HEARD ISLAND AND MCDONALD ISLANDS EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE 2009/10 IUU CATCH ESTIMATE FOR PATAGONIAN TOOTHFISH

Heard Island and McDonald Islands Exclusive Economic Zone

2009-10 IUU Catch Estimate for Patagonian Toothfish

Australia’s Southern Ocean patrol program, combined with its on-the-water cooperation with France, continues to prove a significant deterrent to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Australia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (HIMI). There have been no apprehensions for illegal fishing in the HIMI EEZ since the Maya V in January 2004. The most recent apprehension in the neighbouring French EEZ off Kerguelen Island was the Apache in June 2004.

Despite the deterrence to IUU fishing in the HIMI region, the Australian patrols have observed IUU fishing vessels active in the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) area during the 2009-10 fishing season. Two vessels observed are included in the CCAMLR IUU Vessel Lists for past IUU fishing activities. Details of these sightings have been previously communicated to the Secretariat.

Noting the IUU vessels were sighted operating in waters outside the HIMI EEZ by Australia’s Southern Ocean patrols, brief forays into the EEZ during the 2009-10 fishing season, while unlikely, cannot be fully discounted. The following IUU estimate for the HIMI EEZ makes an allowance for this possibility.

The estimated IUU catch of Patagonian toothfish in the period 1 December 2009 to 30 November 2010 in the HIMI EEZ portion of Statistical Area 58.5.2 is 0 – 96 tonnes.