Category Archives: High Seas

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high-stakes game of cat and mouse is playing out in the high-seas as yachts owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires try to evade seizure.

Under severe sanctions announced by the US and Europe, members of the Russian elite who have aided Putin in his invasion of Ukraine have been warned they will have assets frozen and property blocked from use.

Solaris, a superyacht owned by Roman Abramovich, yesterday hit by UK sanctions, slipped out of Barcelona port on Wednesday afternoon where it was being maintained, and headed southeast.

According to ship traffic data from Marine Traffic, the 430 million vessel was most recently tracked off the coast of Sicily as it joined a scramble of Russian-owned vessels hastily leaving European ports.

Amore Vero: French authorities have seized an 88-metre yacht linked to Russian oligarch Igor Sechin

The 458-ft yacht has several swimming pools, a helipad and an outdoor beach club. Its not even his biggest boat, an accolade that goes to the 533ft Eclipse which has a gym, a nightclub and can accommodate 62 guests and 50 crew. The Eclipse is also on the move, from the Caribbean island of St Maarten towards international waters.

Last week French authorities announced they had seized an 88-metre luxury yacht Amore Vero linked to Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, who has been sanctioned by the UK, EU and US, in the port of La Ciotat.

In Italy other Russian-owned yachts, were impounded in the countrys northern ports, while there were also claims Germany had seized the Dilbar, a 450m superyacht owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov who has also been sanctioned by all three blocs.

The super-sized Dilbar includes a 25-metre swimming pool that holds an incredible 180 m of water, the largest pool ever to have been installed on a yacht.

Authorities in the port city of Hamburg denied it had been confiscated, but Forbes has reported that its crew were fired due to US and EU sanctions.

Dilbar: a 450m superyacht owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov which has the largest pool ever to have been installed on a yacht

Meanwhile a Ukrainian mechanic in Mallorca decided to take matters in his own hands and tried to sink the 157ft Lady Anastasia, a yacht owned by the CEO of a Russian arms exporter, Alexander Mikheev, in retaliation for the invasion. Mikheev is not currently on any sanctions list.

Many oligarchs yachts are thought to have already set sail for safer places like the Carribean. Other safe spots include the Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation with no extradition treaty with the United States.

With port authorities on the lookout for luxury yacht flight risks, an army of social media users are getting involved in the search, using Marine Traffic to track vessels owned by those on the sanctions list. There is even a hashtag: # YachtWatch.

The data shows that Titan, a 76m superyacht owned by billionaire Alexander Abramov, arrived in the Maldives last week from Turkey. Like Mikheev, Abramov does not appear on the sanctions list.

The Titan: a 76m superyacht owned by steel magnate Alexander Abramov is in the Maldives

The UK authorities have not yet seized any vessels, but a Dutch cargo ship was turned away from Poole and Portsmouth this week due to concerns it might be carrying Russian-owned yachts.

Ben McInnes, harbour master at Portsmouth International Port said it had received a last-minute request to receive the ship on Wednesday afternoon.

We had been made aware that the ship had not been allowed in to Poole, as there were questions raised whether the cargo of yachts aboard were Russian owned.

On this basis, the Deo Velonte was not allowed in to Portsmouth, in line with UK legislation. According to Marine Traffic, the cargo ship then docked at Cuxhaven in Germany, though it is unclear if the cargo was unloaded.

Graceful: Putins yacht left Germany two weeks ago for Kaliningrad

The US president, Joe Biden, said last week the US was actively working to seize oligarchs assets including superyachts, luxury apartments and private jets, warning: We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.

As for what is believed to be Putins own yacht, Graceful, it left Germany two weeks ago and is now safely back in the Russian port of Kaliningrad.

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Roman Abramovichs superyachts are on the move as vessels owned by Russian elite sail away from sanctions - Evening Standard

The fishermen had ventured into the high seas for fishing on February 17 this year in an Andaman registered fishing vessel.

ByHT Correspondent, Chennai

Tamil Nadu chief minister (CM) M K Stalin on Thursday wrote to external affairs minister S Jaishankar seeking his intervention with the authorities in Indonesia and Seychelles over the arrest of fishermen.

Stalin said that five fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu and another three fishermen from Kerala were apprehended by the Indonesian Air and Sea Police on charges of entering into the Indonesian waters. They were taken to Ditpolairud Pier, Aceh, Indonesia for legal proceedings, the CM said.

The fishermen had ventured into the high seas for fishing on February 17 this year in an Andaman registered fishing vessel. He said that they learnt through the fishermen associations that 33 fishermen and three registered mechanised fishing boats had ventured out from the Cochin Harbour in Kerala on February 22.

And on March 7, they were apprehended by the Seychelles Authority for allegedly entering into Seychelles waters.

I request your personal intervention in this matter and request you to take this up with the Indonesian and Seychelles authorities so as to secure the immediate release of the fishermen and their fishing boats, Stalin said in a statement.

After the ruling DMK formed the government last May, Stalin has written at least a dozen letters to Jaishankar and to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to draw their attention to the issue of Tamil fishermen being apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy. He raised concerns over the alarming frequency with which the states fishermen were harassed, attacked and detained and has demanded their release.

It continues despite several letters having been sent from the Tamil Nadu government highlighting the escalation of such instances of harassment and arrest of our fishermen, Stalin had said in his letter to Modi on February 28. The repeated attempts by the Sri Lankan Navy to infringe on historic fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in the Palk Bay has to be permanently ended through concerted efforts by the Government of India.

BLURB On March 7, the fishermen were apprehended by the Seychelles Authority for allegedly entering into Seychelles waters

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A Russian-American woman was charged with acting as an illegal Russian agent in the United States, reports CNN. Elena Branson is suspected to have worked for the Russian government to advance Russian interests and propaganda in the U.S. for over 10 years. Prosecutors allege that Branson coordinated meetings for Russian officials to lobby U.S. politicians and businessmen and also operated pro-Russia organizations within the U.S. According to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, Branson was also charged with willfully failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, conspiring to commit visa fraud and making false statements to the FBI.

A Russian airstrike hit and severely damaged a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, writes the Wall Street Journal. Multiple peopleincluding childrenwere reportedly buried under rubble from the strike. The blast also reportedly set nearby cars ablaze and knocked down trees in the area. Images released by the office of the Mariupol mayor showed wounded individuals being evacuated from the hospital and a large bomb crater caused by the strike. On Twitter, Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video of the hospitals remnants shortly after the blast. To accompany the video Zelenskyy pleaded for other nations to help enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He wrote, People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.

Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenksa spoke out publicly to condemn Russia for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, according to the New York Times. In an open letter she referred to as her testimony from Ukraine, Zelenska called on the rest of the world to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia and raised awareness about crimes against children and the elderly amidst the fighting. She wrote, What happened just over a week ago was impossible to believe. Our country was peaceful; our cities, towns and villages were full of life, she wrote. But now, Russian military forces were engaged in the mass murder of civilians. Zelenska also echoed her husbands calls for an international military force to establish and enforce a no-fly zone of Ukraine. She said, Close the sky, and we will manage the war on the ground ourselves.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress finalized a $1.5 trillion spending package that includes emergency aid to Ukraine, reports the Washington Post. The spending package will provide massive funding increases for several critical health, science, education and defense programs in the U.S. The bipartisan package also provisions an additional $14 billion in humanitarian, military and economic assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Gas prices are rising to record levels across the United States, writes the Wall Street Journal. According to AAA, the average price of regular gasoline reached $4.065 a gallon on Monday, which is the highest price of gasoline since July 2008. The price is reportedly quickly approaching the all-time record of $4.114 per gallon. In addition to an already tight energy market due to the coronavirus pandemic and inflation, the recent soaring increases in gas prices are due to the refusal of traders, shippers and financiers to cooperate with Russian energy companies in retaliation for Russias invasion of Ukraine. The boycott of Russian oil led to the removal of millions of barrels of oil from global supplies. The prices of gasoline in the U.S. are expected to rise even more, following an executive order from President Biden banning the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal to the United States.

After talks with U.S. officials, Venezuela released at least two imprisoned Americans, according to the New York Times. Though U.S. government officials claim that the prisoner release is not related to any deal for Venezuela to restart oil sales to the U.S, the release of the two U.S. citizens from Venezeulan prisons potentially signals the mending of U.S.-Venezuela relations after the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 2019. Venezuelathe Kremlin's strongest ally in South Americacould potentially provide oil and gas to help replace Russian gas in the U.S. following President Bidens executive order banning the import of Russian energy resources.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol argued before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that former President Trump and lawyer John Eastman were directly involved in a plan to create and execute a fraud on the American public as part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, reports the New York Times. A ruling on the select committee's allegations could potentially determine the extent to which the investigative panel can access emails, correspondence and other documents of Trump lawyers. The Trump lawyers have previously argued that these materials are protected by attorney-client privilege.

President Biden signed an executive order on federal oversight of cryptocurrency, writes the Associated Press. In the order, Biden asks the Federal Reserve to determine whether the central bank should create its own cryptocurrency and also directs other federal agencies such as the Treasury Department to study how cryptocurrency affects financial stability and national security. Bidens top economic and national security advisor reported that the new executive order establishes the first comprehensive federal digital assets strategy for the United States.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Benjamin Wittess talks with Katerynaa Ukrainian law studentabout life as a Russian-speaking Ukrainian in Kharkiv before and after the Russian invasion, about getting out of Ukraine, and about being a refugee law student in an adjacent country.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast in which Gus Horwitz and Mark MacCarthy review the tech boycott that has seen companies like Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and Adobe pull their service from Russia.

Alan Z. Rozenshtein hypothesized about how the Ukraine-Russia conflict would play out if Donald Trump were still president of the United States.

MacCarthy analyzed the Open App Markets Bill that was just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Michael C. Petra discussed whether neutral states can seize belligerent merchant vessels on the high seas and retain their neutral status during armed conflict.

Bobby Chesney posted a registration link to the U.S. Cyber Commands Annual Legal Conference.

Katherine Pompilio posted the intelligence communitys annual threat assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for 2022.

Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared an episode of the National Security Law Podcast in which they discuss and debate topics ranging from the International Criminal Courts jurisdiction over war crimes on Ukraines territory to the House Foreign Affairs Committees hearing on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force.

Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.

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Today's Headlines and Commentary - Lawfare

At the beginning of nearly every war, including the current one in Ukraine, there are those who loudly declare that it will be over shortly and then business-as-usual can resume. They are rarely right. While no one can say for certain what the trajectory of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be, the economic warfare that is going on alongside it is very likely to destroy the current global trading system. The last time a worldwide trading system was destroyed was just over a century ago. From the late 1800s up to the eve of World War I the dominance of the British fleet on the high seas and the reach of the British Empire created an era of stability and interconnection highly favorable to worldwide trade.

Then, World War I blew that stability and interconnection apart. Later, the Great Depression led to a global trade war that finished off the remnants of the international trading system. The world did not achieve a trading system that spanned the globe unhampered again until the end of the Cold Warwhich had split the world into two trading blocks for nearly 50 years.

It is unlikely that Russia will simply back down even in the face of crippling economic sanctions. Things have gone too far and the Russian leadership has staked too much on its position that Russia must have its own sphere of influence free from NATO soldiers and rockets. What the Russians have historically called "the near abroad" must not harbor threats to Russian security, they say. Think of this as Russia's Monroe Doctrine.

The sanctions against Russia are hard to keep track of, ambiguous and ever-expanding. Their consequences, however, are clear. Through pressure exerted by the United States and European countries, most of the world will be forced to curtail its trade with Russia sharply.

Russia, however, has potent trade weapons of its own since the country remains the second-largest producer of both oil and natural gas in the world behind the United States according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Russia is, however, the world's largest natural gas exporter and the second- or third-largest oil exporter depending on where you look. Europeans are especially dependent on these exports. One would expect any reduction of Russian exports to cause prices to soar. This is exactly what has happened since the war began, complicating Russian deliverieseven though these exports are NOT under sanction and Russia actually INCREASED natural gas exports to Europe.

Russia is also among the top two producers of palladium used most notably in catalytic convertors and also in electronics. The same goes for platinum. In fact, Russia is a significant producer of many metals including nickel, cobalt, uranium, gold, silver, lead, zinc, and iron. A quick look at the "Mining Industry of Russia" page on Wikipedia illustrates just how important Russian production of minerals is in world markets.

Related: OPEC+ Raises Oil Production By Most In 7 Months

One of the key exports Russia is considering withholding is potash fertilizer, something that would surely drive potash prices sky high and, in turn, drive food prices even higher than they already are. Russia is the world's fourth-largest producer.

Any decision by Russia to withhold commodity exports from the world market would have to be carefully calibrated since such a move would, of course, further pummel the Russian economy by reducing or eliminating export earnings from the targeted products.

In yet another blow to the Russian economy, foreign businesses are leaving Russia at an increasing pace. Once gone, it is hard to see them returning anytime soon. And, with Russian assets abroad frozen and in some cases being seized, there is fear that Russia will seize assets within its borders belonging to foreign companies and individuals. Foreign patents might also be disregarded to allow Russia to make some of its own goods based on patented technology and designs.

Some Russian banks have been excluded from the world's largest international payments system known as SWIFT which might just push Russia to form its own payment system along with other countries suffering from sanctions such as Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Syria. Don't be surprised if additional countries including China decide to joinwhile remaining in SWIFTin order to continue to trade with these countries including Russia.

Given the ferocity of the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is just as hard to imagine a full-scale retreat from sanctions under practically any likely long-term scenario as it is to imagine Russia withdrawing from Ukraine and saying that it is sorry; it was all just a big misunderstanding. And, there is always the possibility that a guerilla insurgency will continue in Ukraine for years to come so that there is no clear end to hostilities.

The result of sanctions and war so far has been to cause prices of practically every commodity to rise significantly, most notably wheat, which is up 50 percent since before the war. (Russia and Ukraine are the number one and number five exporters in the world respectively.) Oil which was already trading at an elevated level is now comfortably above $110 per barrel, up about 25 percent from the start of the war.

Spikes in oil prices have preceded 10 of the last 11 recessions (not including the COVID collapse). It seems likely, though, that a recession following this spike will not be a mild one given the dislocations in the world economy already and the determination of each side in the conflict to exert increasing economic pain on the other. And, we must also remember that oil and wheat prices are not the only ones going up rapidly. Food prices, in general, are soaring as are fiber prices (lumber and cotton, for example). Rising energy prices, of course, feed into practically every other good and service. Eventually, high prices undermine economic activity as buyers simply stop buying what they cannot afford.

If the next recession is deep and drawn out, as I believe it might be, it may hasten the breakup of current trading arrangements as people around the world seek to protect their home industries from those abroad by restricting trade even further (just as countries did during the Great Depression).

The Russians sought to reorganize the security framework in Europe by making sure Ukraine does not join an alliance hostile to Russia. In the bargain, the Russians may get a reorganization of the world trading system, one that may break up into relatively closed trading blocks with more and more emphasis on self-sufficiency as a prudent bulwark against unexpected disruptions including wars.

By Kurt Cobb via Resource Insights

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As I coiled rope on the deck of a commercial fishing boat in the western Gulf of Alaska, I felt the sudden thud of a revolver reverberate in my chest. I wheeled around as a crewmate fired more bullets; a round of buckshot followed, from a shotgun held by my captain. Id known their anger was growing as sperm whales ate our catch but hadnt expected they would vent their frustrations with live ammunition. I looked out and saw a sperm whale crest the surface for air around 20 meters away, seemingly unfazed by the heavy fire.

It was early spring 2013, and I was sore, exhausted, and cold. After working 20 hours a day for more than a week, my crewmates and I still owed the boat money because sperm whales had dined on nearly all the sablefish hanging from our hooks as we burned fuel and ate foodboth of which came out of our pay. We were using longline gear, essentially a kilometers-long rope with baited hooks spaced at intervals, and all that we pulled from the depths were bent hooks and the occasional disembodied sablefish head.

In videos taken by researchers over the years, the whales are surprisingly gracefulgiants weighing 15 to 40 tonnes gently biting half-a-meter-long sablefish off the hooks. Sometimes sperm whales will rake the rope as its being hauled in, letting the hooks run over their lower teeth, with the fish popping off upon contact. Other times, the whales will grab a taut rope in their mouth and pluck it like a guitar string, whipping fish off the hooks from the vibration.

Underwater footage from the Southeast Alaska Sperm Whale Avoidance Project shows a sperm whale attempting to remove a sablefish from a line.

Fatigue and financial loss made me indifferent to the agile intelligence displayed below my feet, but seeing my coworkers shoot at the largest species of toothed whales on the planetan illegal act that could lead to a steep fine and a year in jail in the United Statesrevolted me. Yet I knew my protests would be futile, and I was more than a days boat ride from the nearest port.

In the Gulf of Alaska, as well as in longline fisheries throughout the world from the Bering Sea to the Antarctic and tropical waters between, toothed whalesthat is, any whale that feeds with teeth instead of baleen, such as sperm, pilot, and killer whalesare learning to see fishers and their gear as a source of an easy meal. Scientists researching this behavior, known as depredation, say whales are increasingly eating lucrative catches right off the hook instead of foraging naturally. Theres no easy way to stop it, and the behavior is spreading through whale culture. Whales penchant for hooked fish might be the biggest fisheries story that hardly anyone knows about.

Over the past five to 10 years, it has become a big issue in more and more fisheries, says Paul Tixier, a biologist with the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, who has written dozens of papers on depredation with a focus on sperm and killer whales targeting Patagonian toothfish in southern oceans.

Sharks, seals, and sea lions are also known to depredate, but whales cause the biggest problems for longline fisheries.

Andrew Read, director of the Duke Marine Lab in North Carolina, was one of the first in the scientific community to bring attention to the growing conflict with a 2008 article, The Looming Crisis: Interactions Between Marine Mammals and Fisheries, and he has seen the problem only increase since then. Its the big untold story right now, Read says. It results in significant economic loss to fishermen and often retaliatory measures to whales.

Its hard to fault an intelligent animal for maximizing an opportunitywho among us would pass up a free meal to go scrounge around in the kitchen for dinner instead? But as whales and fishers intersect, theres bound to be more conflict. The fishers, many of whom are already challenged with falling catch rates and profit margins, risk losing even more income, and depredating whales risk getting fatally shot or becoming hooked themselves, which some scientists fear could limit their population growth. And in the middle of it all, target fish species like sablefish, tuna, and Patagonian toothfish, already pinched by climate change and industrial fishing, face extra pressure. As depredation becomes a biggerand better-knownproblem, the sustainability of some fisheries, livelihoods, and whale populations is in question.

Ive worked in nearly a dozen fisheries in the United States for more than a decade and have used a variety of gearincluding seines, gill nets, traps, and longlinesfrom Southern California to the Gulf of Alaska. While every fishing method has environmental impacts, in my experience nothing creates a more immediate behavioral conflict between humans and whales than longlines.

On other longlining trips Ive been on in the Gulf of Alaska, sperm whales have eaten a days catch, which could be worth tens of thousands of dollars. But the spring 2013 trip and a few others on the same boat that season were the only times Ive witnessed fishers shoot in response. Other crewmates and friends in the industry have told similar stories of retaliation, but with consequences so high and the look so bad, its rarely spoken of. Losing money and time is frustrating, but most fishers I know now begrudgingly accept depredation as a cost of doing business at sea.

Depredation, though little known, isnt new. In 1904, a sperm whale was found off the Shetland Islands with fishhooks in its stomach, presumably from depredation. Whales were first directly observed eating fish off hooks in the 1950s in various global fisheries. Since then, the behavior has grown from a minor nuisance to a serious problem.

A common explanation among fishers in Alaska is that after the International Whaling Commissions 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling, a generation of sperm whales grew up without fear of boats. While theres truth to that, the situation is far more complex.

In the 1990s, the use of longlines exploded in fisheries throughout the world, just as populations of many whale species began rebounding from a century of slaughter and many fish stocks began to show signs of overfishing. There are two main kinds of longlines used in global fisheries. Demersal longlines, which can be anywhere from one to 40 kilometers long with thousands of hooks, often baited by hand, target fish close to the ocean floor, including sablefish and halibut in the North Pacific and Patagonian toothfish farther south. Pelagic longlines are designed instead for open-ocean species, typically tuna and swordfish. They include up to 80 kilometers of rope suspended from a series of buoys as far as 600 meters below the surface and have hundreds, if not thousands, of baited hooks.

One reason for the increase in longlines was that, as of 1992, the United Nations General Assembly banned drift nets longer than 2.5 kilometers on the high seas because of their high rates of sea turtle and cetacean by-catch and death. Pelagic longlines seemed like an environmentally friendly alternative, but they created new opportunities for toothed whales to feedand new ways for them to die.

While sperm whales are at the center of the conflict in the Gulf of Alaskas sablefish fishery, its killer whales that have caused the most problems for people catching sablefish in the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea. Killer whales and false killer whales also target tuna and swordfish fisheries in the southern hemisphere off the coasts of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. Off the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States, short-finned pilot whales target tuna and swordfish. Farther south, in subantarctic waters, killer whales and sperm whales target Patagonian toothfish. In the tropical tuna fisheries of the Pacific Ocean, the false killer whale is often the species most likely found depredating.

One of the biggest difficulties for fishers and scientists hoping to mitigate depredation is that theres still uncertainty as to why whales choose to feed this way. The dots are not fully connected yet, says Jan Straley, a principal investigator of the Sitka-based Southeast Alaska Sperm Whale Avoidance Project (SEASWAP), who has researched depredation in the Gulf of Alaska for about two decades.

Is the behavior simply opportunisticakin to bears scoring easy calories in dumpsters? Is it driven by direct competition with fishers over a common prey? Or is it a response to the growing difficulty of finding enough prey in a stressed ecosystem? In some regions, the working hypothesis seems to include all of the above, while in other areas, its more specific.

In the Gulf of Alaska, sperm whales forage on sablefish as a natural part of their diet. The sablefish population here has never been considered overfished, so biologists think its unlikely that direct competition is the primary driver of depredation. Gobbling sablefish off fishing gear is simply the most efficient way to eat them. A 2012 study by SEASWAP found that sperm whales depredating sablefish off longline gear in the Gulf of Alaska consume the same number of calories in just three hours as they would by foraging naturally for up to 12 hours.

A sperm whale follows a sablefish longliner from Alaska. Photo by NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

On one fishing trip Ive been on, we found sperm whales sleeping by our buoys, seemingly waiting for us to pull up the gear so they could eat. Why not nap where you know youll be woken up to a meal? Other times, whales will show up an hour after us, likely having followed the distinct sound of a boat hauling in gear.

A study Straley collaborated on, which involved putting bioacoustic tags on seven sperm whales, suggests the whales are able to calculate the cost-benefit of depredating on the fly by using acoustic cues. If the sound of a boat motoring to fishing grounds is coming from within 55 kilometersa six-hour swima sperm whale seems to deem that its worth burning the calories to travel there and depredate. If the distance is any greater, the whales stay put. But if fishers have already begun hauling up their catcha process that takes around three hoursthe whales only swim up to two hours for the chance of depredating. They can do the math, Straley says.

Its possible that a change in management of the Gulf of Alaska sablefish stock also helped sperm whales master depredation. The fishery was originally managed as a derbyfishers had a limited time on the water to catch as many fish as they could for the entire year. In 1995, a catch-share system was implemented, giving fishers about eight months to catch their quotas instead. This led to a 70 percent reduction in the fishing fleet and helped regulators manage stocks, but it also allowed sperm whales more time to familiarize themselves with longline gear.

In toothfish fisheries in the southern oceans, there is a higher likelihood that direct competition over prey is contributing to depredation. In the 1990s, Patagonian toothfish (marketed as Chilean sea bass) exploded worldwide as a meaty yet tender and flaky alternative to the standard cod, tuna, and salmon found in most fishmongers display cases. Markets developed faster than regulation, leading to severe overfishing.

Until recently, scientists were unsure if killer whales naturally prey on Patagonian toothfish, but in 2019, Tixier and his colleagues published stable isotopic evidence proving that they do. The fact that toothfish was made scarcer by illegal fishing in the early years [1996 to 2000] may have made the whales more inclined to switch to depredation, Tixier says, but adds they may have simply been interested in an easy meal. The fishery is now under strict quotas in both national and international waters, but some stocks have yet to fully rebound.

A killer whale makes off with a Patagonian toothfish after pulling it from a fishing hook in the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean. Photo by Paul Tixier

In Atlantic pelagic longline fisheries, something very different is afootthrough depredation, short-finned pilot whales are finding a whole new food source. Short-finned pilot whales feed in the same high-productivity areas as tuna and swordfish, often on the same prey, but these three predators dont naturally eat one another.

Pilot whales cant catch tuna; theyre too fast, Read says. But through depredation they have done something remarkable and gone up a trophic levelnow theyre eating their competition.

Depredation of tuna and swordfish by short-finned pilot whales in the Atlantic is episodic, Read says, and is most common from October to December. Scientists dont yet know what specific ecological factors cause this shift. The abundance of deep-water squid, the primary prey of short-finned pilot whales, is unknown, but Read says the working hypothesis is that as the squid population goes down, depredation goes up.

If climate changealtered ecosystems put downward pressure on squid populations, short-finned pilot whales might increasingly look to fishing boats for sustenance.

Regardless of why toothed whales are targeting longline boats for food, its likely the behavior has measurable impacts on the species theyre eating. Most longline fisheries are managed by quota systems with fishers having a set amount of fish to catch based on the estimated size of the stock. If, for example, a fishing boat longlining in the Gulf of Alaska is permitted to take 10 tonnes of sablefish but sperm whales ate two tonnes along the way, that would mean 12 tonnes of sablefish died. What we dont know is whether the whales would have naturally hunted and eaten that much anyway, or if depredation allows gluttony and excess sablefish mortality.

Depredation has yet to imperil the health of the fish stocks in question, but it has prompted some fisheries managers to lower quotas out of concern for sustainability. After learning that sperm whales eat around 2.5 percent of the total sablefish harvest in Alaska, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reduced the total quota for the fishery by one to two percent in recent years, says Dana Hanselman, division director for NOAAs Auke Bay Laboratories in southeast Alaska.

In the Crozet Islands, a French subantarctic territory in the Indian Ocean, killer and sperm whales eat 30 percent of the total toothfish catch, Tixier says. French fishery managers have adjusted the quota accordingly, allowing fishers to take 300 tonnes less in 2010 than they had in 2009. Other regions where toothfish are caught have done the same.

Although fishers can catch their allotted amount under the quota system, we lose bait, food, fuel, and time if hampered by depredation. Deckhands on US fishing boats often earn a share of net fishing profits, typically between one and 10 percent. No profit means no money. Once, I looked at my itemized settlement at the end of a longline season and found there were a few trips that cost me. Whales ate the catch, but I was still on the hook for my share of the costs, which were docked from my pay when we finally caught fish.

Looking at the scientific literature, theres no easy number or even a single method to determine the economic costs of depredation in global fisheries. Depending on the study, costs are broken down per hook, per set, per day, per year, or over a multiyear period.

Hungry whales and hardworking fishers are often chasing the same stocks. Here, a killer whale feeds on herring alongside a fishing boat (not a longliner) near Kaldfjord, Norway. Photo by Alessandro De Maddalena/Shutterstock

A 2012 literature review found daily financial losses due to whales dining off hooked fish to be from US $1,034 to $8,495 in pelagic longline fisheries globally. In another study, awaiting peer review, on depredation by false killer whales on tuna in the Hawaiian pelagic longline fishery, Joseph Fader, a PhD candidate at Duke University in North Carolina, found fishers lost $1.1-million annually. And in the Crozet Islands, researchers found depredating killer and sperm whales cost French fishers of Patagonian toothfish around $32-million between 2003 and 2012.

There are significant differences that can make the costs manageable in some cases and unsustainable in others. In Seychelles, for example, fishing operations are largely artisanal, and in the Gulf of Alaska, longline boats are often captained by an owner/operatorsmall operations like these are less likely to recover from loss than well-financed industrial operations. Faced with these setbacks, fishers are taking actionmost with non-lethal mitigation strategies, some with guns and explosives.

Sharing the experience I had with frustrated former crewmates shooting whales in Alaska is sure to burn bridges. One biologist, who lives in a small fishing community and is protective of the industrys reputation, even asked me not to mention the incident, and added, as a guised threat, that I could face legal consequences for being a witness and reporter.

On the water, Ive occasionally witnessed other illegal acts and unethical behavior targeting marine mammals, but to be fair, most fishers Ive encountered dont shoot them. NOAAs records indicate that there hasnt been a single sperm whale found stranded in the Gulf of Alaska with a gunshot wound. Its also hard to kill a sperm whale with a gunany shooting-related death would likely be from an infection of the wound. That said, the NOAA law enforcement division, which tracks human-caused fatalities to marine mammals, reports that from 2015 to 2020 in the United States, 16 other cetaceans were found dead with gunshot wounds.

Around the Crozet Islands, biologists saw a 60 percent decline in the killer whale population from 1988 to 2000 and largely attributed the drop to illegal fishing vessels in the area using firearms and explosives to deter the whales from their toothfish, says Tixier. Increased enforcement since then has improved the situation, but he suspects some lethal retaliation from illegal fishing vessels continues. Were still observing some unexplained mortality on that killer whale population, he says.

Killer whales near the Crozet Islands approach a fishing line to snag a toothfish. Photo by Bertrand Loyer

The only instance on record of a fisher being arrested and prosecuted for shooting a whale in the United States occurred off New Jersey. A short-finned pilot whale washed up on a New Jersey beach in 2011, clinging to life with a bullet lodged in its jaw. It died soon after from infection. Through ballistic analysis, authorities determined a suspect: a longline tuna fisherman who had recently posted a photo of a tuna head on Facebook with the caption, Thanks a lot pilot whales. Charges were eventually dismissed in federal court; the attorneys office that prosecuted the case declined to provide details on why the case was dropped.

Guns and explosives present animal welfare and legal issues, but the biggest threat to depredating whales isnt retaliation, its becoming by-catch. While depredating killer and sperm whales in upper latitudes may become entangled in ropes, which can be deadly, theyre not likely to get stuck on a hookthe demersal longline gear is too lightweight for their size. False killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, and other whales depredating in pelagic longline fisheries, on the other hand, can easily get hooked while trying to snag a meal. They can be released with minimal injury, but may be too weak to survive after hanging from the line.

In the United States, NOAA attempts to limit whale mortality from pelagic longlines in various ways. In Hawaii, that includes requiring fishers to use certain gear, such as circle hooks weak enough to break under the weight of a whale; having observers on board for a portion of fishing voyages to monitor activity; and implementing closures when the rate of fatal by-catch exceeds an established threshold. On the Atlantic coast, measures include limiting the length of longlines to 37 kilometers.

One little-known aspect of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act is that it allows for a sustainable rate of unintended marine mammal mortality. This is the rate at which incidental death can occur without harming population growth. In the northwest Atlantic, for example, 23.6 short-finned pilot whales out of an estimated population of at least 23,637 could be accidentally injured or killed without penalty in 2020. That number shifts according to the population size of the species.

The subpopulation of false killer whales known to depredate and become by-catch in Hawaiian longline fisheries, on the other hand, is endangered, with a population of less than 170 whales. Even a single whale becoming by-catch is considered too many. When one false killer whale was killed and another seriously injured in 2019, regulators closed a large portion of the southern waters off the Hawaiian Islands to longlining for the remainder of the year.

In less tightly regulated fisheries, particularly on the high seas, the true number of whale deaths from by-catch is hazy. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, which oversees the most productive tuna region on Earth, in the Pacific Ocean, indicates that between 2015 and 2020, on-board observers documented 266 cetaceans hooked and released alive from longlines, 56 more that died, and 10 others of unknown life status. The commission requires that observers cover five percent of the fishery, but many member nations fall short, so the actual number of dead or injured cetaceans is almost certainly magnitudes greater.

There is no easy solution to depredation and the by-catch it produces, but in the Gulf of Alaska, some sablefish fishers are shifting to using pots to mitigate depredation. Potsessentially baited trapsare common for catching crab, lobster, and other crustaceans, and now sablefish. The benefit is that sperm whales have yet to learn how to eat fish protected by metal and nylon mesh.

A coalition of small-boat fishers opposes the 2015 policy change that allowed the use of sablefish pots in the Gulf of Alaska because the gear is too big to easily stack on small vessels and is too heavy for their hydraulic systems to pull to the surface. They also fear, with some evidence, that as other fishers switch, sperm whales will become an even greater problem for those continuing to use traditional gear.

Last fall, while I was longlining for sablefish, the captain tried out new gear called slinky pots. The lightweight, collapsible traps shaped like giant slinky toys are covered in nylon mesh and can be set on a longline. Unlike traditional pot gear, they are light enough for a small boats hydraulic system. Unfortunately, in our case, the catch rate was a lot lower with them, and they seemed to trap smaller, less valuable fish. But more and more vessels are starting to use slinky pots as their primary gear with some success. In 2021, trapsboth slinky and traditional pot gearaccounted for 63 percent of sablefish harvested in the Gulf of Alaska, up from nine percent in 2018. Statewide, just over half of the sablefish catch is taken with trap gear.

Traditional pots have also been tested in toothfish fisheries, Tixier says, but the catch rate is much lower than with the usual demersal longlining hooks, so the cost-benefit ratio doesnt yet work, even when depredation is factored in.

Fishers in the Gulf of Alaska are increasingly turning to traps, known as pots, instead of longlines in an effort to reduce depredation on sablefish catches. Photo by Misha Dumov/Stocksy

Traps dont work at all in pelagic longline fisheries, as gear is suspended in the water column, not anchored to the ocean floor. Various deterrent systems, often known as socks and spiders, have been tested for pelagic longlines. Once a fish bites the hook, a trigger system releases a nylon sleeve or metal chains to cover the catch. They have been moderately effective, but can be cumbersome to use, requiring both an extra deckhand and significantly more time, making them cost prohibitive.

Researchers have also tried blasting whales with high-pitched noises from acoustic harassment and deterrence devices, but many whales quickly become habituated to the noise.

In the Gulf of Alaska, SEASWAP has experimented with soundthough in much different ways. Straley and other researchers determined that the sound of a boats propeller being engaged and disengaged alerts sperm whales to longlines being hauled to the surface. So researchers are using decoys that emit a recording of that sound to lure sperm whales away from the actual longline. The technique has proved less successful than hoped. Sperm whales are just so smart and clever, Straley says. I believe they know what were going to do before we do.

SEASWAP is also working with acoustic tracking, which involves using hydrophones set on lines or towed behind a fishing vessel to pick up the clicks and creaks of sperm whales in real time and alert fishers if theyre nearby. This has promise, says Straley, but shes dubious about finding permanent solutions.

While my captain didnt like the yield from slinky pots, there was a moment last fall during a separate trip when he probably wished we had set them instead of hooks. Four sperm whales appeared and began following our boat a few kilometers from our gear. The day prior, wed had a good haul of sablefish and were hoping wed catch our quota in just a few days, but whales ate almost every sablefish on the line. Interestingly, they left grenadier, rockfish, and other by-catch on the hookssperm whales are picky. Luckily for my conscience and the whales, I worked for a captain who, while an avid hunter, did not carry guns on board. We did the only advisable thing when a pod of sperm whales targeting fishing gear is nearbygave up on that location and drove 80 kilometers overnight to a new fishing spot, hoping they wouldnt follow. In nearly every longline fishery on the planet, scientists and fishers have found the best way to stop depredation is to avoid whales.

Reducing how much time a line is in the water and hauling it in at a faster pace are other proven mitigation strategies because they reduce how much time whales have for depredation. Using shorter lines helps on both accounts. None of that seems too much to ask of fishers, but as a deckhand, I cant help but think of the extra strain on my body from trying to catch the same number of fish with these constraints.

In longline fisheries around the world, whales will likely continue to outwit fishers and scientists, even as they face death and injury from gunfire, explosives, and encounters with gear. Its their ocean, so its incumbent upon us to find solutions that work for them, and us. But the challenge is immensewere dealing with intelligent creatures.

Every potential solution to depredation seems to create new problems, and I recently experienced one of them. While I was longlining for Pacific halibut in the Gulf of Alaska in September, three sperm whales lingered around our boat.

Pacific halibut are caught in shallower water than sablefish, but the fishing grounds for the two species are relatively close, often just a few kilometers apart. In my experience, sperm whales have typically ignored halibut. But as we hauled up our lines that day, we saw signs that that was changing.

It may be that the increasing number of boats using traps and slinky pots has reduced the amount of sablefish that sperm whales can depredate, so theyre looking elsewhere for an easy meal.

Some fish were missing, apparently pulled off the hooks, and a number of the fish we hauled in had the imprint of large teeth in their flesh, rendering them unsellable. Perhaps the notoriously picky whales are hungry but havent quite yet acquired a taste for halibut.

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Clever Whales and the Violent Fight for Fish on the Line - Hakai Magazine

You and a friend could be taking to the high seas with Celebrity Cruises. +Members can enter daily for a chance to win a cruise packagefor twoto yourchoice of destination that includes either Caribbean, Europe, Alaska or Bermuda. Contest closes March 31st at 11:59 p.m.

Check out our Up Close & Personal segment with Celebrity Cruises' Maxine Gundermannwhere she discusseswhat to do, what to see and navigating high sea travel through the pandemic. Included is a discount offer for +members.

He holds the record as the longest serving national news anchor in television history and has spent over six decades keeping Canadians informed. Join host Scott Sexsmith for an exclusive one on one with the most trusted name in news, Lloyd Robertson. From his incomparable career to his thoughts on the importance of local journalism, we cover it all in this exclusive Up Close & Personal.

Get the news before anyone else!Haveyour +member updates sent right to your mobile phone.+Members can getfree daily texts with an insider view on North Baynews and +membership updates. This is your chance to text us questions or give us feedback and comments. Sign up today and join the two way conversation!nversation!

Have you signed up for your FREE member-exclusive email, The Plus Side? It featuresupcoming contests, local offers, auctions and more? Our latest emailfeatured another great What's in the Kitchen recipe- Chef Francesco Petrusa, an Italian chef from Sicily, broughtyou a family favourite linguine with tuna and fresh tomatoes fromLimoncello Bistro located on Maple Avenue in Barrie.

New Cascades Casino chef will bring a variety of new dishes to the facility. "I was right in the middle of the Amazon doing a remote camp there. We were there to introduce safe cooking and health measures."He's bringing that experience to North Bay."My curries are amazing. I got all kinds of different ideas!"

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The owner ofCanada Meat Groupin Northis determined to help Ukraine's territorial defence personnel by paying for body armour vests. The owner is Ukrainianand sayshismother-in-law, who still lives in Ukraine, is knitting nets for tanks.

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This week in BayToday+: We sit down for an exclusive one-on-one with Lloyd Robertson - BayToday.ca

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has thrown her weight behind calls to ban bottom trawling on seamounts.

The fishing practice sees weighted nets dragged along the sea floor, hauling some of our most popular fish: orange roughy, hoki and oreo. Conservation groups argue trawling destroys delicate ecosystems that thrive on seamounts.

Clark says oceans are under tremendous pressure from the effects of climate change and threats from deep sea mining and bottom trawling.

She expressed surprise that trawling was still permitted in New Zealands waters. It has the only fleet still bottom trawling on seamounts in the regions international waters.

READ MORE:* Officials to consider closure of seamounts as part of bottom trawling review* NZ govt accused of proposing "shameful" new fishing rules

Ross Giblin

Artist Cinzah painting a new oceans mural in Wellingtons Egmont Street.

It is a concern to me that New Zealand still bottom trawls on sea mounts in the South Pacific high seas areas, and the Tasman Sea... theres incredible damage being done to our seamounts from this kind of activity, Clark said.

The former administrator of the UN Development Program was speaking on a panel discussing a high seas treaty, currently under negotiation. It would enhance marine protection outside national boundaries.

She said she was also concerned about the harm caused by deep sea mining. That currently isnt happening in New Zealand waters, but coastal sand extraction is happening in eight locations.

Clark said humans are on a path to destroying ecosystems on which we rely. If you think about what were doing to the high seas with our bottom trawling and our overfishing, and the rest of it, would we tolerate that in New Zealand with our forest? Clark said.

We have put all our public forests under permanent protection, and we have strong protection around the native forest on private land... we have to get real.

David Alexander/Stuff

The Helen Clark Foundation is an Aotearoa New Zealand-based independent, non-partisan public policy think tank.

This week marks SeaWeek, an annual national event to promote marine conservation. On Tuesday, street artist Cinzah and Wellington artist Sheyne Tuffery completed a new mural featuring an orange Roughy, on Wellingtons Egmont Street.

It was commissioned by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and WWF-New Zealand, the third in a series which were also painted in Auckland and Dunedin. A recent petition to ban trawling on seamounts has gained over 70,000 signatures and is being considered by Parliaments environment select committee.

Conservation groups argue trawling destroys delicate ecosystems that thrive on seamounts. The ocean floor landforms create an upwelling of nutrients which attract marine species to feed, and for centuries have been known as good fishing sites.

Supplied/Stuff

Eugenie Sage, Green Party spokesperson for conservation and the environment, pictured at the Defend the Deep mural.

The underwater mountains are home to delicate, slow-growing coral, and sea sponges, which are at risk of being destroyed by the heavy fishing gear.

About 90 per cent of the catch, for both inshore and deep sea fisheries, comes from bottom trawling. But only a small fraction occurs on the underwater mount

Livia Esterhazy, WWF chief executive visited the mural with National MP Scott Simpson. Green Party MP, and select committee chair Eugenie Sage watched the painting on Monday.

Our marine ecosystems are in crisis and time is running out, Esterhazy said.

Ross Giblin

Karli Thomas, of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, National MP Scott Simpson and WWF-NZ CEO Livia Esterhazy watch the finishing touches being applied to the painting.

Simpson, the partys environment spokesperson, said, It's increasingly difficult for commercial operators to think they have social licence to do what they're doing in terms of seamounts. If this was commercial behaviour of a similar kind on shore, there would be huge amounts of public concern and angst.

Simpson believes the fishing industry may move before the Government on the issue.

I would have thought that part of being a responsible corporate citizen was to be listening to the views of the public and to having a good understanding of the environmental science, which I think is compelling.

Basically, just do the right thing. I don't think businesses should necessarily have to wait for the heavy hand of government legislation or regulation for them to do that. And we see that happening increasingly, with commercial operators around climate issues around other environmental issues. I don't see why it should be any different for commercial fishing operators.

Greenpeace

Greenpeace have launched a new video on bottom trawling on seamounts, starring presenter Mandy Kupenga who fronted Mori TV's Get Your Fish On.

This week Greenpeace have also launched a new video on bottom trawling on seamounts, starring presenter Mandy KupengV's Get Your Fish On.

The fishing industry argues the practice is well-managed. Vessels furrow repeatedly over the same narrow tracks they wouldnt plunder an entire seamount.

Since 2006, bottom trawling has been banned in a third of New Zealand's waters (although a large percentage of these areas were never viable for the method in the first place). Now only 3.5 per cent, or 122,000sq km, of the exclusive economic zone (or EEZ) is trawled.

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Former PM Helen Clark wants an end to trawling on seamounts and seabed mining - Stuff

Michael T Burt

Amaltal Fishing Co and its skipper Charles Shuttleworth were found guilty on a total of 14 charges after Talleys ship the Amaltal Apollo trawler, photographed at the slipway in Port Nelson, bottom-trawled in a protected area. (File photo)

Convictions for bottom trawling in a protected area of the Tasman Sea should send a strong message to the fishing industry, says the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Judge David Ruth in the Nelson District Court found Talleys subsidiary Amaltal Fishing Co breached the conditions of its high seas fishing permit when its vessel, Amaltal Apollo, trawled in a protected area.

Both Amaltal Fishing Co and the then-master of the vessel, Charles Shuttleworth, were found guilty on 14 charges. A date has not yet been set for sentencing.

In 2018 the ship was on the Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea. The Amaltal Apollo was found to have bottom-trawled in an area protected by an inter-governmental conservation body, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation.

READ MORE:* Officials to consider closure of seamounts as part of bottom trawling review* Amaltal conviction for illegal fishing overturned* Illegal trawling trial concludes after 10-month hiatus

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) prosecuted the case.

MPI national manager of fisheries compliance Niamh Murphy said in a statement on Wednesday that it expected fishing companies and their skippers to be fully aware of all areas closed to fishing.

She said protecting the area trawled by the Amaltal Apollo was part of New Zealands international obligations to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.

This judgment should send a strong message that skippers and the companies they work for need to be diligent and ensure these types of breaches dont occur. This includes having the correct systems in place.

The rules are there for a reason. We expect fishing companies and skippers to know and understand their obligations before they go to sea.

Murphy said commercial fishers had to put systems in place to avoid breaches, and if MPI found any evidence of a breach it would investigate. She encouraged both industry operators and non-commercial fishers to report any suspected illegal activity to the MPI hotline, 0800 4 POACHER, 0800 4 76224.

Supplied

Talleys chief executive Tony Hazlett said since the breaches in 2018, the company had invested significantly in additional electronic monitoring systems for its fishing vessels.

Talley's chief executive Tony Hazlett said since the offending in 2018, Amaltal had invested significantly in additional electronic monitoring systems for its fishing vessels and it would continue to deliver training and tools to operate vessels according to the law.

Hazlett said the breaches were a result of Shuttleworth making a mistake, as the area he trawled had at the time only recently been closed to fishing, and an MPI observer had been aboard the Amaltal Apollo at the time who was also unaware of its closure.

The companys liability arises from the company being vicariously and strictly liable for the activities of the captain, notwithstanding it had no knowledge of nor took any part in the offending, he said.

Amaltal didnt direct, consent, agree or direct the captain to fish in a closed area. The captain made an error, which the company was unaware of at the time. As soon as it was known, we acted immediately. The captain has also acknowledged and did not try to conceal his errors, and he and the company has co-operated fully with MPI in their investigation into the incident.

Hazlett said Amaltal took marine sustainability very seriously and did not condone illegal fishing in any circumstances.

Excerpt from:

Talley's subsidiary found guilty of bottom trawling in conservation area - Stuff

UN Intergovernmental Conference (IGC4)

The Countdown to the 4th meeting of the United Nations Intergovernmental Conference (IGC4) is on! The final round of negotiations on the UN Treaty for Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) is scheduled to take place in New York, March 7-18.

Since its founding in 2011, the High Seas Alliance (HSA) with its 40+ non-governmental members and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has been working towards protecting the 50% of the planet that is the high seas. As the region of the global ocean that is beyond national jurisdiction, the high seas includes some of the most biologically important, least protected, and most critically threatened ecosystems in the world.

HSA members work together to inspire, inform and engage the public, decision-makers and experts to support and strengthen high seas governance and conservation, as well as cooperating towards the establishment of high seas protected areas.

Our current priority is to ensure that an intergovernmental conference taking place at the United Nations from 2018-2021 for the development of a new legally binding treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea results in robust protection for marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The next two years are a particularly critical time as States from around the world negotiate the content of the treaty.

Currently, there are no legally binding mechanisms for establishing marine protected areas outside States territorial seas, or for undertaking environmental impact assessments. Yet increasing impacts from overfishing, climate change, deep-seabed mining and shipping continue to negatively affect biodiversity on the high seas.

HSA is working to ensure that treaty negotiations result in robust and effective conservation measures that address gaps in current ocean governance.

We are now in the conclusive stages of the negotiations, with the fourth and final intergovernmental conference (IGC4) scheduled for August 2021. The need for a strong final push and elevated political will from States is required now more than ever if we are to adopt a new high seas treaty at IGC4 and ensure the protections the high seas so desperately deserves. The treaty is a once in a generation opportunity to shift the status quo of high seas governance and management and protect nearly half the planet.

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- High Seas Alliance

In a welcome but surreally-delayed move, GoI has finally appointed the countrys first National Maritime Security Coordinator (NMSC) to ensure effective coordination among multiple agencies dealing with threats from the high seas. Vice-Admiral (retired) G Ashok Kumar will be the first to occupy the post in the National Security Council Secretariat under NSA Ajit Doval. However, serious questions need to be asked as to why it took 14 long years to create this post after Pakistani terrorists snuck into Mumbai from the sea and killed 166 people during the 26/11 terror attack. Back then the defence ministry had proposed the creation of a maritime security advisory board and the appointment of a maritime security adviser. But bureaucratic sloth and turf wars ensured these were kept pending.

That said, the NMSCs appointment comes at a critical point in Indias evolving strategic-security environment. Faced with a China-Pakistan axis, New Delhi not only needs to be alert to threats from sea-borne non-state actors, but also keep an eye on Chinese maritime designs in the Indian Ocean Region. After all, China today has the largest navy and a maritime militia force to carry out grey-zone tactics against adversaries. To counter this and protect Indias 7,516-km coastline and 2 million sq km of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a single-point coordinator like the NMSC for all aspects of maritime security was much needed.

Besides, given that the global axis of power is shifting from the West to the East as acknowledged by the recent US Indo-Pacific strategy paper the sea lanes around India are going to get busier. And with countries having different interpretations of the treaty on the high seas, UNCLOS, incidents like last years American freedom of navigation operation in Indias EEZ could recur. Hence, there is a need for enhanced maritime domain awareness to protect both security and economic interests. Note that 90% of Indias trade, by volume, transits through the seas. The NMSC must lay the blueprint for a truly modern maritime security system.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

END OF ARTICLE

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Coast to coast: Points person for maritime security comes 14 years after 26/11. Challenges from high seas even - The Times of India Blog