Science Proves Conservation of Bigeye Tuna Is Working

Science Proves PNA-Initiated Conservation of Bigeye Tuna Is Working

Pohnepei, Micronesia, 10 October 2011 - If the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) recent conservation measures and the current management measure on bigeye tuna by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) continues, overfishing of bigeye tuna will discontinue, scientists said.

Overfishing of bigeye tuna, a popular sashimi fish, caught by longline fishing and as bycatch in purse seine fishing, is a problem in the region, despite healthy levels of other tunas such as skipjack tuna (commonly used for canned tuna).

Speaking at the Technical and Compliance Committee of the WCPFC, which concluded on Friday, the Chair of the WCPFC Scientific Committee presented a summary of the updated report of Pacific tuna scientists which showed that the fishing mortality on bigeye tuna by purse-seiners was the lowest since 2007, and current management measures, if continued, would probably remove much of the overfishing that had been occurring on bigeye tuna.

Management measures introduced by the PNA such as high seas closures, limits on FADS, 100% observer coverage of purse seine fishing vessels and others which were later also included in the WCPFC Conservation and Management Measure 2008-01 were having a positive impact on bigeye tuna.

"This is a significant result for the Parties to the Nauru Agreement", said PNA Office Director, Dr Transform Aqorau. "It shows that the purse-seine fishery is taking its responsibilities seriously, and that the measures that we have introduced are working. It shows that PNA actions are capable of sustaining the Western and Central Pacific purse-seine fishery within precautionary levels into the indefinite future".

Dr Aqorau said that now was the time for the foreign fishing nations to take action to contribute to conservation and management of tuna in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean: "We would like to see the whole WCPFC membership now take up the additional measures that we introduced in 2010, including the ban on setting purse-seine nets around whale sharks, and the restriction on purse-seining in the eastern tropical high seas of the Convention area where there is a much higher percentage of bigeye in the catch. It is unfair that the majority of purse-seiners are bound by PNA licence conditions when a few, the USA and EU vessels, can take advantage of loopholes and have so far refused to voluntarily agree to compatible restrictions."

PNA will be pushing hard for an upgraded WCPFC Conservation and Management Measure for bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack tuna at the main WCPFC annual meeting in December, in Palau.

Science Facts:

A presentation by the head of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community-Oceanic Fisheries Programme Statistics Section, Peter Williams, suggested that this was mainly a result of three factors:

1. a reduction in the catch of tuna in the region which, after several successive years of increasingly high catches, dropped in 2010 after a ban on purse-seine fishing over large areas of the western Pacific high seas and the imposition of effort limits in the waters of the PNA. Total purse-seine fishing effort in 2011 is likely to be lower than in 2010. The Solomon Islands national vessel days limit was reached earlier this year, and other PNA zones are soon likely to be closed until the end of 2011;

2. the effects of the 2010 ban on the use of Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) for 3 months of the year, which is significantly reducing the catch of juvenile bigeye tuna - a bycatch of the purse-seine fishery - without deleteriously impacting the catch of the main target species skipjack tuna - a stock which is not threatened by overfishing. The resultant reduction in catch of small tuna (and bycatch species) is not only good for conservation - it also means that the larger tuna being caught from free schools are much more suitable for processing and thus more valuable;

3. the greatly improved data resulting from the imposition of 100% observer coverage by PNA countries in 2010, which contributed to improved methods of estimating catches of under-reported species, particularly bigeye tuna

Further Comments By PNA Director Dr Transform Aqorau:

Dr Aqorau pointed out that the next step for PNA is to move away from ad-hoc conservation and management measures and towards a system that does not rely on international decisions to be made before each action - where pre-agreed actions are triggered when fisheries indicators hit precautionary reference points, as mandated by the UN Fish Stocks Agreement. PNA says that it will have such a Harvest Control Strategy in place within the next five years.

"We want to collaborate with the entire WCPFC membership on this, but the WCPFC Science Committee has been working for several years on limit reference points and has still not got the stage of making a recommendation to the Commission. With at least 70% of the skipjack fishery occurring within PNA waters we are in a position to fast-track this process", he said. "We will probably leave the Commission to come up with biologically-based limit reference points for each stock, and we will concentrate on developing target reference points and management objectives for fisheries that occur mainly in PNA waters, taking into account socioeconomic factors as well as stock and ecosystem status".

“These are interesting times in Pacific Island fisheries management. The next challenge for the region is to ensure that the distant-water longline fishery targeting bigeye tuna does not get out of hand. The purse-seine fishery is now controlling its impact on bigeye, and it seems unfair that the small island states whose economies are critically dependent on revenue from renting their zones to purse seiners should be creating benefits that will be taken by longline fisheries in other areas, particularly distant-water high seas longliners that pay no rental fees at all. At the WCPFC TCC meeting, the Parties to the Nauru Agreement stated that they will be looking for ways of balancing this disparity.”

Dr Aqorau points out that the western Pacific distant water longline fishery is not as dependent on coastal state waters as the purse-seine fishery. "If we tell them that they can't fish in our zones if they catch too much bigeye tuna, or refuse to carry more observers, then they are likely to thumb their noses at us and move to fishing entirely on the high seas. This is one issue where the complete membership of the Commission needs to step up to the mark, and quickly".

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