Western Central Pacific Tuna Commission Officially Launched ff

Much of the hardest work is still to come. But after more than seven years of tough and often tense negotiations, Pacific Island and Pacific Rim nations meeting in Pohnpei in early December officially launched the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention, which for the first time establishes a Tuna Commission to regulate tuna fishing on the high seas.

Seventeen countries have joined the convention, including China, South Korea and Taiwan. Japan and the United States are expected to complete approval processes early next year, with the European Commission and others joining up soon after. “The Tuna Commission is a very important institution, but it can only work through the joint effort of everyone-island nations and fishing countries,” said Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Gerald Zackios.

Akira Nakamae, director general of Japan's Resources Enhancement Promotion Department in the Fisheries Agency, says that the new commission “is very significant. (It is filling) the last vacuum area that had no management system for tuna and other fisheries resources.”

The toughest issue-how the commission will actually enforce conservation of rapidly depleting tuna resources on the high seas-was not directly addressed in Pohnpei. Decisions about fishing vessel quotas, restrictions on catch tonnage and limits on fishing days-all contentious issues-will be dealt with at later sessions of the Tuna Commission.

Michael Lodge, who has been head of the interim secretariat for the preparatory conference that negotiated the establishment of the Tuna Commission, was selected to head the new commission. Glen Hurry, general manager of the Australian government's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, was named chairman of the commission, and Liu Xiaobing, director of the People Republic of China's Bureau of Fisheries International Division, was named vice chair.

Fishing nations will shoulder the largest portion of the estimated $1.8 million cost to operate the Pohnpei-based Tuna Commission. Launching a major stock assessment this year of the four highly targeted tuna species-big eye, yellowfin, South Pacific albacore and skipjack-was also identified as a priority.

“There is the high likelihood that big eye is being fished above sustainable levels,” says a U.S. official who asked not to be named. “The situation is possibly more dire (than believed). The Tuna Commission needs to move quickly on big eye through quotas or other mechanisms, such as closed seasons or gear restrictions. Early action is needed.”

“Cooperation for managing the resources is essential if the distant water fishing nations are to continue reaping the benefits of the tuna,” says Zackios. That cooperation was in abundance at the Pohnpei meeting. The Tuna Commission's challenge is to maintain it.