2 July 2010
Global By Atuna In a statement given at the UN Fish Stocks Review Conference, in New York last May, Mr. Satya N. Nandan, Chairman of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) called on the major fishing nations in the world to take action in stopping over-fishing and is very pessimistic about the present and the future of tuna stocks management:
“Regrettably, however, it is equally evident that we have not made as much progress as we should have made in conserving fish stocks, which continue to decline in the face of over-fishingâ€, stated Mr. Nandan.
The Chairman reminded the Conference participants of the constant disregard of scientific advice by the member countries “The first problem is the reluctance of many RFMOs, including WCPFC, to follow clear and unambiguous scientific advice to reduce catches†and the lack of compliance of the measures approved “Ultimately, it is these States that are required to implement regional measures in domestic legislation or otherwise, and to enforce it against their vessels and nationals (…) the RFMO is nothing more than a forum for States to agree on measuresâ€.
In addition, Mr. Nandan called for the fact that if we look at all the RFMOs dealing with tuna fish stocks today, we can see there is one striking common factor between them. A small number of fishing countries – Japan, the EU, the United States, Korea, the fishing entity of Chinese Taipei and, increasingly, China – are members of all RFMOs.
This is hardly surprising, since these countries have the strongest fishing presence in all oceans and control the largest fishing fleets and the largest markets for fish. In some cases, nationals of these countries also fish using vessels flying other flags, including flags of non-members of RFMOs:
“Ultimately therefore, it is these States that must bear the primary responsibility for the failure of RFMOs to achieve conservation objectives. The RFMO is only the vehicle by which its members reach collective decisionsâ€, he continued.
The WCPFC Chairman nicely spoke that it is also important to note that in taking such enforcement action, States are not only responsible for vessels flying their flags, but also cannot ignore the actions of their nationals, whatever flag they are using: “Unfortunately, it is all too readily apparent that in many cases, the nationals of major fishing States use vessels flagged to other States to avoid their responsibilities. Furthermore, the States of which these individuals are nationals, take little or no action to constrain their activitiesâ€.
In a pessimistic but very pragmatic tone; Mr. Nandan finalized saying that if States are not able to live up to these obligations, then the consequences are clear: not only will there be further decline in fish stocks, but also there will be increased pressure to deal with the problems of over-fishing in other forums, such as CITES and the General Assembly, thus undermining the role of RFMOs: “If we do not address these issues, then such consequences will be unavoidable†Mr. Nandan ended his speech.
