February 22, 2017 — The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, or Tuna Commission, is launching a study to assess shark survival rates post catch and release.
That follows the meeting of a group of scientists and academics from around the world in Wellington last month at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
A spokesperson for the project, Shelley Clarke, said a sample of about 200 sharks in the Pacific will be electronically tagged and tracked.
December 9th, 2016 — Conservation and management measures for depleted tuna stocks in the Pacific have polarised the membership of the Pacific Tuna Commission.
The annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, which brings together Pacific countries and distant water fishing nations, has been going all this week in Nadi, Fiji.
Its executive director Feleti Teo said it was proving extremely difficult to reach a consensus on protecting depleted tuna stocks.
For bigeye tuna the main contention is between longliners, which target adult bigeye tuna, and purse seiners which catch juvenile bigeye tuna, that tend to school with their target species skipjack tuna.
This is particularly so when purse seiners set their nets around fish aggregating devices.
Longliners have set catch limits but Feleti Teo says there have been assertions that some countries have not been adhering to them.
Management of the impact of purse seiners on Bigeye is done by banning them from fishing on FADs for several months a year but the effectiveness of this practice is disputed and any increase on banned months has been rejected by small island countries.
December 9th, 2016 — A lot was said over the past five days in the conference rooms and hallways of The Sheraton Fiji Resort, during kokoda lunches poolside and lobster dinners at the nearby marina.
But all that talk didn’t amount to much.
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission wrapped up its annual meeting Friday as it often has in the past, with many of its international members and nonprofit advocates frustrated by the slow progress made on pressing issues like tuna overfishing and overall accountability on the high seas.
Some left shaking their heads in dismay. Others departed with a tired indifference. A few flew home before the commission adjourned.
But some action was taken amid signs that the commission may become more functional under the leadership of Chair Rhea Moss-Christian.
Overall, she said she was “extremely pleased” with the commission’s progress.
“In comparison to prior years we were able to have a lot more focused discussions on some real critical issues, especially related to tuna management overall,” she said.
“What happened this week is really setting the new tone for how the commission addresses any stocks in critical condition or in an overfished state.”
December 6th, 2016 — Honolulu International Airport is a ghost town. It’s 1 a.m. Sunday, hours past the routine blitz of interisland travelers and down to the handful of passengers heading to far-off lands plus a few others sleeping off the disappointment of a canceled flight.
I hand over my passport to the woman working at the Fiji Airways counter, throw my luggage on the conveyer belt and hope it arrives in Nadi, where I’m going to cover the weeklong meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
The commission — a treaty-based group composed of 26 members including Pacific Island nations, the United States, the big tuna players from Asia, the European Union and others — decides how to manage and conserve highly migratory fish stocks while reducing bycatch and ensuring the overall sustainability of one of the world’s biggest sources of protein.
Over the course of five full days, hundreds of scientists, government officials, nonprofit leaders and others will debate the myriad issues facing the health of tuna populations, the safety of fishing observers, the effects of climate change, the value of marine protected areas and the impact of new policies on local economies and international relations.
I was mulling this over on the plane while waiting to take off when the Boeing 737’s captain interrupted my thoughts with an update on what to expect on our way to Fiji.
December 2nd, 2016 — Seafoodnews.com — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) released a position statement ahead of the 13th Regular Session Meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) that calls for reducing bigeye tuna catches and limiting the use of non-entangling FADs to protect sharks.
The WCPFC is scheduled to meet in Nadi, Fiji, on December 5-9. The Commission oversees tuna stocks in the WCPO and is one of five tuna Regional Fishing Management Organizations (RFMOs).
“As stewards of the world’s largest tuna fishing grounds, WCPFC members carry a significant proportion of responsibility for the sustainable management of global tuna,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “The region has shown an active willingness to improve the way its fisheries are managed and protected. However, there is still progress to be made, including for the region’s bigeye stock.”
Bigeye catches were down 16 percent in 2015 compared to volumes in 2014 the ISSF said. However, the group said that short-term projections reviewed during the 12th Regular Session of the WCPFC Scientific Committee (SC12) showed that bigeye remains overfished.
“To end overfishing, fishing mortality needs to be reduced by about 36%. Skipjack tuna also is at risk of overfishing unless the Target Reference Point (TRP) is maintained and effective capacity management curbs potential increases in fishing effort,” the ISSF said in its position statement.
In all ocean regions, the ISSF has recommended adoption and execution of harvest control strategies, which guide fisheries management decisions.
For WCPFC, ISSF is advocating adhering to the 2015 harvest strategy work plan, which requires the RFMO to determine a rebuilding time frame for bigeye, management objectives for albacore tuna, and acceptable levels of risk so that Management Strategy Evaluations (MSE) and other work can move forward in 2017.
This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.
November 30, 2016 — PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — San Diego-based American Tunaboat Association (ATA) is calling for, among other things, a “level playing field” and the protection of US fishing rights on the high seas at the 13th meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission from Dec. 5- 9 Nadi, Fiji.
Tri Marine International, which has a fishing fleet based in Pago Pago, as well as American Samoa officials have called for more fishing days on the high seas for the US fleet, as fishing restrictions have impacted fish delivery to the two canneries in American Samoa.
Responding to Samoa News questions, ATA Executive Director Brian Hallman says he as well as eight to ten ATA members will be attending the WCPFC meeting.
Asked to name some of the important issues he plans to argue for ATA, Hallman says, “Our main approach will be to ensure that all management proposals are science based.” He went on to explain that in the past that has not always been the case; and rules should be applied equally and enforced equally for all fishing fleets, so that there is a level playing field for US vessels.
November 29, 2016 — European and American tuna suppliers and retailers have called for new interim rules governing the sustainable fishing of Western and Central Pacific tuna stocks.
The group says the interim rules are needed “as quickly as possible”, due to the failure to reach a comprehensive regulatory settlement agreed by country-members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which “allows unsustainable fishing to continue”.
Interim targets should be in place within the next 12 months, read the letter addressed to the WCPFC – which will meet next week in Fiji — with targets including limit and reference points for all target tuna stocks and key by-catch species where these are not currently in place.
Signatories to the letter, including retail giants Target, WM Morrison Supermarkets and Aldi Sud, note that finding a comprehensive fisheries management system is a “time-consuming and complex undertaking”.
October 18th, 2016 — Hawaii’s longline fishermen will be able to go after similar amounts of bigeye tuna next year under a policy passed last week by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.
But some have their sights set on doubling or even tripling their annual catch limits through new quota-sharing agreements with Pacific Island territories that don’t currently fish commercially for ahi.
Before that can happen though, the fishermen will need to demonstrate that the species is no longer subject to overfishing and convince federal officials that the pending arrangements with Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands do not violate international agreements to conserve fish stocks.
“We are right at the level of overfishing,” said Jarad Makaiau, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We are right on the razor thin line.”
Wespac manages 1.5 million square miles of ocean in the Central and Western Pacific Ocean and advises the National Marine Fisheries Service on catch limits, endangered species mitigation and stock assessments.
Scientists advising Wespac say the U.S. can increase its fishing effort without impeding international efforts to eliminate overfishing, pointing at countries like South Korea and Japan that have quota limits four or five times higher.
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, a 26-member international body that sets the tuna quota limits, has determined that overfishing has been occurring in the region since at least 2004.
August 16, 2016 — WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The money Pacific countries lose to illegal, unreported and unregulated tuna fishing in the region is estimated at $616 million, according to figures provided by the Forum Fisheries Agency.
Under an international agreement via the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, also known as the Tuna Commission, 34 countries including the United States have signed an agreement to stomp out IUU fishing.
May 5, 2016 — Washington, D.C. — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) and the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing a framework for mutual cooperation. The three-year MOU will establish a mechanism for working more closely together on shared activities to promote the sustainability of tuna fisheries, as well ecologically healthy and productive marine ecosystems, in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO).
ISSF and PNA share the view that there is a need to improve the conservation and sustainable use of tuna resources in the WCPO. ISSF and PNA also acknowledge the role that the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) plays in assessing and managing tuna populations in the WCPO. ISSF further recognizes that PNA members are responsible for implementing the decisions adopted by the PNA Ministers and WCPFC within waters under their national jurisdiction.
“The PNA has been committed to the adoption of harvest control rules in the WCPFC, has achieved the first ever Marine Stewardship Council certification of a purse seine tuna fishery, and has put into place strong monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) measures like 100% observer coverage, VMS and FAD tracking,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “We applaud and support these activities by the PNA, and advocate for similar programs across all tuna RFMOs and tuna fisheries. It is a natural next step that ISSF and PNA, who have worked alongside for some time now, have formalized a cooperative relationship,” Jackson continued.
Read the full press release at the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation