A proposal, which has been drawn up as a conclusion of a workshop on the Compliance with the MHLC and WCPFC resolutions on tuna fishing in Western Central Pacific, demands that Taiwan scrapes 23 tuna purse seiner of each 1000 M/T by July 31st 2007.
The proposal made at a meeting in Sapporo, Japan, is aimed at the next Prepcon VII meeting. PrepCon VII and the Inaugural Session of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean will be hosted by the Federated States of Micronesia during the week beginning December 6th 2004.
The proposal mentions several interim actions to be taken to preserve the tuna stocks in the Western Pacific:
- Large tuna fishing nations in the WCP should immediately cease the construction and introduction of any new purse seiner and long liner vessels. Exception is made for those vessels, which replace currently licensed vessels.
- For WCP island nations to restrict the issuance of fishing licenses and vessel registrations to foreign owned and operated tuna seiners and longliners.
- For all nations active in the WCP to cooperate to ensure that the Taiwanese companies which created over-capacity in tuna fishing, in contravention with MHLC and Prepcon resolutions, will scrape their 23 purse seiners of 1000 GRT class by July 31st 2007, and that the licenses to these vessels will be abolished immediately. (A detailed list with the names of 7 major Taiwanese tuna fishing companies, and the vessels involved, accompany the proposal).
- A fleet reduction plan should be established and implemented, and nations should submit their worked out program at Prepcon VII.
- A ban to be implemented on the provision of vessel equipments for the construction of new vessels.
The proposal also calls for an information exchange in order to take legal actions against any international tuna trading company, which would undermine the effectiveness of the tuna conservation Programs in the Western Central Pacific region.
The intention of the proposal is not only to preserve the tuna stocks, but also to encourage the localization of the tuna fishing vessels from developed members such as the EU, to coastal and island developing nations.
If this proposal would be accepted and implemented by Prepcon VII in the FSM in December 2004, in its original form, it would mean a big blow not only to the Taiwanese tuna fishing industry, but also to the wharfs in Taiwan, which currently have new tuna vessels under construction.
The proposal comes at a time when the Pacific region is experiencing a dramatic drop in tuna catches, the most severe in the past 6 years. Although scientists have found no explanation for this decline, many professionals see the strong increase in fishing activity over the last 3 years, and the intensive use of FAD’s in the WCP as a major cause for the problem.