Full speed ahead: 2020 is a pivotal year for the ocean

Tony Long 

Global Fishing Watch CEO Tony Long looks back at 2019 and sets a course for 2020

From five or ten years out, making sustainability commitments for the end of a decade is a seductive proposition for governments and sectors of all varieties. This is certainly true in the maritime world.

Yet on the threshold of the new decade, it’s clear we’re on a collision course with reality. As 2019 closes, we’re fast approaching key deadlines for ocean governance and conservation, and the general consensus is that we’re going to miss the majority of the targets we’ve set.

We cannot effectively tackle poverty, deliver inclusive and sustainable development, or reverse nature loss without safeguarding oceans, yet we’re nowhere near meeting these targets. Despite clear reaffirmation by Heads of States in 2017 at the first UN Ocean Conference – during a session I was honoured to moderate – many indicators of ocean health reveal a worsening crisis.

The Global Assessment from IPBES in May, for example, confirmed that about a third of the world’s fisheries are overfished, and most of the rest, to capacity; while best estimates suggest around 20% of the global catch is likely illegal. Added to this, the recent IPCC report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate reveals marine heatwaves, rising seas, dying corals and vanishing ice will all be devastating for people, infrastructure and nature.

All is not lost

There’s no doubt we need to up our game significantly. This year, we have seen some notable developments in ocean governance, not least considerable momentum towards entry into force of the International Maritime Organization’s Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety. This should reduce risks to commercial fishing crews and help eradicate bonded labour and illegal fishing; poor working conditions at sea are often associated with illegal fishing.

Beyond this, a dramatic increase in the number of countries ratifying the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) – now 62 of which one is the EU – is significant. Under the agreement, countries can deny entry to fishing or carrier vessels suspected of IUU fishing, effectively shutting down their route to market. Properly implemented, it is game-changing. Cooperation between states, especially information-sharing about all vessels – such as their registration, ownership and rights to fish so that a vessel turned away from one port cannot slip into the next – is integral to the Agreement and key to its effectiveness; and will ultimately depend on ratification and resolute implementation by key port states and large economies like China.

States have an opportunity to continue this momentum by implementing these policies throughout 2020. Doing so will demonstrate their commitment to effective ocean governance and support the management of their commercial fleets.

Year of opportunity

The year ahead is full of opportunity to capitalise on these gains, precipitate political will and build momentum for a step change in ocean governance and delivering SDG 14.

The UN will finalise text for a new high seas biodiversity treaty under the Law of the Sea in April – imperative for ending impunity in the open ocean; Portugal will host the second UN Ocean Conference in June; Palau will host Our Ocean in August; and the UN Biodiversity and Climate COPs in October and November respectively will each include a strong focus on marine-based solutions to nature loss and climate change.

A task akin to preventing all crime, ending IUU fishing is manifestly the most difficult part of achieving SDG 14 – but at Global Fishing Watch, we are well-placed to help deliver.

For the PSMA to succeed in tackling IUU, traceability is key – the ability to trace the origin of all fish so that any port inspector, and ultimately a buyer, trader or a consumer, can avoid stolen goods.

By setting clear principles of transparency, vessel behaviour will improve. Critically, a focus on ports means engaging with vessels based on their level of compliance rather than their non-compliance, and questioning and inspecting those that lack evidence of good behaviour or a sufficiently clear history of activity.

This approach enhances enforcement by allowing countries to then place limited at-sea or airborne assets in the right place at the right time to act on suspicious activity and unauthorized vessels in their waters.

For example, Global Fishing Watch data and analysis was used by the US Coast Guard during a patrol in the North Pacific and helped produce a threefold increase in vessel boardings and an eightfold increase in identified violations compared to the previous patrol. And in cooperation with Indonesian and Panamanian authorities, we supported efforts coordinated by INTERPOL to apprehend the MV NIKA, a notorious rogue vessel wanted in several jurisdictions which has changed its name and switched flags seven times since 2006.

By enabling transparency, we are having an impact on the water by empowering government and industry to make informed decisions about fisheries management, and helping shore up this critical part of the global commons.

Just add data

Transparency itself relies on the provision and sharing of data. Several countries are now following Indonesia and Peru’s lead and making vessel-tracking data publicly available through Global Fishing Watch.

In October, Panama published its vessel-tracking data revealing its international fishing fleet of about 150 vessels, along with about 200 carrier vessels flagged to Panama which receive catch at sea and then transfer to port – a major step towards achieving full transparency of their fishing fleet.