Another fisheries commission throws the science overboard

Pusan, South Korea - The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) today over-rode the advice of its science committee and rejected the recommendations of its chair in choosing only minor reductions in catch for bigeye and yellowfin tuna and watering down or deferring most measures for achieving reduced catches.

The decision comes just a fortnight after the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) both also rejected their own scientists pleas for significant cuts to catches in the face of collapsing or falling tuna populations.

Measures adopted by the WCPFC will see a catch reduction of less than seven per cent for 2009 on WWF estimations, well down on a recommendation of a 30 percent cut which it was conceded would still not have eliminated overfishing. Among the discarded, delayed or reduced measures were high seas fishing closures, restrictions on gear types, and important initiatives to better record and verify catches and crack down on rampant illegal fishing.

It is an especially galling rebuff for WCPFC chair Glenn Hurry, who earlier this year chaired the independent review of ICCAT that found that body’s management of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery “an international disgrace”. WWF commends Mr Hurry, also Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, for his efforts worldwide to promote scientifically based fisheries management.

“Disappearing, collapsing and declining bluefin tuna fisheries world wide for the high value sushi market are increasing demand for bigeye and yellowfin tuna,” said WWF’S Peter Trott, who attended the Pusan meeting.

“What we are seeing now is an international tragedy where the failure of one fishery adds to the pressure on others, while some fisheries nations use their weight to subvert virtually the entire international system for long term sustainable fisheries management.”

WCPFC’s failures will have severe impacts on Pacific island states where foreign fishing fleets are having catastrophic impacts on the viability of their fishers and coastal communities, a point underlined at the meeting when Papua New Guinea announced its intention of denying access to its waters for fishing vessels from nations not subscribing to high seas closures.

“In the equatorial Pacific we can see the crash coming and a block of major fishing nations seem determined to fish their way into it,” said Trott. “The implications are disastrous for the small island communities in the region , where millions of people depend on healthy tuna stocks for food and livelihoods.”