NGOS URGE ADOPTION OF SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE FOR SKIPJACK TUNA

NGOs Urge Adoption of Science-Based Management Procedure for Skipjack Tuna This Year. Western and central Pacific Ocean skipjack tuna is one of the most valuable fish in the world. Worth more than US $9.65 billion at the final point of sale, it is the third most-caught fish in the world. While it is currently a healthy stock, it needs strong rules in place to ensure that catch remains sustainable.

For more than eight years, members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have negotiated to move away from yearly quota-setting to a science-based, pre-agreed management procedure (MP) for skipjack tuna, which would modernise how fishing limits are determined. WCPFC is on the verge of adopting this management style at its annual meeting in November, but some stakeholders are keen to push back the implementation timeline by up to six years.

In particularly, the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), the eight countries that contain some of the world’s most productive skipjack fishing grounds, have often led the way on sustainability, but now are pushing to delay implementation of a management procedure, effectively preventing the modernising of management of this stock.

Last week, NGOs The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Ocean Foundation, WWF, and Global Tuna Alliance, published an open letter urging the bloc to reconsider their stance and adopt the MP this year.

 Read the letter here.

The Pacific Islands Forums Fisheries Agency (FFA), another regional bloc in the western and central Pacific, will meet at the end of October to set its position on the skipjack MP. It is imperative for the sustainability of this valuable stock that it, and all WCPFC members, including the PNA, move to adopt and implement this management procedure without delay.

Glen Holmes, officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries project, and Dave Gershman of The Ocean Foundation, will be attending WCPFC in November, and are available for interviews