The Fishermen's Dilemma

The SAMUDRA News Alert for 11 - 18 September indicates that there is a serious problem in coastal Ceara, Brazil. The problem apparently has two causes: Fishermen claim that for 15 years there has been inadequate law enforcement on this coast with the result that harvest of undersize lobsters by outsiders has diminished the resource. A contributing factor may be that undersize lobsters are illegally imported into the US.

Three non-governmental organizations are calling on their own government and on that of the US to improve law enforcement, so that their lobster fishery can be saved. Some 10,000 lobster fishermen and their families depend on this resource, which is diminishing markedly due to the illegal take of immature lobsters. In addition, the justice system in their area is apparently inadequate to the task of timely prosecution of law breakers, so the problem continues unabated. Lobster fishermen are willing to contribute about twenty-five cents per lobster to a fund that their government could use to build a law enforcement and coastal management authority to solve this problem.

Not knowing what else to do, NGO representatives of the fishermen have contacted American restaurants, asking them to advise the US Government to curtail the import of undersize lobsters. This would be done by the US Commerce Department and NOAA, under the auspices of the Lacey Act.

The fishermen blame their government for allowing "predatory fishing" by outsiders in their coastal areas. They need an uncorrupted coastal management authority to prevent this, and to ensure them preferential access to coastal resources, so that the lobster fishery can recover, and they can rebuild their livelihoods.

IWMC supports the SAMUDRA practice of bringing these problems to light. The Ceara coast of Brazil is not unique in being an example of poor or non-existent management.

Nations have to agree to cooperate with each other in order to discourage corruption and to ensure sustainability of seafood resources.