December 23, 2021 — The Western and Central Pacific Ocean’s bigeye, yellowfin, albacore, and skipjack tuna are all in healthy condition and the stocks are not overfished, according to a report issued recently by the Pacific Community.
According to the report, “The western and central Pacific tuna fishery: 2020 overview and status of stocks,” the tuna catch for 2020 was estimated at 2,743,310 metric tons (MT) a decrease from the record high of 2,987,934 MT caught in 2019.
May 6, 2019 — The executive director of the US Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council believes that marine monuments in US federal waters are needlessly restricting harvesters from fishing.
In recent testimony before the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, Kitty Simmonds asserted that fishing prohibitions in marine monuments amount to a “major impediment” for US fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO).
“These prohibitions have forced our fishermen out of more than half of the US [exclusive economic zone] EEZ in the WCPO and onto the high seas, where they are forced to compete with foreign fleets on the fishing grounds,” she said. “Because of limited data, the full impact of the expansion of the marine monuments in 2016 is yet to be fully understood. We do know that US fishermen have been displaced from US waters, where they have to travel farther to fishing grounds and compete with foreign fleets.”