The head of the Parities to the Nauru Agreement fisheries block said the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) should focus on controlling fishing on the high seas.
Ludwig Kumoru spoke ahead of the annual meeting for the WCPFC in Fiji next month, and stated that the commission should be concerned with non-compliance of fishing rules on the high seas.
“We need the WCPFC to focus on its core mandate, currently there is virtually no control on longline fishing most of which takes place on the high seas,” explained Mr Kumoru.
He said a ban on transshipment of tuna at sea and requiring fishing boats to offload in port has been discussed repeatedly at the WCPFC without action.
This is expected to help establish data on the number of longliners active in the region, and improve the availability of catch data needed by scientists to assess the condition of tuna stocks.
During the WCPFC annual meeting there will also be discussions on purse seine fishing control on the high seas, establishing a harvest control measure for skipjack tuna, the management of fish aggregating devices, control of capacity and rebuilding bigeye tuna stocks.
Kumoru added: “We need effort control for purse seiners on the high seas. Like PNA’s fishing day limits for purse seiners in our exclusive economic zones, we need fishing day limits for high seas fishing.”
He concluded: “We are looking to support a conservation measure at the WCPFC meeting to rebuild bigeye stocks.”
