Threats from Illegal Fishing

Before I start my presentation on the very important subject of illegal fishing, I do want to congratulate Dr Meryl Williams on her appointment to the Chair of the Board of Management of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and President of its Policy Advisory Council. I am very pleased to note that for the first time we have in the position someone who does have a very distinguished background in fisheries. I also am delighted to have someone there who lived in the same small country town as I did in Queensland. Fish, fisheries, fisheries management, oceans and seas are particularly important for a country like Australia where our marine jurisdiction is about twice the size of the nation’s landmass. One of the major differences between the Australian fisheries and those of many other counties is that our marine jurisdictions don’t enjoy the same level of productivity as many others around the world, due to the lack of significant upwelling of cold water. Thankfully, however, we do have one of the world’s best fisheries management regimes. Fish is a very important, healthy food throughout the world, and particularly in those parts that are developing or facing severe food deprivation. Forty percent of the world’s population, or about 2.4 billion people, rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. As this conference clearly illustrates, global fish stocks are under threat, and so too is food security for these 2.4 billion people. The threat to the future of fish as food comes from many sources, but one of the most insidious is illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing — IUU fishing — on an industrial scale. This principally occurs on the high seas and in the remoter oceans of the world, where the coastal state simply does not have the resources, the money or the political will to address the problem. In our sphere of influence, however, IUU fishing is being attacked. Our fight against it focuses on marine border incursions.