Market-Based Mechanisms – Improving Fisheries Management? - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 194

The OPRT operates a simple labelling system which ensures that tuna entering
Japan are assured to have been caught by legally licenced vessels. It also organises
and analyses data collected in Japanese markets and makes information about tunas
available to the public and other interested parties.
Coalition of legal toothfish operators (COLTO)
The plight of the Patagonian toothfish has become widely known as a result of
the rampant IUU fishing which has occurred in the waters of the Southern Ocean
(www.colto.org). Although CCAMLR has put in place a mechanism for document-
ing catches of the two species of toothfish (the Dissostichus Catch Documentation
Scheme - DCDS) there remains significant concern about the ability of CCAMLR
and member nations to stem the illegal toothfish catch. Several years ago the concern
of some legal toothfish operators and environment groups resulted in the creation
of ISOFISH, the role of which was to identify and publicly report on illegal fishing
in the Southern Ocean (www.tct.org.au/link.htm). Although ISOFISH is no longer
operational, its success was critical to the formation of COLTO and, ultimately, to
some limited industry support for a proposed listing of Patagonian toothfish on the
Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in recogni-
tion of the need for a trade control scheme that had a wider membership and more
comprehensive scope than that operated by CCAMLR.
TRAFFIC and other environmental groups
TRAFFIC (www.traffic.org) is one of a number of non-government environmental
groups that research and monitor trade in fisheries (as well as other plant and animal
products, most of which are listed by CITES). Although it is heavily involved
in terrestrial plants and animals, TRAFFIC has become increasingly involved in
fisheries issues in some high-profile fish species such as Patagonian toothfish (Lack
& Sant 2001) and tunas (Hayes 1997), especially in the Oceania region. TRAFFIC
operates by documenting trade flows and providing this information to authorities
and other interested parties that may not have their own capacity to gather the
information to enable effective control. This is especially useful for developing
countries which commonly do not have adequate systems in place to monitor and
control trade.
Government-NGO alliances
Trade issues also create alliances between the government and non-government
sectors. For example, the specific issue of the trade in live fish sourced from tropi-
cal coral reefs is of concern in Pacific countries due to the serious decline in target
species and the habitat damage caused by the use of dynamite and chemical poisons
as fishing tools (Sadovy et al . 2003). The diffuse nature of this trade, coupled with