Kingman Reef. (Photo Credit: Joann94024)

Obama wants to protect oceans and combat illegal fisheries

UNITED STATES
Thursday, June 19, 2014, 03:10 (GMT + 9)

A proposal of the United States Government to create the world's largest marine sanctuary could mean the ban on commercial fishing, mining and oil exploration in a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

And this initiative is added to President Barak Obama's call for federal agencies to work together in the development of a comprehensive programme to combat seafood product fraud and keep illegal fish outside the US market.

The Conservation Group Oceana welcomed these announcements, made at the global “Our Ocean” conference hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry.

"We can protect our oceans for future generations," Obama said in a brief video address to the international ocean summit at the US State Department.

And the US president added: “Like Presidents Clinton and Bush before me I am going to use my authority as president to protect some of our most precious marine landscapes, just like we do for mountains and rivers and forests.”

The marine sanctuary under consideration would vastly expand the areas protected around the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which was originally established by George Bush.

The area, around seven uninhabited islands and atolls under US control, contains some of the most pristine marine environments in the world, the White House said in a statement.

After watching Obama´s video, the actor Leonardo DiCaprio told the summit he would donate an additional USD 7 million over the next two years to “meaningful” ocean protection. The actor had earlier given about USD 2 million to the Oceana conservation group.

News sources reported that Obama would decide on the final geographic scope of the protection zone after consulting scientists, conservation experts, and fishing interests and is now considering expanding one of those areas, near Wake Island and six other uninhabited atolls.

According to the White House, Obama was also convening a task force to fight unreported and illegal fishing and to work on coming up with a comprehensive strategy to end pirate fishing by the end of 2014.

“Fishing that is ‘IUU’ -- illegal, unreported, and unregulated -- continues to undermine the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries and fish stocks, both in the United States and around the world," Obama wrote in a memorandum.

“The black market costs industry some USD 10-23 billion every year,” Obama said, "weakening profitability for legally caught seafood, fueling illegal trafficking operations, and undermining economic opportunity for legitimate fishermen in the United States and around the world."

Since scientists believe as much as a third of the wild-caught seafood sold in US is landed by illegal fishing trawlers, undermining efforts to sustainably manage stocks, conservation groups praised Obama's move, as well as his proposals for tracking seafood, The Guardian informed.

The Pew Charitable Trusts estimated the move could potentially expand the area Bush protected by a factor of nine to some 780,000 sq miles and that expanding other sanctuaries designated by Bush, such as the Northern Mariana Islands, would increase the area to 1.5m sq miles.

Oceana said the creation of task force was “a historic step forward” to stop illegal fishing and seafood fraud.

“Tracking where, when and how our seafood is caught, and ensuring that this basic information follows the product through each step in the supply chain, will help to eliminate seafood fraud and the illegal fishing it can disguise,” the group said in a statement.

Other environmental groups praised the action on illegal fishing, but urged Congress to implement a treaty that would put identification numbers on all fishing vessels and curb landings of illegal fish catches.

“As one of the top seafood importers in the world, the US has a responsibility to ensure that every fish bought in our stores, markets, and restaurants is fully traceable to where it was legally caught,” the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said.

The announcements from the White House were intended to spur action from government officials, business leaders and environmental groups attending the ocean summit.

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