fishing, with an average of 55% of stocks collapsed or overexploited” in fish populations managed by RFMOs, according to the report written by two researchers.
This report attributes these “failures” to the mode of governance of these organizations, whose decisions are taken by consensus and where a single State can therefore block “vital measures”, to the influence of large companies creating “conflicts of interest » and their inability to follow scientific advice.
According to the report, 95% of fish biodiversity in the high seas is not assessed by RFMOs.
“Since the birth of RFMOs 70 years ago, the health of the ocean has declined relentlessly, as they have failed to prevent overfishing, the destruction of sensitive species and vulnerable marine ecosystems”, underlines Greenpeace in a Press release.
Conversely, by allowing the creation of marine protected areas by a majority of three-quarters of the signatory states, the high seas protection treaty “offers hope,” believes Laura Meller, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic.
If it comes into force in 2025, “it will protect 30% of the oceans by 2030, offering a chance for aquatic life to recover after decades of mismanagement by RFMOs,” she adds. in the press release.
At the beginning of June, seven states notified the UN that they had ratified the high seas protection treaty. It will enter into force 120 days after the 60th ratification.
