Robust Conservation Measures Needed For 2 Main Pacific Tuna Speciesff

Suddenly, the 29-year-old Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Secretariat in Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara, becomes the epicenter of attraction to its political leaders.

In the first three months of this year for example, the secretariat hosted one Prime Minister, a Premier and a foreign minister. It seemed regular warnings of overfishing has finally hit home at the highest political level.

But since seeing is believing, they all wanted to “peep in” to see the actual goings-on in terms of fishing activities, particularly by foreign fishing boats licensed to fish in our waters.

So came they did.

One of the main highlights of the tours by political leaders is a visit to the somewhat controversial Vessels Monitoring System (VMS) which was introduced several years ago. Using satellite, the VMS keeps an eye on positions of and fishing activities by foreign fishing boats licensed to fish in the waters of FFA members.

Initially, there was resistance from distant water fishing nations, using costs as an argument against the installation of this compliance tool. This has now been overcome. It is proving to be of immense help to FFA and its members in keeping an eye on the region’s fisheries, particularly the migratory tuna stocks.

“From what I’ve seen, tuna stocks have been severely depleted. We cannot allow that to go on,” were the parting words of Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister, Sam Abal after his two-hour visit last February.

“I am pleased that FFA Director-General, Samoa’s Dan Su’a and his staff have initiated a program for Forum Leaders to visit the secretariat so that they too are fully aware of what is going on,” he said.

Minister Abal said his government had provided a proposal to establish a marine processing centre in Madang on PNG’s north coast where tuna caught in the waters of FFA members can be processed there.

Commercial sense: “We are making land available (about 200ha in size) for this centre. It makes commercial sense that tuna caught in our waters should be processed and canned in the region before they are exported. It makes commercial sense for everyone —the distant water fishing nations and FFA members—in terms of costs,” the PNG Foreign Minister said.

Under PNG’s proposal, distant water fishing nations will be allowed to build their factories on land, next door to PNG’s own fish cannery in Madang.

“In this way, the region will have a better knowledge and control over what goes out. Right now, we are not sure whether we are getting value for our vastly valuable tuna,” Abal said.

Cook Islands’ Prime Minister, Jim Marurai, the first Forum Leader to visit FFA headquarters this year, was equally vocal and succinct in his warning on over-fishing.

“There is every chance that this shared renewable resource that we Pacific Islanders have taken for granted over thousands of years may in fact be seriously threatened in the next few years” by over-fishing,” Marurai said.

“As most of you present this evening will be aware, in recent years our region has witnessed unprecedented levels of increasing fishing activity undertaken by Distant Water Fishing Nations.

“At this point in time, we believe that such over-fishing is now threatening the very existence of both the bigeye and yellowfin tuna species,” he said.

He called for “fresh approaches so that we can establish conservation and management measures that really do prevent our tuna species from being threatened”.

This, he said, would allow us Pacific Islanders rather than Distant Waters Fishing Nations, as currently appear to be the case, to determine the future destiny of the tuna stocks in our region.

The “visit-the-FFA” was an initiative designed to give Forum Leaders greater awareness of the important work the FFA Secretariat does in monitoring and managing tuna fish stocks in the region.

Marurai described it as an “exciting initiative” urging other Forum Leaders to take advantage of it.

“(It is) an opportunity whereby we as leaders can see for ourselves and experience first-hand the infrastructure and valuable work undertaken by the region’s most important fisheries organization,” Marurai said.

The Cook Islands has every reason to be concerned as are other Pacific Islands nations. In the case of the Cook Islands, it occupies one of the Pacific’s largest exclusive economic zones that is host to some of the very rich fishing grounds for albacore tuna, bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna and the most sought after, highly valuable swordfish.

“It is therefore not surprising that the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands is taking a keen interest to ensure the health of tuna stocks in our region,” Su’a said.

He said the challenges of fisheries in our region have never been pressing with the balancing act of trying to address national priorities against regional ones under severe scrutiny.

“The dynamics of fisheries at the national, regional and global levels are immense and a lot of questions are being asked about our ability to manage and protect our fisheries,” he said.

“In times like this, we panic. However, history tells us that FFA members have been very successful in addressing fisheries issues and challenges in this region simply by embracing the fundamental principle of regional solidarity,” he said.

Su’a identified three main issues as being at the heart of the new approaches to addressing the problem associated with fisheries in the region. These, he said, are:

• Fisheries awareness at the highest level of government;
• Political support for fisheries both at the national and regional levels; and
• Effective participation by representatives of FFA members at regional and international forums.

“These issues, if properly addressed, provide an integral mechanism that enhances the region’s capability in addressing issues and challenges resulting from the dynamics of national, regional and global fisheries management and development”.

Su’a said the Pacific is host to the last healthy fisheries stocks in the world, namely tuna, warning that overfishing now threatens two of the four main tuna species if the current level of fishing activity is allowed to continue.

Because tuna resources are highly migratory, their long-term sustainability is purely vested in the wills of the international community and the determination of all stakeholders to develop robust conservation and management measures that are supported by viable monitoring, control and surveillance [MCS] regime, he said.

The reason for an MCS regime, particularly in the region, is obvious. Some statistics may help us understand how much the Pacific gets for its tuna, their only shared regional resource.

FFA gets very little: By all counts, FFA members get very little by way of export receipts in return for their tuna. It is a published fact that tuna is a US$3 billion global industry. Estimates vary. However, it is estimated that half the total catch of tuna, valued at US$1.5 billion is taken from the Pacific.

Of this figure, 80 percent of the tuna is harvested from the waters of FFA member countries. That’s about US$1.2 billion worth of tuna. And yet, the Pacific as a region does not even collect anywhere near half of that amount.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua told a dinner he hosted for the Cook Islands Prime Minister that his visit to the FFA headquarters was “significant as it reflects the importance our region has for this very important institution”.

“It is an important, shared renewable resource that must be conserved and managed from depletion,” Sikua said Niue Premier Young Vivian was the other leader who had taken time this year to visit the FFA set-up.

Among the highlights of Premier Vivian’s FFA visit was a visit to the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre where he was briefed on the VMS, a compliance tool which the organization uses to monitor foreign fishing boats registered to fish in the waters of FFA members.

“To me the surveillance centre is the most important tool as it helps FFA in its fisheries management and surveillance. We want to make sure the future generation has fish.”

A former Secretary-General of the Noumea-based South Pacific Commission, Premier Vivian said his visit was in line with the Vava’u Declaration on Fisheries.

In the declaration, Forum Leaders recognized the importance of our tuna fisheries and the  FFA as the most equipped regional body to manage and develop the Pacific’s only shared resource.

“I am very pleased that the Forum Leaders have given FFA the formal recognition it needs as stipulated in the Vava’u Declaration on fisheries. My visit is the only way to have a deep appreciation for the important work of the organization,” Premier Vivian said.

“I am very impressed with the way staff have carried out their work. It’s not always easy, but they are doing an excellent job of it,” he said.