Byline: Bernadette Carreon-Brooks

Report indicates key tuna stocks in Western and Central Pacific are healthy

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Republished from SeafoodSource, 12 December 2019

Bigeye, yellowfin, South Pacific albacore, and skipjack tuna are all reported to be in healthy condition, according to a 2018 stock assessment announced this week during the 16th Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

The stock-assessment report of the Pacific Community (SPC) stated that the estimate of the total tuna catch in the WCPFC Convention Area for 2018 is 2,790,859 metric tons (MT), which represents 81% of the total Pacific Ocean catch of 3,443,174 MT, and 54% of the global tuna catch, which was 5,172,543 MT.

According to SPC’s overview of the tuna fisheries paper, the total estimated value of the tuna catch in the convention area increased by 1% to US$6.01 billion (€5.47 billion) in 2018.

The value of the purse-seine catch is US$3.26 billion (€2.9 billion), accounting for 54% of the total value of the tuna catch. The value of the longline fishery increased 16% to US$1.72 billion (€1.5 billion), accounting for 29% of the total value of the tuna catch.

WCPFC Executive Director Feleti Teo said, in his opening statement at the meeting on 5 December, that the region has high levels of tuna production. He said the region’s key commercial tuna stocks of bigeye, skipjack, albacore, and yellowfin were “assessed to have been managed and maintained above agreed sustainable levels”.

Teo added that, compared to other ocean regions, the tuna stocks in the region are not overfished.

Graham Pilling, director of the Oceanic Fisheries Program at the Pacific Community, added in a media release that conservation measures have contributed to the sustainability of the Pacific tuna stock.

“The healthy status of WCPO tuna stocks is attributed to the management of the fishery through the WCPFC process and its members, including the key roles played by the Pacific island member-countries and subregional fisheries agencies including the Fisheries Forum Agency [FFA] and the Parties to the Nauru Agreement [PNA],” Pilling said.

Despite the positive assessment, Teo said that the tuna commission should continue with its collective conservation efforts and not “to be complacent and to be less vigilant”.

But the Pacific Community also pointed out that there are still challenges such as the state of certain Western Central Pacific Ocean billfish and shark stocks that need to be addressed by the Commission. It said they are in need of urgent attention. 

Economic impacts resulting from the recent decline in the price of skipjack tuna also poses a challenge in the region. Skipjack prices have fallen below US$1,000 (€900) per MT for the first time in a number of years. 

But the WCPFC is developing and implementing harvest strategies for key tuna stocks to address the challenges, WCPFC Chair Jung-re Riley Kim said.

“I am very grateful to SPC for their significant contribution to providing science and data inputs into the important harvest strategy work of the commission, and their innovative efforts and initiatives to engage with cooperating members, cooperating non-members and participating territories, and contribute to building their capacity in terms of harvest strategy,” Kim said in a release.  

New protection for threatened manta and mobula rays in Pacific waters

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PORT MORESBY – The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) took a major step in helping to protect “threatened” manta and other mobula rays on the final day of its annual meeting on Wednesday.

It adopted a resolution that requires fishers to immediately release any manta rays caught accidentally as “bycatch”.

An international fisheries officer of Pew Charitable Trusts, Glen Holmes, said the increased protection was one of the positive outcomes of the WCPFC meeting, which was held in Port Moresby.

Mr Holmes said the action is considered a “big win” from the commission meeting. 

“WCPFC agreed to increase protections for threatened manta and mobula rays by banning purse-seine and longline vessels from keeping any caught in their nets and hooks. This is a positive step and helps remove the incentive for fishers to capture and keep these imperilled species,” Mr Holmes said.

Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) members were the proponents of the proposal for a new measure to prevent targeted fishing and retention of mobulid rays, and to promote their safe release, when they are caught in WCPFC convention area fisheries.

FFA Director-General Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen said that the protection of rays is one of the “excellent” outcomes of the WCPFC meeting. 

Pew said six species of manta and mobula rays are vulnerable to overfishing. The species in peril are listed to appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and appendixes 1 and 2 of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

To many island nations such as Palau and FSM, manta-ray watching is a big tourism draw. There is also global plea to protect rays, which not only get tangled in nets and fishing lines but are also targeted for their meat and gill plates.

Under the measure, purse seiners are required to release rays while they are still swimming freely, with rays that are too large to be lifted safely by hand to be brailed out of the net and released using a purpose-built large-mesh cargo net, or canvas sling or similar device.

Purse seiners and longliners are also banned from dragging, carrying, lifting or pulling a ray by its “cephalic lobes” or tail or by inserting hooks or hands.

Bubba Cook, the head of WWF’s delegation to the WCPFC16, said WWF was happy to see that the manta rays measure move forward.

Tuna Commission adopts FFA climate-change resolution

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Republished from Radio New Zealand, 12 December 2019

PORT MORESBY – The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is taking a step towards prioritising climate-change considerations in its policy.

It has adopted a Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) resolution to consider impacts of climate change on tuna stocks, food security and livelihoods.

The resolution was adopted on the final day of the annual Tuna Commission meeting.

Under the resolution, the Commission will consider climate change when developing conservation and management measures (CMMs), and support more investigation of the issue by the organisation’s scientists.

The Director-General of the FFA, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen, said it established a “solid foundation for a more urgent approach to the threat of climate change”.

Although the resolution is not binding, she said the Tuna Commission acknowledged that climate change would impact fisheries.

FFA chair Mr Eugene Pangelinan said the adoption of the resolution by the Commission sent a “powerful message globally that it is stepping up to the challenge”.

Tuna commission adopts climate change resolution, recognises impact of climate change on fisheries

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The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) today adopted a landmark Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) resolution that takes into account the impacts of climate change on tuna stocks, food security and livelihoods, and the implications for fishing activities.

The resolution, which was adopted on the final day of the 16th annual WCPFC meeting, will also mean that members are to consider climate change when developing conservation and management measures, and supports more investigation of the issue by Tuna Commission scientists.

The Director-General of FFA, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen, said, “From the perspective of the FFA members, the adoption of this resolution is a key development. 

She said it “establishes a solid foundation for a more urgent approach to the threat of climate change”.

Although the resolution is not binding, Dr Tupou-Roosen said the Tuna Commission’s move acknowledged that climate change is an issue that will impact fisheries.

FFC Chair Mr Eugene Pangelinan said the WCPFC, with the adoption of the resolution, was sending a “powerful message globally that it is stepping up to the challenge”.

The resolution is aligned with the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action that was adopted at a meeting in August 2019.

For Pacific nations, “climate change is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security, and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and their commitment to progress the implementation of the Paris Agreement”.

Mr Pangelinan said there work still needs to be done to address the impact of climate change to fisheries, but the adoption of the resolution a good “starting point that the concerns of the small island developing states (SIDS) are being heard”.

According to Commission scientists, warming waters will result in the redistribution of tuna, with fish stocks expected to move out of the waters of the Pacific nations’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) into the high seas.

Scientists said that by 2050, under the scenario of a world living with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, “a movement of a greater proportion of the tuna caught by purse-seine into the high-seas area”.

Redistribution of tuna could also reduce the combined annual fishing license revenues received by the Pacific islands by more than US$60 million, according to the scientists.

Tuna Commission adopts measure to safeguard seabirds from dying as bycatch

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Short-tailed albatross with chicks … one of many species of albatross that face extinction, partly from getting hooked on fishing lines when following fishing vessels. Photo by Jlfutari at Wikipedia (English language version) [CC BY-SA 3.0].

PORT MORESBY, 10 December 2019 – The Western and Central Pacific Commission (WCPFC) on Monday adopted safe handling guidelines for seabirds, a measure that will help protect seabirds from dying when they are accidentally caught during fishing. 

The Seabird Conservation and Management Measure that was adopted in 2018 (CMM 2018-03) was further supported with the Tuna Commission adopting supplementary non-binding guidelines for the safe handling and release of seabirds caught during fishing (known as bycatch).

According to WWF, bycatch in tuna longline fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) is one of the greatest threats to seabirds, particularly to albatrosses and petrels. 

Although there is has been a conservation and management measure for seabirds since 2006, it is estimated that between 13,000 and 19,000 seabirds continue to be caught a year. 

The guidelines received unanimous support from member and non-member states attending the 16th annual WCPFC meeting in Port Moresby.  

The head of the New Zealand delegation to WCPFC16, Ms Heather Ward, told Pacific reporters here that the protection of seabirds is a priority for NZ, given the diversity of seabirds, particularly albatross and petrel species, around New Zealand in the area south of 25°S. 

“New Zealand has the highest global diversity of albatross and petrel species in the world, with several species assessed as being at high or very high risk from commercial fisheries bycatch,” Ms Ward said. 

“This is why the protection of seabirds is of great importance to New Zealand.” 

She thanked the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) for its support in the adoption of the measure. 

The measure is aimed at meeting the requirements of paragraph 11 of CMM 2018-03: to ensure that seabirds captured alive are released alive. When safe handling procedures are implemented, seabirds are more likely to survive. 

Ms Ward said the advice has been tailored for the crews of fishing vessel and is available free in multiple languages. The guidelines are simple to follow, and the materials required to safely release seabirds (i.e. a towel or blanket, pliers, net, a box or bin, and gloves) are likely to be available on most longline vessels.

“We hope it will be possible for the WCPFC to adopt these guidelines under Agenda Item 8 as a further step towards the protection of vulnerable seabirds affected by longline fishing,” Ms Ward said.

WWF’s head of delegation to the WCPFC16, Mr Bubba Cook, noted in a media release that the adoption of the guidelines on how to remove hooks from seabirds, developed by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), would lead to less harm to seabirds, especially at the southern end of the WCPO region across all WCPFC longline and other hook fisheries. 

“While we are pleased that the WCPFC has taken the important step to implement these voluntary guidelines, we believe that they should be mandatory and subject to clear monitoring and compliance review,” he said. 

This message was further enforced by the executive secretary of ACAP, Dr Christine Bogle, who noted that now that the measure is in place, the challenge will be to ensure compliance. ACAP has presented an observer statement to WCPFC16 (WCPFC16–2019–OP08).

“Arguably, the single most important action to reduce bycatch is to increase compliance in the proper use of existing seabird bycatch regulations, such as this CMM 2018-03,” Dr Bogle said. 

Call for urgent action as oceanic whitetip sharks face extinction

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Oceanic whitetip shark … the species is threatened with extinction. Photo by Johan Lantz, CC BY-SA 3.0.

PORT MORESBY, 10 December 2019 – Fishing nations must adopt a suite of measures to reduce deaths of oceanic whitetip sharks, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Pew is one of a host of countries and organisations attending the most important fishing talks of the year, the 16th annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

Fishing gear such as wire leaders and shark lines must be banned, safe-handling techniques used to return snared sharks to the wild must be improved, and coverage of independent observers tasked with data collection must be increased, PEW says.

The 2019 stock assessment commissioned by the WCPFC, a multi-national regulatory body, indicates that oceanic whitetip sharks are in peril and will become extinct if overfishing continues.

The WCPFC is holding its week-long annual session in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea until 11 December.

Earlier this year, the Scientific Committee of the WCPFC, at its meeting SC15, recommended actions to lessen the numbers of sharks that are caught, and to improve safe handling and release practices.

“Prohibiting the use of wire leaders and shark lines would cut fishing-related mortality,” Pew said in a statement. 

“Better safe-handling techniques, such as cutting the trailing gear as close to the hook as possible and keeping the shark in the water alongside the vessel, are also needed to further reduce mortality.” 

The latest science showed that the population of oceanic whitetips has declined by around 95%, according to environmental organisation WWF.

The analysis commissioned by WCPFCC “concluded that oceanic whitetips would go extinct in this vast expanse of the Pacific in the long-term at the current levels of fishing”.

The leader of Oceans section of WWF International, John Tanzer, said, “It is unbelievable that a species that could be counted in the millions in the past is now facing extinction in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, an area covering almost 20% of the Earth’s surface.

“Urgent action is required to start rebuilding the oceanic whitetip population and to ensure that no other open ocean shark or ray ends up in such a disastrous position in the first place.” 

Meanwhile, Indonesia has proposed a measure to improve data collection for sharks as bycatch in tuna fisheries.

The proposal notes that the commission needs to improve:

  • data collection on annual national catches estimate, to include catch estimate of sharks by gear and by species
  • training in shark identification for enumerators
  • the providing of shark identification cards to enumerators
  • data collection from port sampling data so as to include bycatch landed at port, including bycatch of key shark species
  • the implementation of fishing log books on shark-catch data, and the collection of observer data that includes released and discarded catches 
  • the involvement of surveillance officers in monitoring catches at sea.

The Western and Central Pacific Tuna Programme Manager at WWF, Bubba Cook, said he is optimistic that with several members of the Tuna Commission pushing for comprehensive shark-management measures, there is indication that a policy will be put in place in this year’s fisheries meeting.

Climate change likely to see tuna move from Pacific territories, warns scientist

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Republished from ABC Pacific Beat, 9 December 2019

As world leaders gather at COP25 in Spain for the latest round of climate change negotiations, fisheries leaders in the Pacific are voicing their concern that higher global temperatures will deprive the region of its lucrative tuna income. 

Up to US$6 billion worth of tuna was caught in the Western and Central Pacific in 2018 but scientists warn that rising global temperatures will see tuna out move of the waters belong to many Pacific countries by 2050.

Dr Graham Pilling from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community said scientific modelling shows tuna moving eastwards, as a result of warmer temperatures.

“With most EEZ (exclusive economic zones) clustered in the west, as fish move east under climate change, they’ll move out onto high seas,” Dr Pilling said.

Fisheries leaders and experts are meeting in Papua New Guinea at the Western and Central Pacific Commission, where climate change has taken centre stage.

Dr Pilling said countries like Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands would see a reduction of tuna stocks in their waters while Tuvalu would initially benefit.

“In the long term however as surface tuna moves to the east, the main fishing areas are expected to move out of our EEZ,” Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Minute Alapati Taupo said.

Tuvalu’s Fisheries Minister said leaders should also consider the impact of rising seas levels on national boundaries, with some countries losing land.

“We suggest that the current arrangements are changed to prevent this injustice…this would of course mean that the boundaries of our EEZ are locked in and not changed as a result of climate change,” said Mr Taupo.

The Director General of Forum Fisheries Agency, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen, said the concerns raised by Tuvalu are part of the work her organisation and regional agencies are working on.

This story was produced in collaboration with reporter Bernadette Carreon.

Fish migration due to climate change creates tuna shortage in Fiji

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On the line at a Pacific Islands tuna cannery. Photo: Francisco Blaha.

Republished from SeafoodSource, 6 December 2019

Fish migration due to climate change has impacted the supply of albacore tuna in Fiji, bringing the supply down and leading the Levuka factory of the Pacific Fishing Company (PAFCO) to reduce its operations to a four-day work week to maintain economically viability.

Fiji’s government-owned PAFCO is looking for alternatives to maintain financial stability in light of the albacore tuna shortage. PAFCO chair Ikbal Jannif told local news organisation FBC that the shortage of albacore has been an ongoing issue, and for the tuna cannery to operate fully again there needs to be around 23,000 metric tons of albacore tuna to process.

The crisis has brought the supply down to 16,500 metric tons, impacting the economy of Levuka. PAFCO is the biggest employer of the cannery in Levuka, with 600 full-time workers and around 400 part-time workers.

To supplement the shortage, PAFCO last week bought in around 220 metric tons of skipjack tuna in lieu of albacore.

Fiji Fisheries Minister Mr Semi Koroilavesau, who has been in Port Moresby attending the 16th Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), highlighted climate change as impacting the supply and affecting the migratory pattern of the albacore tuna, which is more plentiful in other Pacific island countries.

Fijian Fisheries Minister Mr Semi Koroilavesau
Fijian Fisheries Minister Mr Semi Koroilavesau

Mr Koroilavesau said that discussions are being held with the neighbouring countries in the north to allow their fishers to access tuna resources in the high seas and in neighbouring exclusive economic zones (EEZs) at a lower fishing-day fee. This way, Fiji and PAFCO will have enough resources to keep the cannery in operation and avoid further cuts in working days, the minister added.

Fiji fisheries officials have taken opportunity to urge a concession and reduced price for fishing days to enable PAFCO to fish in the waters of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), specifically in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Kiribati. The PNA group controls waters in which more than 50% of the world’s biggest tuna canning species – skipjack – is caught.

“Possibly give us some preferential fee, because we have come back on Fiji. That is the angle we are taking, we are looking into friendly relations that we have with our northern neighbours, we ask them to give us leeway,” Mr Koroilavesau told SeafoodSource.

Under the PNA’s vessel day scheme (VDS), a benchmark of US$8,000 (AU$11,726, €7,233) up to US$25,000 (AU$36,182, €22,295) is charged per fishing day. 

Mr Koroilavesau said Fiji wouldn’t want to be charged the high fee that PNA imposes on international fleets, given a shortage of fish in the EEZ.

He added that, due to warming ocean waters, the fish have migrated to the east, benefiting Tuvalu and Kiribati, while Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji “have very little”.

Mr Koroilavesau said the primary aim was to increase the tuna supply for processing, and an alternative was to negotiate arrangements with other nations in the Pacific.

Pacific nations call on WCPFC members to combat impacts of climate change on tuna fisheries

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Republished from SeafoodSource, 9 December 2019

Pacific fisheries officials are calling on the members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) to band together and commit to a climate action plan during the commission’s 16th annual meeting.

Any plan needs to take into account the impact of climate change on fish stocks.

In a statement ahead of the week-long Tuna Commission meeting here in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, the 17-member Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) is “therefore calling on the WCPFC to collectively take stronger action on climate change”.

FFA introduced a resolution at the WCPFC urging the commission to:

  • Fully recognise the impacts of climate change, in particular on the fisheries, food security and livelihoods of small island developing states (SIDS) and territories.
  • Take into account in its deliberations, including in the development of conservation and management measures, the impacts of climate change on target stocks, non-target species, and species belonging to the same ecosystem or dependent on or associated with the target stocks.
  • Estimate the carbon footprint of fishing and related activities in the Convention Area for fish stocks managed by the Commission, and develop appropriate measures to reduce such footprint.
  • Develop options such as carbon offsets to decrease the collective carbon footprint of CCMs and the WCPFC Secretariat associated with meetings of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies.

Tuvalu Minister of Fisheries and Trade Mr Minute Alapati Taupo told Pacific journalists that although climate change was not a problem that his nation had caused, the impacts of climate change would fall on the Pacific, and would threaten the benefits of the region’s tuna fisheries.

“Climate change is not a problem that Tuvalu has caused – but we are going to suffer the effects,” Mr Taupo said.

Pacific Community (SPC) fisheries scientist Dr Graham Pilling said climate modelling shows that, as the climate warms, tuna will move to the east and while some Pacific island nations may benefit from the movement, the others will see a reduction in the fish.

He said it further indicates that fish “will move to the high seas and the overall amount of fish will reduce”.

Dr Pilling said that the major impacts of climate change “are predicted to occur after 2050, with some signs before that time”.

Four maps showing movement of two species of tuna, skipjack and yellowfin, from western Pacific Ocean eastwards as a result of changes in the ocean with climate change. Source Pacific Community policy brief 2019
Projected distributions of skipjack and yellowfin tuna in the Pacific Ocean in 2005, and in 2050, under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario. The maps show a general movement east. Source: SPC

FFA Director-General Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen said climate change is an important issue that the Pacific islands face at the moment and into the future.

“Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation and the impact on Pacific Island countries is particularly threatening, given that tuna fisheries provide significant economic, social and cultural benefits,” Dr Tupou-Roosen said in a statement flagging FFA’s concerns before WCPFC16.

“FFA is asking for increased attention by Commission scientists on the implications of climate change for the region’s tuna stocks and consideration of what conservation and management measures can be put in place to reduce the carbon footprint of both Commission activities and fishing in Pacific waters managed by the Commission. Our members are proposing a resolution on climate change,” she said.

Tuna fishing brings in multiple billions of dollars in revenue for the Pacific island nations. According to the SPC policy brief, tuna caught in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) averaged 2.7 million tonnes a year between 2014 and 2018, with harvests from the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the Pacific nations representing 58% of this catch.

According to FFA, in 2018 the value of the provisional total tuna catch was US$6.01 billion (AU$8.92 billion, €5.41 billion), which was marginally higher than for 2017 and the highest since 2013.

US steps up in Pacific; launches coastal surveillance system

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Kayangel State, one of the sites of the coastal surveillance system. Photo: Richard Brooks

The United States is stepping up its presence in Palau to protect it from a range of threats like illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) with the official launch of the coastal surveillance system (CSS).

On Oct. 2, the United States Defense Department, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Palau government held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce that the CSS in outlying states of Kayangel and Angaur.

The CSS is to help Palau monitor maritime traffic and vessels’ presence in its EEZ especially with the nation about to close a huge portion of its waters to commercial fishing by January 1, 2020.

The CSS according to marine law enforcement can operate the system and see vessel movement and help the nation achieve maritime security and enhance capabilities to deal with threats at sea.

The systems were installed in Angaur and Kayangel and in the future in other Southwest Islands States where there have been numerous reports of IUU fishing in these areas.

Travis Scharamek, Academic Program Management Officer of Scripps said that Palau would be the first nation in the world to test the new surveillance system.  

The US, which funded the radar, will also install the system in three more sites in the Southwest Islands of Hatobei and Sonsorol States.

He said because of the distance of those states from Koror, where the marine law is, the system can help respond to issues faster.

Palau Vice President Raynold Oilouch said the system would help the country combat maritime security issues such as IUU and provide the needed technology to be able to monitor vessels of up to 75-mile radius.

Coinciding with the official launching of the CSS, the US deputy military commander for the Pacific, Army General John “Pete” Johnson said that the US is stepping up its involvement in the region to help deal with economic threats like illegal fishing.

Johnson was in Palau last week to attend the celebration of Palau’s 25th Independence Day on Oct. 1.

“We are committed to the defense of Palau in any aspect regardless of the threat,” Johnson said.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates IUU fishing accounts for up to 26 million tons of fish a year, translating to between $10 and $23 billion.

President Tommy Remengesau has earlier said that  “The Palau sanctuary law is more than a conservation policy. It also enhances our capabilities to combat pirate fishing,” IUU fishing is a global problem that requires global solutions,

Palau’s National Marine Sanctuary will cover an area encompassing 500,000 square kilometers and roughly 80 percent of the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The law takes effect in 2020 and, 80 percent of the country’s EEZ will still be a no-take zone, while 20 percent is designated as a domestic fishing zone.