SCRIPT PACIFIC FISHERIES DOCUMENTARY
(aerial shot over islands, cross fade to fishing scene in Fiji - people hitting the water with poles)
For as far back as anyone here can remember, fishing has been good in the Pacific.
The ocean - almost a second home to the island people - has always provided food and income.
(excerpt from interview with Opeti Nakabutu - fisherman in Fiji)
"We are all familiar with the sea, there will always be fish. [..] The greatest benefit is that it provides for the subsistence of those who live in the village, some have paid jobs, some don’t."
(continuation of Fiji fishing scene - then cross fade to scene with father and son fishing in Kiribati lagoon - archive)
Fishing is important in the Pacific, as important as life itself.
(excerpt from interview with Atera Ari - fisherman in Kiribati - intercut with the fishing scene)
"I always tookl my sons and grandchildren out to sea with me from the age of 6. [..] I took them with me so they would get used to the ocean and would learn to love its smell."
[..]
"Before it was very easy. It would take you two hours to fish. But these days you sometimes spend the whole day and you will only catch five fish."
Fishermen in the Pacific have always taken pride in their catches. But right across the region,their stories have become increasingly pessimistic.
(cross fade to reef fishing scene in Laura lagoon - Marshall Islands)
(excerpt from interview with Kolej - fisherman from Marshall Islands)
"All this 10 years, I have noticed a big decline in the fish catch when I go fishing. In fact I spend more time fishing unlike before."
(scene with tuna onloading in harbour Marshall Islands)
It is not only the small scale fishermen who are experiencing reduced catches. Commercial fishing operations in the Pacific confirm the downward trend.
(excerpt from interview with Nelson Arnold - Trimarine company in FSM)
"The size of the fish is getting smaller. The size of fish that is being brought in by the purse seiners is less and took more days to catch. You know, things like that."
(fishing scene with woman in canoe - Solomon Islands)
Stories of declining catches and dwindling fish stocks may be new to the Pacific, but for decades fishermen around the world have been warning of an impending disaster.
(scene with huge catches from New Zealand hoki fisheries)
The world´s oceans are in crisis. The demise of global fisheries has reached alarming proportions because of over exploitation. According to recent reports from the United Nations, seventy percent of the earth's fish stocks are either fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted.
(montage of shots of industrial trawlers and footage from Mauritania)
The causes seem easy to list, yet difficult to control. Too many fishing vessels are simply chasing too few fish. Rules and regulations have failed to take effect, or have not even been established, resulting in a free for all on many fishing grounds. As a consequence, fisheries are collapsing, marine ecosystems are destroyed and livelihoods are lost.
Growing populations have lead to an ever-increasing demand for fish. In an attempt to feed this insatiable appetite, the fleets of both the industrialised and developing countries have become bigger and bigger. Now that stocks in the most easily accessible regions are nearly depleted, the race is on to catch the ocean´s last remaining fish.
(shots of bottom trawlers in Tasman Sea)
Fishing vessels now venture much further away from the coasts and their home ports. With nets even reaching into the deep sea, they operate in the international waters and the polar regions where laws are either non-existent or unenforcable.
And in this chase for the last remaining fish, fleets from all over the world have set their hungry eyes on what is considered to be the planet´s last abundant fishing ground: the Pacific.
(animation - wide map of Pacific ocean with arrows moving to its center and zoom in)
(scene shot onboard of longliner where crew is hauling in a large tuna - archive)
The Pacific ocean, once considered too remote for many fishing fleets has now become the world´s most important area for tuna fisheries. Fifty percent of all the planet´s tuna now originate here. Every year, 2 million tonnes of fish are taken from the Pacific to feed insatiable foreign markets.
(cut to Japanese fish market in Tokyo where tuna is being traded - archive)
This situation results in a serious depletion of Pacific fish stocks, but also deprives the Pacific island states of a much-needed source of income. Foreign fishing operations make more than 2 billion dollars a year from their catches in the Pacific, but the island nations receive a mere 5 percent of the profits.
(cross back to local fishing market in Suva, Fiji, where skipjack is sold)
While fish that once populated Pacific waters are being sold thousands of kilometres away, local fishermen are watching their catches dwindle and their earnings drop. This situation directly jeopardises their livelihoods and the futures of their families..
(cross fade to people eating sushi in Amsterdam restaurant)
Tuna has become a huge international industry. Affluent Western nations have exhausted stocks closer to home and so now fly their tuna in from half way across the planet. Sushi is a luxury for those who can afford it.
(cross fade from people paying bill to money exchanged over the counter in fish and chips shop in Honiara - Solomon Islands)
But in the Pacific, tuna means life. In most of the Pacific island states, fish is the only resource available and tuna is the most precious fish of all. Far from being a luxury, it is a crucial part of everyday life.
(people in the Solomon Islands fishing from canoes with large ships in the background)
Pacific fishermen are painfully aware of the causes for their own declining catches. They see the foreign vessels sailing on the horizon or fishing on the outer edge of the reefs, but they are powerless to stop them.
(excerpt from interview with Kolej - fisherman in the Marshall Islands)
"I want to share my concerns with other fishermen around the world that it´s really difficult and hard to catch fish these days and we realise that the population of the fish is declining due to all these foreign fishing vessels that are fishing in our water."
(scene with foreign long liner fishing out at sea)
Nowadays, vessels from the so-called Distant Water Fishing Nations which include countries such as Japan, Korea, China, the European Union and the US can be found everywhere in the Pacific Ocean. They are fishing here either with or without a licence.
Long lining is a commonly used method, accounting for eight percent of Pacific tuna catches.
(cross fade to computer animation of longlining)
A long liner lays fishing lines of up to a hundred kilometres in length with up to three thousand baited hooks hanging at different depths.
(cut back to long lining scene at sea)
This method results in catching a good number of tuna, but also attracts and kills a variety of other marine life such as turtles, sea birds and sharks.
(animation cross fades to underwater shot of turtle caught on longline - archive, this shot then dissolves into shot of longliner at dusk)
In the race to catch as many fish as possible, the crew often work in shifts to allow operations to continue around the clock.
(cross fade to scene with foreign purse seiner fishing out at sea)
But more than two thirds of Pacific tuna are caught through a method known as purse seining.
(cross fade to computer animation of purse seining)
Once a school of fish is found, a powerful small boat is launched off the big fishing vessel. It then circles the school with a net, returning to the large seiner.
(cut back to purse seiner, having closed the net and scooping up the tuna)
The net is drawn tight or 'pursed' at the base and hauled alongside, where a scoop simply empties out the large net. This method catches an entire school of tuna, along with all the undersized and unwanted fish that may have swimming along with it.
(cut to a drifting log - a natural FAD - shot underwater)
For the most part, the ocean is a vast blue desert. Floating objects, such as this log, provide a home and shelter to many fish and may develop into mini ecosystems. Commercial fish species such as tuna will also gather here. And this in turn will attract fishing vessels.
(shot of radio buoy drifting on sea surface, then underwater shots of man made FAD)
But not everything that drifts here is natural. A radio buoy floating on the sea surface indicates the position of a man-made device for attracting fish, an ingenuous construction of logs and ropes.
(helicopter lands on deck of purse seiner)
In their search for schools of tuna, fishing vessels will home in on the radio buoys they have set out earlier. They even use helicopters to scout the surface for schools of fish and floating objects. With this level of technology, no school of tuna is safe from the fishing nets. And because both natural floating objects and man-made devices attract mainly young fish, purse seiners often catch many undersized tuna here.
(excerpt from interview with Javier P Jordan - helicopter pilot)
"It is different now, they even catch the small ones, below four pounds, four kilos I am sorry. Especially the boats from the Asia Pacific they are gonna catch any fish. Sometimes we throw away a lot of small size you know."
(underwater shots of whales scooping up fish from the water around the net and sharks caught inside the net)
The wasteful practice of catching and then throwing many undersized fish critically undermines the ability of fish populations to replenish themselves.
But the purse seiners also catch a lot of unwanted fish and other marine life that is wasted as so-called bycatch.
(excerpt from interview with Javier P Jordan - helicopter pilot)
"Well, in the ocean, in the international waters, I don't think there is a law. When there is fish there is money, everybody wants to earn money, for the company and for everybody, because the crew are on tights, if they got no fish, they got no money."
(back to scene of purse seiner bringing in catch plus underwater shots of the scene)
Out here on the open ocean, there is often no authority to monitor the vessels´ catches. And the prospect of easy money is a powerful incentive to not play by the rules..
(scene with dodgy fishing vessel shot near Kiribati longlining, reeling in tuna)
Pirate fishing vessels operate across the globe and have also found their way to the Pacific. These ships sail under what are known as 'Flags of Convenience' of such countries as Belize, Georgia and Panama, making it easy to avoid rules and regulations. Because they fish without a licence, the Pacific states receive no compensation for these illegal catches - while the pirates make fat profits elsewhere.
(scene from same longliner killing and finning a blue shark, then dumping it overboard )
Not only do the pirate fishing vessels ignore laws and regulations. They have no respect for the ocean´s ecosystem, plundering whatever marine life they can find. Catching sharks simply to strip them of their valuable fins is outlawed in large areas of the Pacific, but the law is routinely ignored by the pirates.
(scene showing transhipping of tuna catches - archive)
Often, pirate fishing ships will offload their cargo onto other ships on the high seas, out of sight of Pacific authorities. The large catches pirates take seriously contribute to the depletion of fish stocks. And because these catches go unreported, pirate fishing crucially undermines sustainable fisheries management.
One way to deal with pirate fishing is by patrols that many of the Pacific Island states carry out in their national waters. But the loophole of the high seas and the sheer size of the ocean make it nearly impossible to patrol the Pacific effectively. And pirates have more than one way to get off the hook.
(excerpt from interview with Villiame Naipoto – Commander of the Fijian Navy)
"The battle that we fight, if I use that term, is a battle against multinational companies. They’ve got a lot of resources, they got the best lawyers, a lot of money. [..] You have to have the support mechanisms from government to support us the people that go to the front line and do these jobs."
(gleaming new patrol boats, tied up idlelessly in Honiara harbour)
But Pacific governments often lack the money to pay for petrol and spare parts and in reality, many of the patrol boats rarely leave their harbour.
(scene with foreign fishing vessels in Suva harbour)
But governments in the Pacific are not always doing the right thing when it comes to fisheries. Apart from the pirate fishing problem, fish stocks are already being over-exploited by licensed operators. Lured by the prospect of big business and foreign revenues, governments often hand out too many licences with little consideration for sustainability. Corrupt government practices mean that people often get no benefit from the income from such fishing licences.
(scene with Abraham Baenesia - director of Solomon Islands Development Trust - working at desk - then excerpt from his interview)
"Politicians who are decision makers, are involved in corruption so negotiations about fishing industry and other industries normally end up in under table dealings which is a corruptive practice."
(scene local fish market in Honiara)
Attacked on two fronts by loth licensed and illegal fishing operations, tuna stocks on the open sea are already showing signs of depletion. And the Pacific Islanders who depend on tuna, are beginning to feel the effects.
(excerpt from interview with Abraham Baenesiat)
"Well, if the tuna stock is collapsed, then the people will collapse. You go to any of the markets here, especially the fish market and what you'll find is people catching tuna everyday and selling it at the market. [..] People buy tuna to take home which is part of their daily diet for protein."
(scene with people catching fish just in front of Honiara fish market)
And the problem is coming closer and closer to shore. Pacific fishermen may depend on tuna for their income but nearly all people depend on reef fish for their daily food. Now these too are becoming less abundant.
(scene with catcher boats sailing out, then bait fishing boats setting out nets at night time - Tradewind archive)
These days, it no longer only the foreign vessels that are fishing with industrial methods. Most Pacific nations now also have their own fishing fleets often catching their tuna by pole and line. This fishing method depends on baitfish which are caught on coral reefs. By night, these baitfish are lured into the nets of local fishermen in huge numbers. They themselves will be used to capture tuna the next morning.
(underwater shots of large schools of reef fish)
But the baitfish are crucial to the health of reef ecosystems and their removal may have serious consequences. Now that tuna and other migratory fish are becoming more scarce, local fishermen will come to rely more on reef fishing. This in turn puts more pressure on these delicate coral reef ecosystems. If the reef fish stocks also collapse, the effects on people will be disastrous.
(excerpt from interview with Florrie Alalo - Regional Rights Resource Team - Solomon Islands, intercut with scene in local store)
"This is what is going to happen when the fish run out. Because now like they changed their style of eating to buy tin foods from the shops, they buy rice and they´ve left, you know they buy corned beef, noodle, they eat bread [...] You know, their livelihood they have to change it around. In stead of eating fresh fish, they now rely on tin food which is not healthy and it affects their health."
(people fixing nets on land - Fiji)
Collapsing fish stocks and dramatic changes in traditional fishing methods inevitably lead to changes in island lifestyles. In some cases, the influx of foreign fishing vessels may also have more direct social impacts.
(excerpt from interview with Janeta Clarke - National Catholic Association - Kiribati, intercut with scene from Hong Heng and crew leaning over side of boat)
"There are times that there are shortages of fish, because of the big fishing boats. But not only that, we have also experienced the change in attitude in our youth. [...] I hate to say it, but it´s really happening, like prostitution, you know, especially with the crew. And the main impacts that we are really afraid of, about our health."
(portrait type shots of people in Kribati - archive)
Foreign fishing operations are not depleting marine resources, but now also directly affect the livelihoods and culture of the island peoples. The question now becomes: what can be done to reverse these negative trends?
(underwater "wildlife" shots of tuna - archive)
Many important fish species such as tuna migrate over large distances and take no notice of man-made boundaries. And because fishing often takes place in international waters, co-operation between nations is crucially important for effective fisheries management.
(introductory shots of FFA sign, then scene of purse seining out at sea and Feleti Teo)
Some progress has already been made in the Pacific. The Forum Fisheries Agency was established in 1979, to unite management efforts by the Pacific Island nations. Since then, the FFA has created a "positive register" of ships that do adhere to the rules. It has also put into place a Vessel Monitoring System that allows fisheries authorities to track fishing vessels across the ocean.
(introduction shots from Feleti Teo - director of the Forum Fisheries Agency - and this excerpt from his interview)
"The role that is played by the agency is to co-ordinate and provide policy advice to our member countries to enhance their capability to be able to monitor their own economic zones.
[..] There is a huge gap that is left unregulated at the moment and this includes the pockets of high seas."
(purse seining vessel on high seas)
The new Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has been created to fill this gap. After years of deliberations, the commission hopes to unite Pacific island states to regulate fisheries on highly migratory fish such as tuna..
(visual illustration ICATT - research in archive)
Promising as it is, the idea is far from new. As far back as 1966, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna was created. ICATT brought together more than twenty countries to regulate fishing for bluefin and other tuna species in the Atlantic Ocean. But its efforts to manage these fisheries sustainably have so far proved unsuccessful and Atlantic tuna stocks are in a critical state of overexploitation.
(Don Aldous - Canadian fisheries consultant walks into building then this excerpt from his interview)
Consultant Don Aldous has been closely involved with setting up the new Pacific tuna comission.
"I have spent twelve frustrating years at ICATT [..] and ehm [..] I haven't seen a great deal of progress over those twelve years in addressing the major issues with regard to conservation of the fish stocks and it's mainly because of the difficult stand that some members take to protect their own industry."
(scene with purse seining and underwater shots on the open ocean)
The new commission may be effective in closing the legal loopholes surrounding the high seas and help in the struggle against pirate fishing. But perhaps more importantly, Pacific governments must also seriously reduce the fishing effort of licensed fishing vessels.
(excerpt from interview with Don Aldous intercut with scene of purse seiner at sea)
"It is obviously not sustainable to have a large fleet of superseiners continuing to fish in the Western Pacific, no. It is not sustainable. What is controllable is to have a small fleet that will have some seiners, fishing under strict licensing guidelines, under strict reporting practices [..] that may be sustainable."
(excerpt from interview with Don Aldous intercut with scenes of purse seining and longlining at sea)
"In order to really improve the situation here in the Pacific, the Pacific island nations have got to do a couple of things. One is to learn from other commissions. [..] Another is they have to continue, they don't have to learn, to continue to work together."
(long lining scene at sea, then cut to scene at IUU seminar with Don Aldous chairing the discussion. Florrie Alalo stands up to make a comment)
Working together, sustainable and transparent governance and strict enforcement. All of these are vital to save the Pacific´s fisheries. But working together means involving more than politicians and policy makers. The people of the Pacific must be empowered to protect what is rightfully theirs. This will be an important challenge for the new tuna convention.
(excerpt from interview with Florrie Alalo - RRR Solomon Islands)
"I am sure when you go and talk in the rural areas, they don't even know what that convention is all about. [..] And if there is something like, you know the law of the sea, the people would be 100 percent interested in it, or even more than a 100 percent interested in it because it is one of the resources that they are very concerned with."
(excerpt from interview with Kolej - fisherman from Marshall Islands)
"I think the solution now is for Pacific governments to work together and firmly protect the resources of these islands. As individual persons it is very impossible."
(slow montage of following beauty shots: shots heron & hermit crab / beach / sunset shots / palms at night with moon etc)
There is an old story in the Pacific about a heron and a hermit crab who once crossed paths. Watching its crawling over the sand, the heron laughed at the hermit crab for being so slow. Insulted, the hermit crab challenged the bird for a race. The night before the contest - knowing that the heron would be faster - the hermit crab asked all his family members for help. And the next day, during the race, each time the heron reached a check point, one of the hermit crabs was already there, tricking the heron into believing that his challenger had beaten him. And so the hermit crab won by being smart enough to count on collaboration.
(scene with people in canoes over sea teeming with fish)
What worked for the hermit crab, may very well work for the people in the Pacific. With threats to their future livelihood coming from all sides, they now need to forget their differences and work together. Only then will the Pacific Islanders be able to protect their fisheries for future generations.
ENDS
(aerial shot over islands, cross fade to fishing scene in Fiji - people hitting the water with poles)
For as far back as anyone here can remember, fishing has been good in the Pacific.
The ocean - almost a second home to the island people - has always provided food and income.
(excerpt from interview with Opeti Nakabutu - fisherman in Fiji)
"We are all familiar with the sea, there will always be fish. [..] The greatest benefit is that it provides for the subsistence of those who live in the village, some have paid jobs, some don’t."
(continuation of Fiji fishing scene - then cross fade to scene with father and son fishing in Kiribati lagoon - archive)
Fishing is important in the Pacific, as important as life itself.
(excerpt from interview with Atera Ari - fisherman in Kiribati - intercut with the fishing scene)
"I always tookl my sons and grandchildren out to sea with me from the age of 6. [..] I took them with me so they would get used to the ocean and would learn to love its smell."
[..]
"Before it was very easy. It would take you two hours to fish. But these days you sometimes spend the whole day and you will only catch five fish."
Fishermen in the Pacific have always taken pride in their catches. But right across the region,their stories have become increasingly pessimistic.
(cross fade to reef fishing scene in Laura lagoon - Marshall Islands)
(excerpt from interview with Kolej - fisherman from Marshall Islands)
"All this 10 years, I have noticed a big decline in the fish catch when I go fishing. In fact I spend more time fishing unlike before."
(scene with tuna onloading in harbour Marshall Islands)
It is not only the small scale fishermen who are experiencing reduced catches. Commercial fishing operations in the Pacific confirm the downward trend.
(excerpt from interview with Nelson Arnold - Trimarine company in FSM)
"The size of the fish is getting smaller. The size of fish that is being brought in by the purse seiners is less and took more days to catch. You know, things like that."
(fishing scene with woman in canoe - Solomon Islands)
Stories of declining catches and dwindling fish stocks may be new to the Pacific, but for decades fishermen around the world have been warning of an impending disaster.
(scene with huge catches from New Zealand hoki fisheries)
The world´s oceans are in crisis. The demise of global fisheries has reached alarming proportions because of over exploitation. According to recent reports from the United Nations, seventy percent of the earth's fish stocks are either fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted.
(montage of shots of industrial trawlers and footage from Mauritania)
The causes seem easy to list, yet difficult to control. Too many fishing vessels are simply chasing too few fish. Rules and regulations have failed to take effect, or have not even been established, resulting in a free for all on many fishing grounds. As a consequence, fisheries are collapsing, marine ecosystems are destroyed and livelihoods are lost.
Growing populations have lead to an ever-increasing demand for fish. In an attempt to feed this insatiable appetite, the fleets of both the industrialised and developing countries have become bigger and bigger. Now that stocks in the most easily accessible regions are nearly depleted, the race is on to catch the ocean´s last remaining fish.
(shots of bottom trawlers in Tasman Sea)
Fishing vessels now venture much further away from the coasts and their home ports. With nets even reaching into the deep sea, they operate in the international waters and the polar regions where laws are either non-existent or unenforcable.
And in this chase for the last remaining fish, fleets from all over the world have set their hungry eyes on what is considered to be the planet´s last abundant fishing ground: the Pacific.
(animation - wide map of Pacific ocean with arrows moving to its center and zoom in)
(scene shot onboard of longliner where crew is hauling in a large tuna - archive)
The Pacific ocean, once considered too remote for many fishing fleets has now become the world´s most important area for tuna fisheries. Fifty percent of all the planet´s tuna now originate here. Every year, 2 million tonnes of fish are taken from the Pacific to feed insatiable foreign markets.
(cut to Japanese fish market in Tokyo where tuna is being traded - archive)
This situation results in a serious depletion of Pacific fish stocks, but also deprives the Pacific island states of a much-needed source of income. Foreign fishing operations make more than 2 billion dollars a year from their catches in the Pacific, but the island nations receive a mere 5 percent of the profits.
(cross back to local fishing market in Suva, Fiji, where skipjack is sold)
While fish that once populated Pacific waters are being sold thousands of kilometres away, local fishermen are watching their catches dwindle and their earnings drop. This situation directly jeopardises their livelihoods and the futures of their families..
(cross fade to people eating sushi in Amsterdam restaurant)
Tuna has become a huge international industry. Affluent Western nations have exhausted stocks closer to home and so now fly their tuna in from half way across the planet. Sushi is a luxury for those who can afford it.
(cross fade from people paying bill to money exchanged over the counter in fish and chips shop in Honiara - Solomon Islands)
But in the Pacific, tuna means life. In most of the Pacific island states, fish is the only resource available and tuna is the most precious fish of all. Far from being a luxury, it is a crucial part of everyday life.
(people in the Solomon Islands fishing from canoes with large ships in the background)
Pacific fishermen are painfully aware of the causes for their own declining catches. They see the foreign vessels sailing on the horizon or fishing on the outer edge of the reefs, but they are powerless to stop them.
(excerpt from interview with Kolej - fisherman in the Marshall Islands)
"I want to share my concerns with other fishermen around the world that it´s really difficult and hard to catch fish these days and we realise that the population of the fish is declining due to all these foreign fishing vessels that are fishing in our water."
(scene with foreign long liner fishing out at sea)
Nowadays, vessels from the so-called Distant Water Fishing Nations which include countries such as Japan, Korea, China, the European Union and the US can be found everywhere in the Pacific Ocean. They are fishing here either with or without a licence.
Long lining is a commonly used method, accounting for eight percent of Pacific tuna catches.
(cross fade to computer animation of longlining)
A long liner lays fishing lines of up to a hundred kilometres in length with up to three thousand baited hooks hanging at different depths.
(cut back to long lining scene at sea)
This method results in catching a good number of tuna, but also attracts and kills a variety of other marine life such as turtles, sea birds and sharks.
(animation cross fades to underwater shot of turtle caught on longline - archive, this shot then dissolves into shot of longliner at dusk)
In the race to catch as many fish as possible, the crew often work in shifts to allow operations to continue around the clock.
(cross fade to scene with foreign purse seiner fishing out at sea)
But more than two thirds of Pacific tuna are caught through a method known as purse seining.
(cross fade to computer animation of purse seining)
Once a school of fish is found, a powerful small boat is launched off the big fishing vessel. It then circles the school with a net, returning to the large seiner.
(cut back to purse seiner, having closed the net and scooping up the tuna)
The net is drawn tight or 'pursed' at the base and hauled alongside, where a scoop simply empties out the large net. This method catches an entire school of tuna, along with all the undersized and unwanted fish that may have swimming along with it.
(cut to a drifting log - a natural FAD - shot underwater)
For the most part, the ocean is a vast blue desert. Floating objects, such as this log, provide a home and shelter to many fish and may develop into mini ecosystems. Commercial fish species such as tuna will also gather here. And this in turn will attract fishing vessels.
(shot of radio buoy drifting on sea surface, then underwater shots of man made FAD)
But not everything that drifts here is natural. A radio buoy floating on the sea surface indicates the position of a man-made device for attracting fish, an ingenuous construction of logs and ropes.
(helicopter lands on deck of purse seiner)
In their search for schools of tuna, fishing vessels will home in on the radio buoys they have set out earlier. They even use helicopters to scout the surface for schools of fish and floating objects. With this level of technology, no school of tuna is safe from the fishing nets. And because both natural floating objects and man-made devices attract mainly young fish, purse seiners often catch many undersized tuna here.
(excerpt from interview with Javier P Jordan - helicopter pilot)
"It is different now, they even catch the small ones, below four pounds, four kilos I am sorry. Especially the boats from the Asia Pacific they are gonna catch any fish. Sometimes we throw away a lot of small size you know."
(underwater shots of whales scooping up fish from the water around the net and sharks caught inside the net)
The wasteful practice of catching and then throwing many undersized fish critically undermines the ability of fish populations to replenish themselves.
But the purse seiners also catch a lot of unwanted fish and other marine life that is wasted as so-called bycatch.
(excerpt from interview with Javier P Jordan - helicopter pilot)
"Well, in the ocean, in the international waters, I don't think there is a law. When there is fish there is money, everybody wants to earn money, for the company and for everybody, because the crew are on tights, if they got no fish, they got no money."
(back to scene of purse seiner bringing in catch plus underwater shots of the scene)
Out here on the open ocean, there is often no authority to monitor the vessels´ catches. And the prospect of easy money is a powerful incentive to not play by the rules..
(scene with dodgy fishing vessel shot near Kiribati longlining, reeling in tuna)
Pirate fishing vessels operate across the globe and have also found their way to the Pacific. These ships sail under what are known as 'Flags of Convenience' of such countries as Belize, Georgia and Panama, making it easy to avoid rules and regulations. Because they fish without a licence, the Pacific states receive no compensation for these illegal catches - while the pirates make fat profits elsewhere.
(scene from same longliner killing and finning a blue shark, then dumping it overboard )
Not only do the pirate fishing vessels ignore laws and regulations. They have no respect for the ocean´s ecosystem, plundering whatever marine life they can find. Catching sharks simply to strip them of their valuable fins is outlawed in large areas of the Pacific, but the law is routinely ignored by the pirates.
(scene showing transhipping of tuna catches - archive)
Often, pirate fishing ships will offload their cargo onto other ships on the high seas, out of sight of Pacific authorities. The large catches pirates take seriously contribute to the depletion of fish stocks. And because these catches go unreported, pirate fishing crucially undermines sustainable fisheries management.
One way to deal with pirate fishing is by patrols that many of the Pacific Island states carry out in their national waters. But the loophole of the high seas and the sheer size of the ocean make it nearly impossible to patrol the Pacific effectively. And pirates have more than one way to get off the hook.
(excerpt from interview with Villiame Naipoto – Commander of the Fijian Navy)
"The battle that we fight, if I use that term, is a battle against multinational companies. They’ve got a lot of resources, they got the best lawyers, a lot of money. [..] You have to have the support mechanisms from government to support us the people that go to the front line and do these jobs."
(gleaming new patrol boats, tied up idlelessly in Honiara harbour)
But Pacific governments often lack the money to pay for petrol and spare parts and in reality, many of the patrol boats rarely leave their harbour.
(scene with foreign fishing vessels in Suva harbour)
But governments in the Pacific are not always doing the right thing when it comes to fisheries. Apart from the pirate fishing problem, fish stocks are already being over-exploited by licensed operators. Lured by the prospect of big business and foreign revenues, governments often hand out too many licences with little consideration for sustainability. Corrupt government practices mean that people often get no benefit from the income from such fishing licences.
(scene with Abraham Baenesia - director of Solomon Islands Development Trust - working at desk - then excerpt from his interview)
"Politicians who are decision makers, are involved in corruption so negotiations about fishing industry and other industries normally end up in under table dealings which is a corruptive practice."
(scene local fish market in Honiara)
Attacked on two fronts by loth licensed and illegal fishing operations, tuna stocks on the open sea are already showing signs of depletion. And the Pacific Islanders who depend on tuna, are beginning to feel the effects.
(excerpt from interview with Abraham Baenesiat)
"Well, if the tuna stock is collapsed, then the people will collapse. You go to any of the markets here, especially the fish market and what you'll find is people catching tuna everyday and selling it at the market. [..] People buy tuna to take home which is part of their daily diet for protein."
(scene with people catching fish just in front of Honiara fish market)
And the problem is coming closer and closer to shore. Pacific fishermen may depend on tuna for their income but nearly all people depend on reef fish for their daily food. Now these too are becoming less abundant.
(scene with catcher boats sailing out, then bait fishing boats setting out nets at night time - Tradewind archive)
These days, it no longer only the foreign vessels that are fishing with industrial methods. Most Pacific nations now also have their own fishing fleets often catching their tuna by pole and line. This fishing method depends on baitfish which are caught on coral reefs. By night, these baitfish are lured into the nets of local fishermen in huge numbers. They themselves will be used to capture tuna the next morning.
(underwater shots of large schools of reef fish)
But the baitfish are crucial to the health of reef ecosystems and their removal may have serious consequences. Now that tuna and other migratory fish are becoming more scarce, local fishermen will come to rely more on reef fishing. This in turn puts more pressure on these delicate coral reef ecosystems. If the reef fish stocks also collapse, the effects on people will be disastrous.
(excerpt from interview with Florrie Alalo - Regional Rights Resource Team - Solomon Islands, intercut with scene in local store)
"This is what is going to happen when the fish run out. Because now like they changed their style of eating to buy tin foods from the shops, they buy rice and they´ve left, you know they buy corned beef, noodle, they eat bread [...] You know, their livelihood they have to change it around. In stead of eating fresh fish, they now rely on tin food which is not healthy and it affects their health."
(people fixing nets on land - Fiji)
Collapsing fish stocks and dramatic changes in traditional fishing methods inevitably lead to changes in island lifestyles. In some cases, the influx of foreign fishing vessels may also have more direct social impacts.
(excerpt from interview with Janeta Clarke - National Catholic Association - Kiribati, intercut with scene from Hong Heng and crew leaning over side of boat)
"There are times that there are shortages of fish, because of the big fishing boats. But not only that, we have also experienced the change in attitude in our youth. [...] I hate to say it, but it´s really happening, like prostitution, you know, especially with the crew. And the main impacts that we are really afraid of, about our health."
(portrait type shots of people in Kribati - archive)
Foreign fishing operations are not depleting marine resources, but now also directly affect the livelihoods and culture of the island peoples. The question now becomes: what can be done to reverse these negative trends?
(underwater "wildlife" shots of tuna - archive)
Many important fish species such as tuna migrate over large distances and take no notice of man-made boundaries. And because fishing often takes place in international waters, co-operation between nations is crucially important for effective fisheries management.
(introductory shots of FFA sign, then scene of purse seining out at sea and Feleti Teo)
Some progress has already been made in the Pacific. The Forum Fisheries Agency was established in 1979, to unite management efforts by the Pacific Island nations. Since then, the FFA has created a "positive register" of ships that do adhere to the rules. It has also put into place a Vessel Monitoring System that allows fisheries authorities to track fishing vessels across the ocean.
(introduction shots from Feleti Teo - director of the Forum Fisheries Agency - and this excerpt from his interview)
"The role that is played by the agency is to co-ordinate and provide policy advice to our member countries to enhance their capability to be able to monitor their own economic zones.
[..] There is a huge gap that is left unregulated at the moment and this includes the pockets of high seas."
(purse seining vessel on high seas)
The new Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has been created to fill this gap. After years of deliberations, the commission hopes to unite Pacific island states to regulate fisheries on highly migratory fish such as tuna..
(visual illustration ICATT - research in archive)
Promising as it is, the idea is far from new. As far back as 1966, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna was created. ICATT brought together more than twenty countries to regulate fishing for bluefin and other tuna species in the Atlantic Ocean. But its efforts to manage these fisheries sustainably have so far proved unsuccessful and Atlantic tuna stocks are in a critical state of overexploitation.
(Don Aldous - Canadian fisheries consultant walks into building then this excerpt from his interview)
Consultant Don Aldous has been closely involved with setting up the new Pacific tuna comission.
"I have spent twelve frustrating years at ICATT [..] and ehm [..] I haven't seen a great deal of progress over those twelve years in addressing the major issues with regard to conservation of the fish stocks and it's mainly because of the difficult stand that some members take to protect their own industry."
(scene with purse seining and underwater shots on the open ocean)
The new commission may be effective in closing the legal loopholes surrounding the high seas and help in the struggle against pirate fishing. But perhaps more importantly, Pacific governments must also seriously reduce the fishing effort of licensed fishing vessels.
(excerpt from interview with Don Aldous intercut with scene of purse seiner at sea)
"It is obviously not sustainable to have a large fleet of superseiners continuing to fish in the Western Pacific, no. It is not sustainable. What is controllable is to have a small fleet that will have some seiners, fishing under strict licensing guidelines, under strict reporting practices [..] that may be sustainable."
(excerpt from interview with Don Aldous intercut with scenes of purse seining and longlining at sea)
"In order to really improve the situation here in the Pacific, the Pacific island nations have got to do a couple of things. One is to learn from other commissions. [..] Another is they have to continue, they don't have to learn, to continue to work together."
(long lining scene at sea, then cut to scene at IUU seminar with Don Aldous chairing the discussion. Florrie Alalo stands up to make a comment)
Working together, sustainable and transparent governance and strict enforcement. All of these are vital to save the Pacific´s fisheries. But working together means involving more than politicians and policy makers. The people of the Pacific must be empowered to protect what is rightfully theirs. This will be an important challenge for the new tuna convention.
(excerpt from interview with Florrie Alalo - RRR Solomon Islands)
"I am sure when you go and talk in the rural areas, they don't even know what that convention is all about. [..] And if there is something like, you know the law of the sea, the people would be 100 percent interested in it, or even more than a 100 percent interested in it because it is one of the resources that they are very concerned with."
(excerpt from interview with Kolej - fisherman from Marshall Islands)
"I think the solution now is for Pacific governments to work together and firmly protect the resources of these islands. As individual persons it is very impossible."
(slow montage of following beauty shots: shots heron & hermit crab / beach / sunset shots / palms at night with moon etc)
There is an old story in the Pacific about a heron and a hermit crab who once crossed paths. Watching its crawling over the sand, the heron laughed at the hermit crab for being so slow. Insulted, the hermit crab challenged the bird for a race. The night before the contest - knowing that the heron would be faster - the hermit crab asked all his family members for help. And the next day, during the race, each time the heron reached a check point, one of the hermit crabs was already there, tricking the heron into believing that his challenger had beaten him. And so the hermit crab won by being smart enough to count on collaboration.
(scene with people in canoes over sea teeming with fish)
What worked for the hermit crab, may very well work for the people in the Pacific. With threats to their future livelihood coming from all sides, they now need to forget their differences and work together. Only then will the Pacific Islanders be able to protect their fisheries for future generations.
ENDS