Abstract
The Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Living Resources in the South Pacific Ocean recently entered into force. The new South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) that it creates will face key challenges in the conservation and management of critical commercial fish stocks in the region. Among the most important species under management is the Orange Roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus). The SPRFMO regime was designed to avoid, or at least lessen, some of the major difficulties experienced by other RFMOs around the world. One of its features is a stricter standard for utilizing the objection procedure in the decision-making of the organization. The Orange Roughy is harvested by the destructive bottom-trawling method which poses a significant threat to South Pacific seamounts. The status of the Orange Roughy, and the protection of these seamounts, will likely be a barometer of SPRFMO success. The SPRFMO may provide an improved model for decision-making and organizational effectiveness in commercial fisheries on the high seas.
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Notes
New Zealand Forest and Bird (Jack Mackerel), at http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/publications/-best-fish-guide-/jack-mackerel (accessed June 21, 2011). Although the Jack Mackerel is the premier commercial species under the SPRFMO, its status often receives less attention from NGOs than the Orange Roughy. The weakening status of the Jack Mackerel, however, is now noted with increasing frequency.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch (Orange Roughy), at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=14 (accessed June 21, 2011). The Monterey Bay Aquarium maintains lists of sustainable and unsustainable seafood which consumers may use to guide their choices.
Reclaiming their Heritage, Far Eastern Economic Review, Sept. 15, 1988; 141, 37 ABI/INFORM Global, p. 36. The realization by Maori of rights to fisheries and land was largely celebrated in New Zealand society.
Eloise Gibson, The Seas are Dying and NZ Not Helping: Expert, New Zealand Herald, Feb. 26, 2010, available at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/print.cfm?objectid=10628546 (accessed July 6, 2011) (highlighting shortcomings in New Zealand’s marine conservation strategies, including the Orange Roughy fishery).
Bill Moore, NZ Fishing Boss Calls for Action: Talley Launches Verbal Attack on Green Activism, The Nelson Mail, May 24, 2011, page 1 (highlighting the economic potential of Maori fisheries and rejecting actions by conservation groups to limit it).
Sylvia Earle, If the Sea is in Trouble, We are All in Trouble, The Independent, June 21, 2011, Page 2 (world-renown advocate for marine conservation Sylvia Earle emphasizes the human impact on the oceans and the potential consequences).
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Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Fulbright New Zealand and Waikato University Law School for its generous support of this research. Much of this research was completed when the author was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Waikato University Law School in 2010. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
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Schiffman, H.S. The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO): an improved model of decision-making for fisheries conservation?. J Environ Stud Sci 3, 209–216 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-013-0111-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-013-0111-6