If Ecuador achieves a positive ruling, it will open the way for commercial development of the jack mackerel fishery. (Photo: Stock File)

Govt expects The Hague’s positive ruling on jack mackerel quota

ECUADOR
Wednesday, June 06, 2018, 23:10 (GMT + 9)

The Ecuadorian Government, through the Ministry of Aquaculture and Fisheries, hopes to obtain a positive ruling this month from the panel constituted in the Permanent Court of Arbitration of The Hague in the case established for the review of the quota assigned to the country for jack mackerel capture.

With that result, the way would be opened for the commercial development of this fishery in Ecuador.

The objection (claim) was established before the decision of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) not to increase the quota despite Ecuadorian requests to review it according to the basic aspiration of its industry. This issue was urged during the last meeting of this organization, held in Lima between January 30 and February 3, 2018.

The delegation from Ecuador, headed by Undersecretary of Fisheries Resources Jorge Costain, together with the legal advisor of the matter, Jimmy Villavicencio, and the vice-consul in The Hague, José Antonio Yturralde, attended last week the presentation of the allegations before a panel of experts in international fisheries law convened in the justice system, which is expected to issue its ruling until next June 9.

At the hearing, Ecuador presented its legal position against the reluctance of the SPRFMO, also known as the Convention, to increase the quota for the capture of jack mackerel by 5,123 tonnes, despite its scientific and legal arguments.

The requested increase would be added to the 1,377 tonnes allocated by the SPRFMO, through resolution CMM1-2018. With this action the country would have a total quota of 6,500 tonnes.

The Ecuadorian request is also supported by the fact that the SPRFMO increased the quotas of other member countries, such as Peru, whose quota until 2017 was 10,000 tonnes, and was increased by 16 per cent to almost 11,684 tonnes, a 630 per cent more in relation to Ecuador. The same increase policy was applied for a request from South Korea, so Ecuador considers it discriminatory that its demand for quota increase is not approved, much more considering that, as a developing country and member of this organization, by law it must be supported in the development of this fishery.

"We believe that the evidentiary arguments that we present in the court are sufficient for the panel to offer a favourable decision to the country because we have already raised our position to the SPRFMO, which will have the obligation to review the request" said Costain.

"The defense of the Objection presented by Ecuador was based on proving three fundamental aspects: the existence of unjustifiable discrimination, formal and de facto against Ecuador, the contradiction to the rules of the Convention, the 1995 Agreement and the Convemar. And finally, the existence of an alternative measure to the one proposed in CMM1-2018, through which the quota requested by Ecuador can be granted," he added.

The SPRFMO is an intergovernmental body that aims to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources in the South Pacific Ocean. It is made up of 15 members: Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Australia, People's Republic of China, European Union, South Korea, Denmark, New Zealand, Cuba, Russia, Chinese Taipei, United States, Vanuatu and Cook Islands.

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