US embassy cable - 05ROME1174

UNCLAS  ROME 001174 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR OES/OMC - STETSON TINKHAM 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EFIS, SENV, KSCA, ETRD, AG, FR, IT, MO, TU, ICCAT 
SUBJECT:  DRIFTNETS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN:  WORLD 
WILDLIFE FUND MEDITERRANEAN OFFICE PROPOSAL FOR ACTION 
 
REFS:  (A)  State 031564, (B) Signoretti-Tinkham e-mails 
 
(U)  SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED  PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
1.  (U) This is an action request:  please see paragraphs 8 
and 9. 
 
2.  (SBU) Embassy recently received a letter from the World 
Wildlife Fund (WWF) Mediterranean Programme Office in Rome 
that alleged illegal driftnet activity by Morocco, Algeria, 
France, Italy and Turkey in the Mediterranean high seas. 
Citing a 2003 WWF study of the problem in Morocco, and more 
recent evidence from 2004 and 2005, WWF proposes a plan to 
end these illegal and harmful practices.  Excerpts from 
WWF's letter are provided below.  The letter in its 
entirety has been faxed to OES/OMC for Stetson Tinkham. 
 
BEGIN EXCERPTS OF WWF LETTER: 
 
3.  (SBU)...IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) 
driftnet-related activity currently exists in at least 
Morocco, Algeria, France and Italy; and Turkey, Morocco, 
Algeria and Turkey have openly reported to ICCAT (The 
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic 
Tunas) the use of driftnets recently.  A study carried out 
by WWF and the local organization AZIR (acronym not spelled 
out) in 2003, published in the prestigious scientific 
journal "Biological Conservation," pointed out the extreme 
environmental impact of the large-scale driftnet fleet 
based in Northern Morocco that operates in the 
Mediterranean High Seas targeting swordfish.  A minimum 177 
active driftnetters using nets of up to 14 kilometers in 
length could be recorded, mainly based in the ports of 
Tangiers (130 units), Al Hoceima (28 units) and Nador (19 
units).  This fleet annually kills more than ten percent of 
the short-beaked common dolphin population in the Alboran 
Sea (SW Mediterranean), the last Mediterranean refuge for 
this cetacean, which is listed as endangered in the IUCN 
(The World Conservation Union) Red List.  Besides the 3,500 
dolphins killed annually as by-catch in Mediterranean 
waters, this illegal, unreported and unregulated fleet 
inflicts a high mortality on vulnerable pelagic sharks 
(25,000 individuals belonging to three species; a swordfish 
to shark ratio of 2:1).   By-catch by the Tangiers fleet in 
the adjacent Atlantic waters and Strait of Gibraltar would 
include a further 13,000 dolphins and 77,000 sharks. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Even if the Moroccan delegation to the 2004 
ICCAT meeting orally communicated their plans to implement 
a four-year phase out plan for the affected driftnet fleet, 
WWF has reasons to doubt its real implementation under the 
current situation.  Indeed, in a meeting in May 2004 in 
Rabat, the Secretary General of the Ministry for Marine 
Fisheries, Mr. Tijani Rhanmi, clearly stated to a WWF/AZIR 
delegation that no phase-out plan for the fleet would ever 
be implemented unless funding assistance is made available 
by donor states.  Recently, on 15th March 2005, the Spanish 
Congress asked the Spanish Government to ask the European 
Commission to include the phase-out of the Moroccan 
driftnet fleet as a precondition for the signature of any 
new fishing agreement with this country. 
 
5. (SBU)  Considering these antecedents, and given the 
obvious need for a regional approach, WWF outlines below 
... actions to solve this longstanding problem that 
undermines the credibility of the international governance 
of the seas: 
 
MOROCCO: 
 
--  Support the Moroccan government's search for financial 
resources to enable ... a real phase-out plan for its whole 
IUU driftnet fleet.  This would encompass the coast ranging 
from Larache, in the Atlantic, to Nador, in the Alboran 
Sea, including the port of Tangiers, which concentrates the 
bulk of this illegal fleet. 
 
--  WWF is ready to contribute proactively with its 
expertise, in the role of an environmental auditor of this 
process. 
 
 
ALGERIA: 
 
--  Recommending to the Algerian government to carry out an 
accurate survey of current driftnetting activities in the 
country. 
 
--  As a second step, a phase-out plan should be 
encouraged, supported with necessary funding, similar to 
the Moroccan case. 
 
TURKEY: 
 
--  Recommending to the Turkish government to carry out an 
accurate survey of current driftnet activities in the 
country.  Some information is already available in academic 
publications. 
 
--  As a second step, a phase-out plan should be 
encouraged, supported with necessary funding, similar to 
the Moroccan and Algerian cases. 
 
FRANCE: 
 
--  Recommending to the French government the need to 
develop and implement a phase-out plan for the IUU 
"thonaille" or "correntine" driftnet fleet operating in the 
NW Mediterranean, including the waters protected under the 
Cetaceans Sanctuary. 
 
ITALY: 
 
--  Recommending to the Italian government to increase 
control and surveillance activities to prevent the illegal 
activity of driftnetters, particularly from Sardinian 
ports. 
 
END EXCERPTS FROM TEXT. 
 
COMMENT: 
-------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  In a recent meeting with EST officers, WWF 
representatives claimed that WWF observers in 2004 had seen 
evidence of driftnet use on Italian fishing vessels using 
Sardinian ports.  However, they did not say whether they 
obtained documentary evidence from these sightings, and the 
Department will note that no such evidence is presented in 
the WWF letter.  WWF contacted the Embassy on an urgent 
basis because the driftnet season begins in mid-April.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
 
7.  (SBU)  On March 3, SCIcouns presented Ref A demarche to 
Riccardo Rigillo, Director for External Resources and 
Surveillance, Directorate General for Fishing and 
Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.  We 
mentioned our ongoing concern over the continued use of 
Italian illegal driftnets and noted that both WWF and 
Greenpeace-Italy had approached the Embassy last summer. 
Several articles, some during last July's meeting of the 
International Whaling Commission in Sorrento, appeared in 
the Italian press on the problem.  Rigillo was aware of the 
episodes during the summer of 2004, and told us "if similar 
incidents happen this year, the GOI would take more 
decisive actions."  (NOTE:  Rigillo was referring to 
specific driftnet enforcement plans that have not been 
activated since 2003.  END NOTE.) 
 
ACTION REQUESTED 
---------------- 
 
8. (SBU) On the potential for driftnet use in Italy this 
year, Embassy suggests that a letter from OES/O DAS David 
Balton to Under Secretary Paolo Scarpa Bonazza Buora of the 
Ministry of Agriculture and Forests would be useful to 
underscore U.S. concerns.  Scarpa Bonazza, the chief GOI 
policymaker on fisheries issues, a close friend of the 
United States, should be receptive. 
 
 
9.  (SBU) Department is also asked to review faxed letter 
and advise how Embassy should respond to the WWF 
Mediterranean Programme Office letter.  Assistance 
appreciated. 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2005ROME01174 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED