NZ key to saving Ross Sea and Antarctic toothfish

NZ key to saving Ross Sea and Antarctic toothfish

New Zealand must stop fishing for Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea says Greenpeace.

In a international report released today the organization says the Ross Sea is in critical need of protection as a marine reserve and should be off limits to all fishing and industrial activity.

Referred to as “the last ocean” due to its relative health compared to other areas of the planet’s oceans this status is now in jeopardy as a result of the fishing industry’s intrusion into these mostly unexploited waters (1).

Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans Campaigner Karli Thomas said New Zealand was one of the first countries to start fishing in the Ross Sea in 1996 and had paved the way for industrial exploitation.

“New Zealand led the charge into the Ross Sea and now New Zealand must lead the charge out,” she said.

Each year four industrial longline vessels owned by three New Zealand companies operate in the Ross Sea during the toothfish season which runs from December to February. The majority of their catch is exported.

Thomas said the global fishing industry’s “mining mentality”, which had wiped out 90 per cent of large predatory fish in the world’s oceans, was forcing fishing fleets into the most remote waters on the planet.

“Antarctic toothfish are the largest fish in the Southern Ocean and are slow growing and late to reach maturity, factors that make the species very highly vulnerable to fishing.”

The Greenpeace report titled “Saving the last ocean: How seafood markets can help to save Antarctica’s Ross Sea” (2) details the destructive fishing practices used to catch toothfish and exposes how the fishing industry is engaged in a “gold-rush” for toothfish in the remote waters of the Southern Ocean.

It calls on seafood buyers, restaurant owners and chefs to get out of the trade of unsustainable toothfish. Antarctic scientists have also appealed to consumers to stop purchasing toothfish products regardless of eco-label certification (3).

In recent years a number of North American supermarkets have stopped selling toothfish based on sustainability concerns. As of next month only one major Canadian supermarket chain, Sobeys, will continue to stock the species after others removed the species from sale.

To help ensure the long-term sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems, Greenpeace advocates the creation of a worldwide network of marine reserves to cover 40 per cent of the world's oceans and fisheries management that is based on a precautionary, ecosystem-based approach.

The report can be found here

ENDS

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