CONVENTION ON MIGRATORY SPECIES - THE MALTREATMENT AND MUTILATION OF SEABIRDS IN FISHERIES:

CONVENTION ON UNEP/CMS/COP14/Doc.27.1.3/Rev.3 MIGRATORY 16 February 2024 SPECIES Original: English 14th MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 12 – 17 February 2024 Agenda Item 27.1 THE MALTREATMENT AND MUTILATION OF SEABIRDS IN FISHERIES: REPORT OF THE CMS INTERSESSIONAL WORKING GROUP (Prepared by the Chair of the Working Group) Summary: In 2020, a paper was published in. [...] At the 5th meeting of the Sessional Committee of the CMS Scientific Council (ScC-SC5), held online in July 2021, the Aquatic Species Working Group (ASWG) discussed a recently published paper (December 2020) in the journal, Biological Conservation, that described the deliberate killing, maltreatment and mutilation of seabirds in the south- west Atlantic Ocean by commercial fishers.1 2. [...] 4 A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur e Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas. [...] The main conclusion of the assessment is that the types of mutilation injuries reported in the Biological Conservation paper appear to be confined to a rogue group of fishers operating in the seas off southern Brazil or elsewhere in the South Atlantic. [...] The Conference of the Parties is recommended to: take note of this report from the working group investigation; and adopt the Decisions contained in the Annex of this document.