victoriaboater
Active Member
Interesting article here on our west coast .
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/28/illegal-driftnet.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/28/illegal-driftnet.html
Drift Netting
- Thread starter victoriaboater
- Start date
Red Monster
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the
information. I hope something is done to stop this illeagal fishing. It's crazy.
information. I hope something is done to stop this illeagal fishing. It's crazy.
victoriaboater
Active Member
Cant seem to fix my typo? M.E.?
B
Brokenrod
Guest
90 boats, holy s*it!!!! I wonder want happens when these goofs are busted?
F
fah cups
Guest
My opion!!! Sink Them!!!! No more drift nets done !
Fah Cups
Fah Cups
W
waddy
Guest
could this perhaps have a small affect on the "missing salmon" or low stock numbers? thats a ton of boats (90) for using drift nets!
S
SUDS
Guest
Just read that the initial report was wrong and it was only 10 boats. Even 1 would still be too many.
Mornin Chubby
Member
I read they identified 10 of the 90 photographed, they only check once a year? I think one could say alot of fish are taken in this manner.
Dogbreath
Well-Known Member
From http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=03136001-4227-43eb-b611-4ded86280217&k=7822
Operation Driftnet catches 10 illegal boats
Sandra McCulloch,
Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007 Article tools
VICTORIA -- A multinational operation on the high seas involving a Canadian Forces aircraft from CFB Comox has turned up photographic evidence of 10 vessels involved in driftnet fishing, a practice banned by the United Nations.
Ten vessels rigged for illegal fishing is "a lot" but only half the number nabbed last year, Capt. Jeff Manney, a reserve force public affairs spokesman, said Friday. In 2006, 20 vessels were spotted in international waters with illegal nets. Driftnet fishing was banned in 1993.
"And I just heard this morning that two other boats have been seized and escorted to a Chinese frigate," said Manney.
Those two vessels were Chinese, he said, "but I can't say they're all Chinese. The crews are all from mixed nationalities. It's really hard to say where the boats are from."
The fishing grounds, located 5,000 kilometres off the West Coast, "certainly seemed a busy place," said Manney in a telephone interview.
The vessels could be prosecuted in their home countries for illegal fishing, or in any country they pass through once they leave international waters, said Manney.
Driftnets - floating nets up to 40 kilometres in length -- target salmon, albacore tuna and flying squid, but often trap other species, including seabirds and marine mammals. Nets lost at sea continue to kill fish and marine mammals for years.
Driftnet fishing is seasonal, based on the right sea-surface temperature in an appropriate area.
The driftnets have reflectors that are visible to the boat's crew and any low-flying aircraft.
This year, two U.S. Coast Guard vessels are in the area searching for the suspicious vessels to board them and take action. In other years, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has handed over the photographs to diplomats of pertinent countries to follow through and press charges.
"It's a very long process," said Manney.
Five countries -- Canada, the U.S., Russia, Japan and Korea -- embarked this month on Operation Driftnet, a two-week annual mission to scour two million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean and photograph and board vessels suspected of taking part in driftnet fishing.
A long-range Aurora aircraft from the 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron at Comox swooped down over suspect vessels and photographed their identifying markings, said Manney. The Aurora crew detected one group of three vessels all rigged for driftnet fishing.
In apparent response to the Aurora overhead, the crews manoeuvred the vessels in an attempt to hide the ship's markings.
"One sailor was spotted dumping papers overboard," said Manney.
Radio calls to the ships also went unanswered, he said, although the Aurora's crew intercepted a single, brief transmission from one: "We are leaving."
Manney said the enforcement action is cutting driftnet fishing drastically.
"DFO has told us there's been about a 90 per cent decline in this sort of fishing since the moratorium has been in place," he said.
"There are five very powerful nations making sure it stops. If we can stop these pirates from pillaging this part of the ocean, we think we're actually accomplishing something."
He noted a boat spotted by an Aurora in June was apparently just seized by Russian authorities. "That boat had been sailing around since June and then passed through Russian waters. They spotted it and they seized it. In the past, we've seen some pretty serious punishment from authorities like that."
Victoria Times Colonist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/09/28/illegal-driftnet.html
Canada-U.S. patrol finds 10 suspected drift netters in North Pacific
Ships tried to cover markings that identified their boats, Canadian official says
A Canada-U.S. aerial patrol identified 10 vessels suspected of illegally fishing with drift nets in the international waters of the North Pacific in September, Canadian Forces officials say.
Fisheries officers from Canada and the United States spent two weeks this month aboard a Canadian Forces aircraft, scouring millions of square kilometres over the North Pacific, Maj. Chris Bard told CBC News.
A Canadian Forces plane captured images of 90 international fishing vessels suspected of breaking a 15-year-old United Nations ban on using drift nets.
(Canadian Forces)
Cameras on the Aurora long-range patrol plane captured images of 90 fishing vessels, which fit the profile of ships that routinely break the 15-year-old United Nations ban on using drift nets in international waters, said Bard, the commander for the high-seas drift-net patrol.
Ten of those vessels were observed "either rigged for or engaging in high seas drift-net fishing," public affairs officer Capt. Jeff Manney of the Canadian Air Reserve told CBCNews.ca. One was boarded and escorted to a Chinese frigate, he said.
Bard said it was obvious to him what was going on after the Aurora long-range aircraft swooped down on the 10 ships.
"Once we made our presence known, they all became very evasive — tried to confuse us by manoeuvring, making our photo passes very difficult," he said.
When the plane began monitoring one Chinese vessel, the active radio chatter they had been listening to suddenly became "dead silent," Bard said.
"As soon as we showed up, the radios became dead silent. The only thing we heard — or our translator heard — was, 'We're getting out of here.' "
The Chinese fishing vessel Lu Rong Yu was boarded by a United States Coast Guard cutter and found to have illegal fish in the hold.
(Canadian Forces)
The Aurora crew found that in some cases, ships could be spotted dumping material overboard and trying to cover markings that identified their boats, Bard said.
"These vessels typically sail with few or obscured markings, so without actually boarding them, it's difficult to ascertain their nationality," Manney said. "These vessels target species such as salmon, albacore and neon flying squid."
In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly put a moratorium on drift-net fishing, because the mesh nets, as long as 50 kilometres, indiscriminately trap a wide range of fish species, marine mammals and sea turtles.
'The radios became dead silent. The only thing we heard … was, "We're getting out of here." '
—Maj. Chris Bard
The Chinese government takes the problem seriously, and has its own enforcement officers on board U.S. Coast Guard ships, said Ted McDormand, an ocean law expert from the University of Victoria.
"China's had this memorandum with the United States since 1993, which came right after the General Assembly resolution on the moratorium, so China's stepped up here to be a reasonably responsible fishing state," he said.
Using the Canadian surveillance, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a Chinese trawler, Lu Rong Yu, and boarded it. It was found to have illegal fish in the hold and was turned over to Chinese authorities.
International surveillance of the waters is a collaborative effort with Canada, Russia, Japan, Korea and the U.S. The seasonal surveillance mission over the North Pacific has been conducted every year since the 1992 UN moratorium.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's Good News and Bad News here.
Good News</u> is that we know the Canadian Forces patrols are having an effect and that other nations are playing their part.
Bad News</u> for people in BC is that some wil become confused as to what the actual challenges are in terms of conserving marine resources.
It's all too easy to say "Oh other people are stealing the fish" when the fact is that there are fewer and fewer fish to steal </u> and the reasons that fish counts are down have little to do with minor league thievery.
Also there's no proof that those pirates are targeting Salmon at all, they could be in too warm a water altogether.
Operation Driftnet catches 10 illegal boats
Sandra McCulloch,
Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007 Article tools
VICTORIA -- A multinational operation on the high seas involving a Canadian Forces aircraft from CFB Comox has turned up photographic evidence of 10 vessels involved in driftnet fishing, a practice banned by the United Nations.
Ten vessels rigged for illegal fishing is "a lot" but only half the number nabbed last year, Capt. Jeff Manney, a reserve force public affairs spokesman, said Friday. In 2006, 20 vessels were spotted in international waters with illegal nets. Driftnet fishing was banned in 1993.
"And I just heard this morning that two other boats have been seized and escorted to a Chinese frigate," said Manney.
Those two vessels were Chinese, he said, "but I can't say they're all Chinese. The crews are all from mixed nationalities. It's really hard to say where the boats are from."
The fishing grounds, located 5,000 kilometres off the West Coast, "certainly seemed a busy place," said Manney in a telephone interview.
The vessels could be prosecuted in their home countries for illegal fishing, or in any country they pass through once they leave international waters, said Manney.
Driftnets - floating nets up to 40 kilometres in length -- target salmon, albacore tuna and flying squid, but often trap other species, including seabirds and marine mammals. Nets lost at sea continue to kill fish and marine mammals for years.
Driftnet fishing is seasonal, based on the right sea-surface temperature in an appropriate area.
The driftnets have reflectors that are visible to the boat's crew and any low-flying aircraft.
This year, two U.S. Coast Guard vessels are in the area searching for the suspicious vessels to board them and take action. In other years, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has handed over the photographs to diplomats of pertinent countries to follow through and press charges.
"It's a very long process," said Manney.
Five countries -- Canada, the U.S., Russia, Japan and Korea -- embarked this month on Operation Driftnet, a two-week annual mission to scour two million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean and photograph and board vessels suspected of taking part in driftnet fishing.
A long-range Aurora aircraft from the 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron at Comox swooped down over suspect vessels and photographed their identifying markings, said Manney. The Aurora crew detected one group of three vessels all rigged for driftnet fishing.
In apparent response to the Aurora overhead, the crews manoeuvred the vessels in an attempt to hide the ship's markings.
"One sailor was spotted dumping papers overboard," said Manney.
Radio calls to the ships also went unanswered, he said, although the Aurora's crew intercepted a single, brief transmission from one: "We are leaving."
Manney said the enforcement action is cutting driftnet fishing drastically.
"DFO has told us there's been about a 90 per cent decline in this sort of fishing since the moratorium has been in place," he said.
"There are five very powerful nations making sure it stops. If we can stop these pirates from pillaging this part of the ocean, we think we're actually accomplishing something."
He noted a boat spotted by an Aurora in June was apparently just seized by Russian authorities. "That boat had been sailing around since June and then passed through Russian waters. They spotted it and they seized it. In the past, we've seen some pretty serious punishment from authorities like that."
Victoria Times Colonist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/09/28/illegal-driftnet.html
Canada-U.S. patrol finds 10 suspected drift netters in North Pacific
Ships tried to cover markings that identified their boats, Canadian official says
A Canada-U.S. aerial patrol identified 10 vessels suspected of illegally fishing with drift nets in the international waters of the North Pacific in September, Canadian Forces officials say.
Fisheries officers from Canada and the United States spent two weeks this month aboard a Canadian Forces aircraft, scouring millions of square kilometres over the North Pacific, Maj. Chris Bard told CBC News.
A Canadian Forces plane captured images of 90 international fishing vessels suspected of breaking a 15-year-old United Nations ban on using drift nets.
(Canadian Forces)
Cameras on the Aurora long-range patrol plane captured images of 90 fishing vessels, which fit the profile of ships that routinely break the 15-year-old United Nations ban on using drift nets in international waters, said Bard, the commander for the high-seas drift-net patrol.
Ten of those vessels were observed "either rigged for or engaging in high seas drift-net fishing," public affairs officer Capt. Jeff Manney of the Canadian Air Reserve told CBCNews.ca. One was boarded and escorted to a Chinese frigate, he said.
Bard said it was obvious to him what was going on after the Aurora long-range aircraft swooped down on the 10 ships.
"Once we made our presence known, they all became very evasive — tried to confuse us by manoeuvring, making our photo passes very difficult," he said.
When the plane began monitoring one Chinese vessel, the active radio chatter they had been listening to suddenly became "dead silent," Bard said.
"As soon as we showed up, the radios became dead silent. The only thing we heard — or our translator heard — was, 'We're getting out of here.' "
The Chinese fishing vessel Lu Rong Yu was boarded by a United States Coast Guard cutter and found to have illegal fish in the hold.
(Canadian Forces)
The Aurora crew found that in some cases, ships could be spotted dumping material overboard and trying to cover markings that identified their boats, Bard said.
"These vessels typically sail with few or obscured markings, so without actually boarding them, it's difficult to ascertain their nationality," Manney said. "These vessels target species such as salmon, albacore and neon flying squid."
In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly put a moratorium on drift-net fishing, because the mesh nets, as long as 50 kilometres, indiscriminately trap a wide range of fish species, marine mammals and sea turtles.
'The radios became dead silent. The only thing we heard … was, "We're getting out of here." '
—Maj. Chris Bard
The Chinese government takes the problem seriously, and has its own enforcement officers on board U.S. Coast Guard ships, said Ted McDormand, an ocean law expert from the University of Victoria.
"China's had this memorandum with the United States since 1993, which came right after the General Assembly resolution on the moratorium, so China's stepped up here to be a reasonably responsible fishing state," he said.
Using the Canadian surveillance, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a Chinese trawler, Lu Rong Yu, and boarded it. It was found to have illegal fish in the hold and was turned over to Chinese authorities.
International surveillance of the waters is a collaborative effort with Canada, Russia, Japan, Korea and the U.S. The seasonal surveillance mission over the North Pacific has been conducted every year since the 1992 UN moratorium.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's Good News and Bad News here.
Good News</u> is that we know the Canadian Forces patrols are having an effect and that other nations are playing their part.
Bad News</u> for people in BC is that some wil become confused as to what the actual challenges are in terms of conserving marine resources.
It's all too easy to say "Oh other people are stealing the fish" when the fact is that there are fewer and fewer fish to steal </u> and the reasons that fish counts are down have little to do with minor league thievery.
Also there's no proof that those pirates are targeting Salmon at all, they could be in too warm a water altogether.
islanderguy
Member
Looks like we're sending out the Air force! Maybe a little target practice?
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/....html?id=73ca06b3-83f0-410a-b99c-278e46158933
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/....html?id=73ca06b3-83f0-410a-b99c-278e46158933
islanderguy
Member
Looks like we're sending out the Air force! Maybe a little target practice?
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/....html?id=73ca06b3-83f0-410a-b99c-278e46158933
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/....html?id=73ca06b3-83f0-410a-b99c-278e46158933
tyeegalore
Active Member
It sounds great that the AirForce is working to catch these boats (in this case many of the 10 were from China)and then the Coast Guard escorts them to their home country to be dealt with, but there is no mention of what,if anything, happens to the bastards. If there is little or no consequence to what they are doing it certainly isn't going to go away, case in point the Grow Ops in BC. Does anyone know what is done to them?
tyeegalore
Active Member
It sounds great that the AirForce is working to catch these boats (in this case many of the 10 were from China)and then the Coast Guard escorts them to their home country to be dealt with, but there is no mention of what,if anything, happens to the bastards. If there is little or no consequence to what they are doing it certainly isn't going to go away, case in point the Grow Ops in BC. Does anyone know what is done to them?
Hoochiebob
Well-Known Member
For those who think the impact of driftnets is not substantial,here is a good read on the subject
http://www.american.edu/TED/esp/japan-driftnets.htm
The environmental impact section is particularily disconcerting
http://www.american.edu/TED/esp/japan-driftnets.htm
The environmental impact section is particularily disconcerting
Hoochiebob
Well-Known Member
For those who think the impact of driftnets is not substantial,here is a good read on the subject
http://www.american.edu/TED/esp/japan-driftnets.htm
The environmental impact section is particularily disconcerting
http://www.american.edu/TED/esp/japan-driftnets.htm
The environmental impact section is particularily disconcerting
mr killer
Active Member
I was going to say target practice, then I read up and saw Islanderguy said the same thing, great minds think alike? I'd love to send these a holes to the bottom, notice they aren't fishing off the US coast, they know we won't do anything about it, that's why they are there. sink em
mr killer
Active Member
I was going to say target practice, then I read up and saw Islanderguy said the same thing, great minds think alike? I'd love to send these a holes to the bottom, notice they aren't fishing off the US coast, they know we won't do anything about it, that's why they are there. sink em
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