NGOs call on WCPFC to increase electronic monitoring, tighten transshipment standards, and open meetings to media

A net full of frozen tuna being dropped into a hold full of frozen tuna
NGOs are calling on the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to tighten rules governing tuna transshipment | Photo courtesy of Roylan Tkg/Shutterstock
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Ahead of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s (WCPFC) 21st annual meeting, which ends 3 December, NGOs called on the regional fishery management organization (RFMO) to take a number of actions – including one that would open its compliance meetings up to the media. 

Organizations like the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) and The Pew Charitable Trusts are calling on the WCPFC to take a number of steps to enhance the sustainability of the area’s tuna fisheries. The WCPFC manages tuna, shark, and swordfish fishing in a region spanning a range of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, which partially overlaps the area overseen by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. 

The ISSF is calling for better monitoring of these fisheries for highly migratory stocks and for the WCPFC to adopt electronic monitoring (EM) standards to provide better data when performing fisheries management. Currently, only purse-seine vessels require 100 percent coverage, whereas longline tuna fishing vessels only need to achieve a 5 percent minimum level.

“WCPFC’s peer RFMOs in the Indian, Atlantic, and Eastern Pacific Ocean have now all adopted interim minimum standards for EM,” ISSF said. “Despite the commission’s establishment of an EM working group in 2014, WCPFC has not yet agreed to an EM program or EM standard.”

The Pew Charitable Trusts is calling for similar levels of EM, with the same emphasis on the WCPFC’s long-running activity developing standards for the practice over the last 10 years.

“Getting onboard gear sensors and video cameras in place will allow authorities to better monitor and record a vessel’s activities remotely and can ensure more effective transmission and analysis of data,” Pew said. “Despite its years of effort, WCPFC has fallen behind the other tuna regional fisheries management organizations in adopting EM standards. This year, it should finish the job.”

Another core measure both ISSF and Pew are advocating for is ...


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