ECONOMY-SOUTH PACIFIC: Tuna In Trouble From Overfishingff

Written by Shailendra Singh

Record catches of tuna in 2006 have so lowered stocks that Greenpeace Australia Pacific has renewed calls for a 50 percent reduction in tuna fisheries in Pacific waters.

At its annual meeting in Hawaii recently, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Scientific committee of about 150 fishery experts warned that there was a 50 percent chance that yellow fin tuna was being exploited at unsustainable levels.

The committee said stocks could drop by as much as 25 percent in the next five years at current rates of capture.

A year ago the scientists urged the commission to require participating nations to reduce yellow fin tuna catches by 10 percent and big eye tuna by 25 percent to reduce the chances of overfishing.

But the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission -which includes China, Japan and Taiwan- did not follow the recommendation.

Nilesh Goundar, the Pacific administration and oceans team leader for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the organization has been calling for a 50 percent reduction in tuna fisheries since last year, and that their stand remained unchanged. “With scientists warning that stocks could be in serious trouble within three years, Greenpeace urges effort reductions of 50 percent across all Pacific tuna fisheries be implemented, with particular focus on purse seine fisheries.”

Goundar added that the industry had ignored warnings by regional fisheries scientists since 2001 that strong measures were needed to conserve stocks.

”The fishing sector and especially distant water fishing nations (DWFN) have been very slow to respond to these warning signals and have made no moves to reduce fishing effort and modify fishing practices,” he told IPS in an interview.

The scientific committee reported that the Western and Central Pacific tuna fishery yielded near record landings of 2.2 million metric tons (mmt) in 2006, valued at about three billion US dollars.

Asked if this level of exploitation was sustainable, Goundar said: “It can’t be sustainable when two species, big eye and yellow fin, are in serious trouble. Can we trust the science on this matter? Clearly the views of our regional scientists appear to have been thwarted by DWFN scientists.”

Goundar believes the scientific committee has underreported actual catches as no consideration was given to the many unknowns in their assessment, like pirate fishing. “What is the level or rate of pirate fishing going on in the Pacific?” he asked.

”Most boats fish without observers on board, satellites can’t weigh the fish in the holds, and many island governments, with huge swaths of ocean to cover, have only one patrol boat. Have these factors been taken into account in setting catch levels? With so many unknowns, where is the precautionary wisdom in the decisions that we should be making?”

Tuna fishery is one of the Pacific’s most important sources of income, responsible for around 11 percent of Gross Domestic Product for the combined regional economy, and at least half of the region’s exports.

The main income comes from of fishing licenses and access fees for foreign fleets to operate in Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Some nations receive additional financial benefit through port facilities and canneries, which provide jobs.

Across the entire region, around 21,000 to 31,000 Pacific Islanders are employed directly or indirectly by the tuna industry. Goundar said while fisheries was a key sector, Pacific island countries should be wary of industrial fishing methods used by the foreign fleets which take up to 90 per cent of the total catches - 900 percent more than locally based vessels.

He said industrial fishing methods were highly efficient at stripping fish from the ocean. A modern super-seiner can take up to 11,000 tons of fish per season.

In comparison -a fleet of small aluminum boats and outrigger canoes in Niue caught an estimated 100 tons of the main tuna species for the whole of 2003- a super seiner would catch this much fish in just two days.

Said Goundar: “Should we open the doors to more investment blindly, when what we really should be doing is cutting down the number of boats catching our fish?”

Turning to earnings, Goundar said Pacific Island countries received close to 70 million dollars from access agreements in 2003. At six percent of the landed catch value of around here billion dollars, this was grossly inequitable, he said.

”On top of this gross inequity of fishery agreements and methods, the Pacific is losing even more of the wealth through pirate fishing - up to 300,000 tons of tuna, worth between 134 billion dollars to 400 million dollars per year. This is up to four times the revenue earned by Pacific Island states from access fees. Not only do Pacific Island countries lose this income, they receive no tax income, suffer the loss of a diminished resource and lost potential catches.” Similar views were expressed by Gordon Darcy Lilo, Solomon Finance Minister, recently. He said his country had been badly treated on the tuna fishing access fee arrangement.

”We want to move quickly into downstream processing (with) more onshore facilities to cater for the high-end market. We are in the heart of the tuna fishing ground. Yet, yet last year we (only) got 6.57million dollars (which) is peanuts,” Darcy Lilo said.

Greenpeace has urged all Pacific members of the Tuna Commission to hold firm to the agreed cuts of 25 per cent for big eye and 10 per cent for yellow fin catches, and to go even further and cut fishing in their waters by up to 50 percent.

”A 50 percent cut to fishing will create a win-win solution for Pacific economies and for the future of our valuable tuna stocks,” Goundar said.

Source: IPS News