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Abstract
Before I start my presentation on the very important
subject of illegal fishing, I do want to congratulate
Dr Meryl Williams on her appointment to the Chair
of the Board of Management of the Australian Centre
for International Agricultural Research and
President of its Policy Advisory Council. I am very
pleased to note that for the first time we have in the
position someone who does have a very distinguished
background in fisheries. I also am delighted
to have someone there who lived in the
same small country town as I did in Queensland.
Fish, fisheries, fisheries management, oceans and
seas are particularly important for a country like
Australia where our marine jurisdiction is about
twice the size of the nation’s landmass.
One of the major differences between the Australian
fisheries and those of many other counties is
that our marine jurisdictions don’t enjoy the same
level of productivity as many others around the
world, due to the lack of significant upwelling of
cold water. Thankfully, however, we do have one
of the world’s best fisheries management regimes.
Fish is a very important, healthy food throughout
the world, and particularly in those parts that are
developing or facing severe food deprivation.
Forty percent of the world’s population, or about
2.4 billion people, rely on seafood as their primary
source of protein.
As this conference clearly illustrates, global fish
stocks are under threat, and so too is food security
for these 2.4 billion people. The threat to the future
of fish as food comes from many sources, but
one of the most insidious is illegal, unregulated
and unreported fishing — IUU fishing — on an
industrial scale. This principally occurs on the
high seas and in the remoter oceans of the world,
where the coastal state simply does not have the
resources, the money or the political will to address
the problem. In our sphere of influence,
however, IUU fishing is being attacked. Our fight
against it focuses on marine border incursions.