Leading with a call for improved compliance processes, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has issued its position statement for consideration by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) ahead of its 20th regular session from 4-8 December 2023, in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
“Regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) need strong and transparent compliance processes in order to meet their objectives, strengthen their performance, and be accountable to their many and diverse stakeholders,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “Yet the WCPFC is the only tuna RFMO with a compliance assessment process that is closed to accredited observers. That’s why our position statement leads with a call for the Commission to develop guidelines for the observer participation in compliance assessment processes.”
Other issues addressed in the statement include tuna stock conservation and effective management procedures, FAD management, electronic monitoring, transhipment regulations, bycatch mitigation, and shark protections.
“The WCPFC also has the opportunity to progress tuna stock conservation. The Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) is the world’s largest tuna fishing ground, and due to persistent management, no tuna stocks in the WCPO are currently overfished or experiencing overfishing,” Jackson said. “For these stocks to remain healthy, managers must continue to implement scientific advice and take a precautionary approach.
“Specifically, the Commission adopted management procedures (MP) for skipjack tuna and North Pacific albacore last year. This year, it must operationalise these MPs by implementing the outputs of the skipjack management procedure in the revised tropical tuna measure and by adopting a harvest control rule for North Pacific albacore. A new and improved conservation measure for tropical tunas that includes strengthened measures for fish aggregating devices (FADs) is also a must.”
ISSF said the priorities for Western and Central Pacific Ocean Tuna Fisheries include having the Compliance Monitoring Scheme Intersessional Working Group directed to develop guidelines for the participation of accredited observers, as well as a scheme of responses to non-compliance, to present to the Commission for adoption in 2024.
With regards to harvest strategies, it wants a new conservation measure adopted for tropical tunas that:
- Implements the outputs of the 2023 skipjack Management Procedure
- Limits fishing mortality for bigeye and yellowfin to the interim Target Reference Points
- Removes ambiguities and exemptions
- Sets catch limits for fisheries that do not have them
In terms of FAD management, it wants the Commission to establish an interim timeline, to be reviewed in 2024, for transitioning to 100% biodegradable FADs consistent with the timeline agreed by the IATTC. It also wants a requirement adopted for the provision of near-real-time FAD position and acoustic biomass data for scientific use, with appropriate time-lags to protect confidentiality.
At the same time, it wants to task the Electronic Reporting and Electronic Monitoring Intersessional Working Group with finalising Electronic Monitoring (EM) standards, specifications, and procedures for adoption in 2024, and for the regulation of at-sea transhipment to be strengthened in line with best practice standards.
For by-catch mitigation and shark protection, ISSF wants WCPFC’s Scientific Committee (SC) and the Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC) tasked with reviewing the seabird and sea turtle measures in 2024, and providing advice on updated best practice mitigation options, and for SC and TCC to provide recommendations in 2024 on the conservation measure for sharks, including the provisions for retained sharks to be landed with fins naturally attached.
