{"id":8617,"date":"2016-01-02T19:36:19","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T19:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=8617"},"modified":"2018-06-14T23:43:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T23:43:14","slug":"fisheries-commission-makes-no-headway-toward-reducing-hauls-of-pacific-bigeye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=8617","title":{"rendered":"Fisheries Commission Makes No Headway\u00a0Toward Reducing Hauls of Pacific Bigeye"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission closed its annual meeting last month, having failed again to significantly strengthen its measure aimed at ending overfishing of tropical tunas, especially bigeye.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t for lack of trying.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the commission\u2019s annual meeting, held in Bali, its executive director, Feleti Teo, privately discussed ways forward with individual representatives from various member states. At the Bali meeting, commission chair Rhea Moss-Christian convened meetings of a working group on tropical tuna as early as possible (compared to the previous year, when then-chair Charles Karnella waited until the middle of the week to hold them).<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s discussions of a proposal by several island states to amend the measure degenerated after China\u2019s representative called the longline component \u201ca joke.\u201d Moss-Christian then broadened the discussion in hopes of finding areas where there might be some agreement. When that tack started leading toward more discord than agreement, she and her staff drafted their own host of small but significant tweaks to the measure and she limited discussion on them to the heads of delegation plus one adviser each. But even the closed-door discussions \u2014 which some NGOs argued violated the commission\u2019s own policies \u2014 failed to achieve consensus on any amendment to the tropical tuna measure.<\/p>\n

The current measure, Conservation and Management Measure (CMM) 2014-01, expires at the end of 2017. When the commission reconvenes this coming December to discuss amending the measure and perhaps lay the groundwork for a new one, some participants have speculated that the matter might be brought to a vote, rather than offered for consensus. Up to now, measures have been adopted by consensus.<\/p>\n

Although she did not mention a vote in her closing remarks, Moss-Christian stressed that the commission needs to \u201cconsider alternative ways to progress consistent issues we have found ourselves unable to progress. Management of the stocks, this is our key mandate. We need to try to find better ways to make progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaving things to consensus might never result in an adequate reduction in fishing effort, given some of the comments made by a number of member states during the course of the meeting. Moss-Christian noted during one particularly prickly working group session, \u201cI don\u2019t even think we have agreement something needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cautiously Optimistic<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Purse seiners and longliners have been overfishing bigeye tuna in the Western and Central Pacific for more than a decade. By 2014, the stock had shrunk to 16 percent of its original, un-fished state \u2014 a level that leads many to believe the stock is not just subject to overfishing, but is in fact overfished, a much more serious condition.<\/p>\n

Scientists with the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC), which advises the commission, have determined that bigeye in the WCPFC convention area will rebound only under the most optimistic and stringent implementation of CMM 2014-01.<\/p>\n

The SPC\u2019s most recent modeling shows that the longline and purse seine fleets are generally on track with the fishing effort reductions called for in the measure. Longline catches overall are well below caps set by the measure, and purse seine effort, perhaps driven by economic hardships, dropped last year so that it\u2019s only about one percent greater than what the SPC estimated it would be at this time.<\/p>\n

The SPC\u2019s Graham Pilling told the commission, \u201cWe appear to be on track. The question is, are we on the correct track?\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the current CMM, certain member states have exemptions and options that allow them to continue setting on fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the high seas after their use is otherwise banned, to increase FAD set limits, or to catch unlimited amounts of bigeye by longline vessels. Should they exercise those options, it isn\u2019t at all clear that the fisheries will stay on a track towards ending overfishing, he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cExemptions generally lead to worse states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the SPC needs better data to accurately assess the measure and make projections. The agency\u2019s John Hampton said he\u2019d most like more operational-level catch and effort data from longliners. For years, a number of distant water fleets \u2014 those for China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Indonesia \u2014 provided only aggregated catch data, but in 2014, they committed to at least trying to provide operational level data.<\/p>\n

Although some of those fleets followed through with data for 2014, Hampton said that information alone won\u2019t make a contribution to any analyses for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat [data] needs to be extended to historical data. We have historical data for purse seiners. It\u2019s important for the work that we do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cross-checking catch data with documentation on what\u2019s offloaded from vessels would also assist the SPC in nailing down what species are being caught, he said. It\u2019s often difficult for observers to tell the difference between juvenile yellowfin and bigeye, a situation some have suggested has led to an underestimation of bigeye catches by purse seiners.<\/p>\n

Data concerns aside, if the status quo continues for both the purse seine and longline fleets, catches of bigeye will exceed the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by 21 percent, with a nearly one-in-three chance that the stock will remain below 20 percent of its un-fished biomass, Graham said. It\u2019s currently at 16 percent.<\/p>\n

If the CMM measures scheduled for 2017 are fully implemented, including a ban on FAD setting on the high seas, bigeye catches would drop to seven percent below MSY after ten years, he concluded.<\/p>\n

Easier Said Than Done<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Will fishing effort, indeed, drop to that level by 2017and stay there for the next decade? A number of commission members seemed doubtful. One noted that while the number of FAD sets declined in 2015, catches remained high and some member states were not adhering to the FAD closures called for in CMM 2014-01. Another pointed out that at least two of the member states with bigeye quotas for their longline fleets \u2013 including the United States \u2013 stay within their limits by engaging in charter arrangements with small island developing states or participating territories, which have no quotas.<\/p>\n

All proposals by member states to improve the effectiveness of CMM 2014-01 have failed in large part because, as a member of the Philippines delegation stated, the commission lacked a common definition of the problem. Japan\u2019s proposal to reduce the capacity of purse seine fleets was never really discussed. And a package of longline and purse seine measures proposed by Tokelau and a coalition known as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which includes the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, faced stiff opposition from member states wanting to preserve their current longline fishing levels.<\/p>\n

Wez Norris of the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), which includes a number of PNA member countries and Tokelau, chided those in opposition for not agreeing to what he saw as a minor reduction in fishing effort. Compared to the commitments regarding tropical tunas the commission made in 2008, 2012, and 2013, \u201cthis is the easiest discussion we\u2019ve had. We only need a small reduction in purse seine and longline catch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He continued that the stalemate on CMM 2014-01 \u201creally highlights that we need to start thinking about post-2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, given the consistent lack of headway on the tropical tuna measure, some FFA countries have taken to jacking up their access fees to foreign vessels as a way of limiting fishing effort while also maintaining a significant revenue stream for the countries. The result so far has apparently been somewhat effective. On the meeting\u2019s closing day, a representative from Korea confirmed that her country\u2019s fleet, at least, was suffering financial losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t afford fees in the coastal states. It\u2019s very blunt, but it\u2019s a reality I want to register,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some of those island states announced at the meeting that they plan this year to start charging higher fees to purse seiners setting on FADs in their waters so as to direct fishing on free schools of tuna instead, which reduces the likelihood that juvenile bigeye are\u00a0caught.<\/p>\n

With regard to longlining, although the PNA\/Tokelau proposal did not target the charter arrangements that allow member states to continue fishing after they reach their bigeye quotas, representatives from the U.S. participating territories \u2014 American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands \u2014 all testified that those arrangements must continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese arrangements are essential sources of funds that the U.S. Territories otherwise would not have available to pursue our fishery development aspirations,\u201d they wrote in a December 2 letter to WCPFC chair Moss-Christian.<\/p>\n

A New Scheme<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

CMM 2014-01 expires soon and although modeling suggests the measure\u2019s fishing limits \u2014 if applied over the next decade \u2014 have the potential to end overfishing of bigeye, the United States, for one, is having difficulty staying within those limits.\u00a0 Last year, the Hawai`i longline fleet hit its 3,502 metric ton quota in August and had to enter into quota transfer agreements with Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to catch up to 2,000 metric tons more of bigeye. The U.S. purse seine fleet also reached its high seas set limit before the year was half over, which had the potential to severely impact American Samoa\u2019s tuna canneries.<\/p>\n

So at last month\u2019s meeting, U.S. representative Russell Smith asked that the SPC investigate spatial management options for longliners. A spatial management scheme, where the more heavily fished areas would be targeted for greater catch reductions, would likely raise the quotas on the Hawai`i longline fleet, which fishes in a lightly used zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be very useful if we could get some input from SPC on how we might go about using that tool, focusing on where mortality is occurring and taking steps to reduce mortality in those areas,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

He added that the United States was concerned about how the current purse seine management scheme is negatively affecting American Samoa\u2019s tuna industry.<\/p>\n

When considering future measures, he said, the commission must carefully consider proposals\u00a0to eliminate fishing on the high seas in favor of fishing in zones of certain coastal states. Small island developing states (SIDS) have been pushing the commission to adopt high seas closures, thus forcing foreign fleets to pay them to fish in their waters. But should the commission adopt such proposals, \u201cthis will have and continue to have a significant burden on American Samoa,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the U.S. participating territories have a history of fishing and \u201cit\u2019s only fair they should be able to continue. They should not be eliminated by the actions of this commission. There needs to be a balance of ensuring SIDS have a right to develop their fisheries \u2026 and the interests of other coastal states in the fishery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the pleas from Smith and the U.S. participating territories weren\u2019t particularly well-received by some SIDS representatives, the EU\u2019s Angela Martini agreed with Smith that the commission needs to explore different management scenarios.<\/p>\n

In the end, the commission agreed to direct the SPC to study spatial management options.<\/p>\n

— Teresa Dawson<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

For Further Reading<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n