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Fisheries Commission Adopts Tropical Tunas Measure After Marathon Session
A new Tropical Tunas Bridging Measure
was adopted just before 2.45am today, after a marathon session by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting in the Philippines this week.
"It is a tribute the skills of the WCPFC Chair Rhea Moss-Christian that after an historic sitting into the early hours of this morning her Bridging Measure for Tropical Tuna and more were approved by WCPFC14," said veteran journalist Jemima Garrett, who is in Manila with Pacific islands journalists covering the meeting.
The Chair and the Executive Director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission today issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the 14th annual meeting of the Commission held in Manila, from 3-7 December 2017.
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PNA Groupings Threaten to Withdraw From Tuna Commission
Parties to the Nauru Agreement (
PNA) have threatened to pull out of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (
WCPFC) if the fishing nations and coastal states who make its membership fail to agree on new rules for all-important tropical tuna.
Current rules for the fishery - known as the Tropical Tuna Measure - expire at the end of this year.
Delegates at the
WCPFC have only until the end of today [7 December] to reach agreement on new rules or face the prospect of a free-for-all in the fishery.
Forum Fishery Agency and
PNA countries have been working hard to achieve an agreement as has the Chair of
WCPFC Rhea Moss-Christian who has come up with a compromise proposal - a new revision of her proposed Tropical Tuna Bridging Measure.
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Tuna Market Intelligence
Skipjack tuna prices have continued to fall on the back on increased deliveries due from the region. The December Bangkok prices are expected to be between USD 1,750/mt and USD 1,800. Meanwhile Manta, Ecuador prices continue high.
Princes, a major European firm, has won its appeal against World Wise Foods.
The court decision determined that Princes MSC labeled tuna, sourced from the PNA fishery and co-branded by Pacifical, is sustainable.
The appeals chamber of the Dutch Advertising code that oversee the Netherland's advertising standards, overturned their initial decision made last September, in a final ruling that cannot be overturned, ruling that the claims on all MSC-labeled cans of Princes tuna are in full compliance with the Dutch advertising Code.
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NCFC Members Reaffirm Support for Interior Department's Marine Monument Recommendations
Following today's official release of Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke's recommendations to alter three marine national monuments, members of Saving Seafood's
National Coalition for Fishing Communities are reiterating their support for these recommendations, which will lessen the economic burden on America's fishing communities while still providing environmental protections for our ocean resources.
In September, NCFC members
expressed initial support for the changes when a draft of the recommendations were reported in the press.
Because the final recommendations are identical to those initially reported, NCFC members stand by their initial statement, which is reproduced below:
Secretary Zinke's recommendations to President Donald Trump would allow commercial fishing managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) in the recently designated Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. He also recommended revising the boundaries or allowing commercial fishing under the MSA in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument.
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Solomons Pulls out of Tokelau Arrangement on Albacore
Solomon Islands has pulled out of the Tokelau Arrangement for South Pacific albacore, saying it's too restrictive on tuna catch.
The non-binding agreement between Forum Fisheries Agency member states was signed in 2014 with the aim of preserving tuna stocks in the region.
The decision by Solomon Islands was announced today at a meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in the Philippines.
Ferral Lasi of the Solomons' Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources told the Solomon Star the deal was rejected because it stood in the way of the country's fisheries development.
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Tri Marine, Maersk Joint Venture to Expand Solomon Islands Port for Tuna Exports
Tri Marine and Maersk have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) to expand the Port of Noro to allow it to accommodate greater tuna offloading and exporting.
The deal is expected to increase the volume of reefer containers originating from the Port of Noro, SIPA CEO Eranda Kotelawala
told The Solomon Star.
"The MoU will also assist the Port of Noro transform into a regional export hub in the Pacific," Kotelawala said.
Tri Marine owns SolTuna, a tuna processing company in Noro, in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. SolTuna processes between 25,000 and 30,000 metric tons of skipjack and yellowfin annually, and exports to Europe and throughout the Pacific region. Tri Marine also operates a tuna pole-and-line fleet and a purse-seine fleet in the waters of the Solomon Islands.
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Access to Fish Stocks Vital for Revenue in Kiribati
The fisheries minister of Kiribati is calling for the international fishing community to help it get better access to fish stocks in the high seas.
Tetabo Nakara spoke at the recent Western Central Pacific Commission emphasising that fishing in Kiribati is vital for its economy.
Mr Nakara said Kiribati had no land-based natural resources that would allow people to have stable and secure livelihoods as the lands are made of poor coralline soils.
He said this had pushed people in Kiribati to search elsewhere for a sustainable source of revenue.
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No Cannery Credit Extension in Senate Bill
The sweeping tax reform bill the US Senate passed early Saturday morning, lacks a key tax break for American Samoa, setting up a negotiable difference with the House-passed bill.
KHJ News Washington correspondent Matt Kaye reports-
The Senate's 51-49 vote dramatically increases the odds that historic tax reform legislation will be enacted into law, with tax implications for all the territories and states.
But the good news for American Samoa is that while the Senate bill lacks an extension of the territory's economic development credit, the House bill includes it, setting up one of one of many negotiable differences.
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Increase in Fishing Days on the High Seas Sought to Support US Flagged Vessels in Pago
American Tunaboat Association (ATA) is hopeful that a new resolution is reached at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) that will support US flagged vessels continuing to operate out of Pago Pago, says ATA executive director Brian Hallman.
The San Diego-based ATA, whose members are owners of US flagged purse seiner vessels, is among the many national, regional, and international organizations being represented at the WCPFC meeting held this week in Manila, Philippines.
Among the many issues being tackled at the meeting, which officially ends today, is the US purse seine fleet fishing days on the high seas.
ASG along with fishing industry officials - including ATA - have voiced their concerns and complaints regarding restrictions placed on fishing on the high seas for the US fleet, leaving foreign vessels - many of them subsidized by their governments - to do as they wish.
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Healthy Tuna Stock
Latest research on tuna stocks in the Pacific region shows it maybe a lot healthier than initially thought.
Head of Pacific Community's (SPC) Oceanic Fisheries Programme and the chief scientist advisor to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, Dr John Hampton said a review of their research findings dating back to 2011 had revealed the results.
"The findings of the new study were they don't grow to as large a size but they do grow faster. So when that information goes into the assessment, it indicates a more productive stock, and somewhat more resilient to fishing than had previously been estimated," Dr Hampton said.
He said the previous estimates that tuna stock had depleted by 32 per cent had since been reviewed to 20 percent.
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