Five days of exhaustive talks at the annual meeting for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have yielded mixed results for Pacific Island states.

Squaring off against powerful distant water fishing countries, Pacific nations brought a number of proposals to the meeting to reduce catches and curb illegal fishing. 

Among the major successes, members were able to agree on a target reference point for skipjack tuna - the Pacific’s most valuable stock.

“That is a really fundamental measure on a fundamental stock,” said Wez Norris, deputy director-general of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency.

“It paves the way towards the development of more robust and strategic management frameworks.”

He also lauded the commission for adopting a work plan for the development of harvest strategies for the region’s tuna species - which could potentially include monitoring programmes, stock assessment methods, reference points, and harvest control rules.

Despite the high points, Norris pointed out several areas where the commission failed to deliver.

Fragile stock

A key priority for the FFA was the setting of a target reference point for Albacore tuna – the most important commercial species for the southern Pacific countries. FFA member states have set their sights on reducing catches by 40 per cent after scientists at SPC assessed the stock to be more “fragile” than previously thought.

“We are deeply disappointed that such an important stock is going to sort of lag behind a year in terms of the development of a harvest strategy,” he said. “The results of the new stock assessment are very threatening and very different from our previous understanding of the albacore stock.”

The commission also failed to push through measures that are designed to curb illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, such as increased surveillance and a ban on tuna transhipment in the high seas.

“It is a great shame that other commission members were unable to support that and it is very worrying that these flag states remain far more interested in defending the operational convenience of their vessels rather than putting in place proper management measures and enforcing those management measures.”

Norris also expressed dismay at members blocking a measure on port-based initiatives, including inspection procedures and minimum training standards for inspectors.

Bigeye tuna is the species of most conservation concern to the Pacific as it has been assessed at 16 per cent of its historic stock size.

Pacific nations were not able to convince distant water fishing nations such to cut the catch.

“As in the past two years, we are disappointed in the outcome of WCPFC 12,” said Elisala Pita, Tuvalu’s Minister for Natural Resources, commenting on the commission’s failure to agree on measures of curbing bigeye mortality.

 “While the Commission made some progress in determining timelines for developing long-term management strategies, it is of great concern that member governments left this meeting with no agreement on how to end the continued overfishing of Pacific bluefin and bigeye tunas,” added Amanda Nickson, director of Global Tuna Conservation at the Washington-based Pew Charitable Trusts.

““The amount of time members spent this week negotiating the future of bigeye tuna, with no resulting management outcomes to end overfishing, has prevented discussions on other important measures that would protect declining shark populations and help enforcement agencies curtail illegal fishing, such as adopting minimum standards for port controls,” he said.