A meeting on fisheries in the South Pacific opens with criticism of New Zealand in Ecuador

Quito, Jan. 29 (EFE) areas.

According to pledges adopted at last year's SPIRFMO meeting, only 30% of fisheries management areas in the South Pacific should be dewatered, warned in a report the Marine Conservation Consortium (DSCC), a coalition of 118 organizations advocating for the health and diversity of life in deep waters.

“By withdrawing from the implementation of this deep sea conservation measure, New Zealand has made significant global progress in marine conservation this decade,” the DSCC delegation leader said. Sprfmo, Duncan Currie.

“We call on all countries attending this year's South Pacific Fisheries Meeting to maintain their conservation goals, respect their commitments to the UN and refuse to accept New Zealand's behaviour,” he added.

The Consortium of Marine Conservation Organizations states that “New Zealand is the only country in South Pacific waters that continues to practice bottom trawling and is one of the few countries that continues to use this type of destructive gear in ecosystems that are vulnerable in international waters. .

This fishing method involves dragging very heavy nets along the surface of the seabed, causing significant damage to marine life and destroying entire populations of species.

“There have been several incidents of over a tonne of coral being dredged in a single haul, and in one instance, up to five tonnes were dredged in a single haul by a New Zealand vessel in the area,” DSCC recalled.

The coalition said “the world community is uniting around a new High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters, but New Zealand appears committed to one last attack in South Pacific waters”.

“It is critical that all countries protect these fragile deep-sea ecosystems and the rich web of life they support to permanently close them to bottom trawling by 2025,” said Carly Thomas, DSCC's Head of Campaign for Pacific Oceans.

Environmentalists fear New Zealand's new government will introduce a proposal that would allow the capture of “the equivalent of three years' worth of orange ruff (Hoplostethus atlanticus) in a single year, a slow-growing species that can live for more than 200 years.

“No other international fishery has caught such a large amount of fish, and even the New Zealand proposal acknowledges that this could increase the impact on vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems,” the DSCC lamented.

Sprfmo's twelfth meeting will be held until Friday, February 2, in the coastal Ecuadorian city of Manda, with discussions on reports, projects and collaborations and contributions of working groups and members of the organization. EFE

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