The forced reconvening of the Northern Committee (NC) grouping of the Tuna Commission in Fiji is being seen as a small but positive step in the struggle to agree on long-term effective conservation methods for Pacific bluefin tuna.
Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency and the NGOs like WWF, Pew, Greenpeace and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership have been very vocal of the failure of the Northern Committee to make progress on this critical issue.
Director General of FFA James Movick told Pacific journalists in Nadi yesterday (Wednesday) that the Northern Committee has been ‘very resistant’.
“The failure of the Northern Committee to address the Pacific bluefin issue effectively brings the WCPFC mission into disrepute and this is something that the Pacific Island party have no role in because the Northern Committee was constituted as a separate entity for the bluefin and we are basically demanding that they take action and as a result the very frank and open discussion is a very encouraging sign,” Movick said.
According to a statement, FFA members said the Northern Committee is not fulfilling its mandate, and raised their voices with enough momentum to force the Committee to reconvene at WCPFC13 and offer a solution that will calm frustrations.
Movick said he does not think the (NC) members have been forced to reconvene like this previously.
The NGO community said it believes the Pacific bluefin tuna stock will continue to teeter on the edge of collapse if there is a lack of progress by responsible bodies.
The NGO members have gone as far as to say that there is an option to call for a complete moratorium on the commercial fishery catching from this tuna stock to ensure its recovery and rebuilding.
2016 stock assessments for Pacific bluefin tuna confirm continued low stock levels, with the spawning stock biomass now at a perilously low level of 2.6% of unfished levels.
In response, the Northern Committee at its September meeting in Japan had recommended taking up a harvest strategy and catch limits- but not to be negotiated until next year.
On the eve of the last day of the WCPFC13, FFA members and other tuna fishery stakeholders will be closely following deliberations on the Pacific Bluefin tuna management.
The Northern Committee (NC) members of the Tuna Commission are the powerful Distant Water Fishing Nations of Canada, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and United States of America (USA) while the Pacific members are Vanuatu. Cook Islands and Fiji.
Photo by Pew: Pacific bluefin tuna