VZCZCXRO7226
RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB
DE RUEHBR #0071/01 0121848
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121848Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7833
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BRASILIA 000071 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS USAID TO LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, PPC/ENV 
INTERIOR FOR DIR INT AFFAIRS: K WASHBURN 
INTERIOR FOR FWS: TOM RILEY 
INTERIOR PASS USGS FOR INTERNATIONAL: J WEAVER 
COMMERCE FOR NOAA: K RIVERA 
COMMERCE FOR NMFS: A GUTIERREZ 
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES: JWEBB 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL: CAM HILL-MACON 
USDA FOR ARS/INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH: G FLANLEY 
NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL: HAROLD STOLBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID TBIO ECON SOCI XR BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL HOSTS THE I SOUTH AMERICAN FISHERS FORUM ON SOLVING 
THE INCIDENTAL CAPTURES OF SEABIRDS IN FISHERIES -SAFF1 
 
BRASILIA 00000071  001.2 OF 005 
 
 
 
Summary 
 
¶1. On December 12-14, an OES-sponsored workshop with the slogan 
"Catch Fish Not Birds" brought together 50 experts from across the 
world to take a look at the potential to reduce seabird bycatch 
throughout the South American long-line fishery via the adoption of 
mitigation measures in South America fishing fleets.  As a result of 
the event, several solutions to reduce the incidental catch of sea 
birds were identified between fishers, fishing entrepreneurs, 
researchers, NGO's and governments.  In addition, the partners 
conducted a full discussion of the economic and environmental 
benefits of reducing sea bird bycatch and committed themselves to 
implementing some of these mitigation measures throughout South 
America.  End Summary 
 
The event - SAFF 1 
 
¶2.  The event, the "First South American Fishers Forum on Solving 
the Incidental Captures of Seabirds in Fisheries-SAFF-1", was held 
December 12-14 in Guaruja, Sao Paulo State, Brazil.  The workshop 
was funded with a USD 29,500 OES-I grant administered through the 
Instituto Albatroz and sponsored by the NGO The Care for the Wild 
from the United Kingdom in partnership with Southern Seabird 
Solutions from New Zealand.  The key organizers of the event were 
Tatiana Neves, Projeto Albatroz General Coordinator, and Janice 
Molloy, from Southern Seabird Solutions, New Zealand.  The Brazilian 
Environment Agency (IBAMA) also contributed to organizing the event 
and in coordinating the implementation of the Brazilian National 
Plan for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels - 
NPOA-Seabirds/Brazil.  In total, the workshop attracted 
approximately 50 participants from eleven countries (Argentina, 
Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, United 
Kingdom (Malvinas/Falklands), Uruguay, and USA). 
 
¶3. The SAFF1 opening session was attended by Dr. Altemir Gregolin, 
Ministry of Aquaculture and Fisheries Special Secretariat of the 
Brazilian Presidency; Dr. Romulo Mello, IBAMA's Fauna Director; 
Patricia Palumbo, President of Instituto Albatroz; and the Guaruja 
Municipality Environment Secretariat.  The unified message was that 
the forum was being held so that institutions from different 
countries could take advantage of opportunities for greater 
collaboration in developing new paths to improve the environmental 
 
BRASILIA 00000071  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
and social performance of the fishing business in South America and 
to promote solutions to reduce seabird bycatch in longline 
fisheries. 
 
Seabird and Fisheries Interactions - An overview 
 
¶4. Incidental bycatch from longline fishing operations has been 
identified as a major source of mortality for many seabird species 
throughout the Southern Ocean threatening some species with 
extinction.  More than 100,000 seabirds are killed every year due to 
interactions with the longline fishing industry.  For many species, 
this mortality rate often exceeds the population's reproductive 
rate.  This has led in part to what the IUCN 2006 report on 
albatrosses indicated was nineteen of the world's twenty-one 
albatross species now being faced with extinction. 
 
¶5. Simple methods for reducing the number of the birds caught have 
been developed.  For example towing bird-scaring lines (torilines), 
dying the bait blue and setting lines at night are some mitigation 
measures that have been tested and implemented in some fisheries 
such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine 
Living Resources (CCAMLR) Treaty area resulting in decreases in sea 
bird mortality of over 90 percent.  In addition, the issue of 
seabird mortality is directly linked with improving efficiency in 
the longline fleets.  When the seabirds eat the bait, the main 
consequence is the reduction of the production capacity of the 
longline vessels.  For example, it has been estimated that the 
Japanese longline fleet in the Tasmanian Sea suffers an annual loss 
of USD 4.3 million because of this particular interaction. 
 
Seabird and Fisheries Interaction in South America - Country 
Updates 
 
¶6. Dr. Carlos Moreno, from Universidad Austral de Chile, noted that, 
in Chile, 25 percent of the reduction of the Black-browed Albatross 
population is due to the industrial Patagonian toothfish fisheries 
in Chile operating since 1990.  According to Moreno, since 2003 
Chile has been developing the National Action Plan to Reducing 
Seabird Interaction in the Chilean Longline Fisheries (PAN-AM) and 
defined measures to revise some fisheries, such as pelagic and 
demersal (bottom) longline fisheries.  According to the research 
program of the PAN-AM the main techniques that need to be re-tested 
are the effectiveness of integrated weighted lines in demersal 
 
BRASILIA 00000071  003.2 OF 005 
 
 
fisheries, the use of streamer lines, also known as bird-scaring 
lines or torilines, in combination with other simple measures to 
nearly eliminate seabird mortality. 
 
¶7. In Peru, research on small-scale longliners confirmed a high 
seabird mortality rate - as much as 7.4 birds/1,000 hooks in some 
areas, with an average range of 0.74-1.75 birds/1,000 hooks. 
Approximately 40 percent were albatrosses, and other seabirds 
frequently caught included shearwaters, boobies and pelicans. 
 
¶8. In Brazil, vessels primarily targeting swordfish, but also tuna 
and shark, have increased dramatically since 1998, and more than 
12,000 seabirds are killed each year in these fisheries, including 
some species threatened with extinction.  However, since 2001, the 
Projeto Albatroz has worked for the seabirds' conservation in the 
Southwestern Atlantic, which is an extremely important feeding area 
for many albatross species.  The Projeto Albatroz goals are to make 
the domestic longline fleet aware of the problem, to implement 
mitigation measures, and to monitor the seabird bycatch using the 
Brazilian National Plan of Action for the Conservation of 
Albatrosses and Petrels (NPOA-Seabird/Brazil) as a model to 
implement fishing practices and adopt safe and inexpensive 
mitigation measures to reduce seabird bycatch in the region. 
 
How conservation groups, researchers and government can support 
fishermen - Workshop Conclusions 
 
¶9. On the final day of the forum, the participants were split into 
small groups to discuss specific issues. The first group addressed 
observer programs such as BirdLife International's Albatross Task 
Force, that works at-sea and on-shore to encourage the adoption of 
mitigation measures and to collect baseline bycatch data, where 
required.  The Task Force currently has three full-time mitigation 
instructors working in South Africa and two employees working in the 
pelagic fisheries of Brazil.  There are also plans to have two 
people based in Chile by the end of 2006 or early 2007, and 
negotiations are underway to have a further 4-6 people working in 
South America in 2007/08.  The Task Force was designed to provide 
capacity and experience to help advance research into the 
development of pelagic fishery mitigation measures.  BirdLife was 
congratulated on progress made over the last 12 months in the 
implementation of the Task Force and was encouraged to further 
expand the scope and size of the project. 
 
BRASILIA 00000071  004.2 OF 005 
 
 
 
¶10. The second group addressed the effective ways to introduce 
fishermen to mitigation measures and concluded that the economic 
efficiency approaches to define economic loss analysis in the 
fisheries business could be one possibility.  In addition, other 
factors that could result in the fisheries adopting these measures 
included market threats such as the "Chilean sea Bass" ban, as well 
as the positive incentive of potential certification of well-managed 
fisheries.  The need for awareness-raising materials in appropriate 
languages using fishermen to talk to other fishermen to get a 
message accepted and also providing critical training for key 
fishermen players, including fishery compliance observer officers 
and fishery monitors in ports and harbors throughout South America 
were also viewed as key elements of the strategy. 
 
¶11. The third group addressed the strategies to attain the benefits 
of sustainable seafood markets for South America. According two 
experts Dr. Martin Hall, from IATTC and Douglas Meyer from Bernuth & 
Williamson Consulting/Seafood Choices Alliance, the key strategy is 
to develop an environmental standard for sustainable and 
well-managed fisheries to help pre-certification by the Marine 
Stewardship Council (MSC).  As of November 2006, 21 fisheries have 
been certified under this system and there are more than 450 
products on the market worldwide with the label.  The role of large 
consumers of fisheries products such as Wal-Mart and their stated 
goals of buying only MSC certified fisheries products was also 
underscored. 
 
¶12. The main actions to improve emerging markets for sustainable 
seafood and its relevance to seabirds should be addressed by an 
identification of fisheries which have the potential for export, to 
involve local governments into the process of local certification, 
to integrate the certification process into the marine conservation 
approach, to define criteria and specific standards for each 
certification, and to improve the knowledge of the chain of custody 
of the product.  This group thought it would be useful to contact 
institutions to produce Wallet cards of the sustainably harvested 
species, to look into the possibility of creating regional 
approaches to certification, and to search for regional partnerships 
(local governments, fisheries industries, cooperatives and NGO's) 
for environment solutions with a market incentive. 
 
Comment: 
 
BRASILIA 00000071  005.2 OF 005 
 
 
 
¶13. The forum was successful in achieving its stated objectives of 
bringing together fishers, seabird bycatch experts, and others to 
introduce the fishing industries to the various methods to reduce 
interactions with seabirds and to obtain commitments from these 
industries to reduce seabird bycatch.  The long-term success, 
however, will depend on how the efforts to reduce seabird bycatch 
levels in fisheries will be implemented by the industry and whether 
or not regulations requiring these measures are legislated by the 
governments in the region. 
 
¶15. Workshop information, presentation, photographs and results will 
be posted at 
http://www.forumdepescadores.com.br.  For further information 
contact Tatiana Neves, Instituto Albatroz General Coordinator, 
tneves@projetoalbatroz.org.br. 
 
SOBEL