At the closing of 2008, Atuna.com enquired our readers –on the tuna poll- about the outcomes of the last WCPFC meeting. Many measures were taken in order to slow down the depletion of tuna stocks in the Western Pacific Ocean, such as the permanent closure of high sea pockets.

However, those measures were not enough to reach the 30% reduction on bigeye and yellowfin catches recommended by the WCPFC Scientific Committee and that failure is reflected in our poll results.

The question asked was ARE THE CONSERVATION MEASURES AGREED ON TUNA DURING THE LAST WCPFC MEETING SUFFICIENT?

33% of the poll’s participants answered that the measures are insufficient to secure tuna stocks conservation. The same amount of participants had a more optimistic view with the answer “a step in the right direction”.

Opposing to that prediction, 20% of the readers believe that the measures “will hardly have effect” and only 12% believe that the conservation measures agreed on the last WCPFC meeting were sufficient.

The WCPFC meeting results didn’t differ much from the other tuna RFMO’s: member countries paying for stock assessments, but not willing to comply with scientific recommendations to recover tuna population.

Here is the outcome:

ARE THE CONSERVATION MEASURES AGREED ON TUNA DURING THE LAST WCPFC MEETING SUFFICIENT?