A working group of nations that commercially harvest Pacific bluefin tuna concluded its July meeting without agreeing on new management measures to be implemented in 2027.
“For much of the last decade, Pacific bluefin management showed that when governments work together, they can bring a severely overfished species back from the brink of collapse. But at a joint management meeting in Nagasaki, Japan, governments disregarded a tentative agreement they made in March to adopt a much-needed management procedure for the species at this convening,” Dave Gershman, who heads up The Pew Charitable Trusts’ conservation work with Pacific RMFOs, said in a release
The joint working group met in Nagasaki, Japan, from 8 to 11 July with the intention of finalizing a long-term harvest strategy for implementation beginning in 2027; however, member states ended the meeting without any such recommendation and instead resolved to recommend a strategy next year for implementation beginning in 2028.
Prior to the meeting, the group had reached preliminary agreement on a plan known as the Newport Beach Management Procedure, but the chair reported that during the meeting, Japan was at odds with both Mexico and the United States on how the impact ratio should be split between East and West, with all three nations arguing for a larger share. Ultimately, the group was unable to reach a consensus.
“The governments, which represent Pacific bluefin tuna fishing nations at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), have allowed short-term economic interests and quota increases to take precedence over the long-term health and recovery of the fishery,” Gershman said, noting that the failure left Pacific bluefin as the only bluefin tuna fishery without a modernized precautionary management system in place.
Gershman urged member nations to continue working toward an agreement, insisting that it is not too late for members to adopt a measure at upcoming annual meetings in the fall of 2026.
“There’s still time to break this very type of impasse and free up time to discuss allocation concerns,” Gershman said. “At the IATTC annual meeting this August, members have another opportunity to adopt a framework for a management procedure and agree to set aside catch allocation issues until 2027. WCPFC can then adopt a comparable measure at its annual meeting at the end of the year.”
