Tuna fishery assessment leads to better conservation practices

Participants at the fourth annual monitoring, control, and surveillance working group meeting developed a detailed assessment of the minimum terms and conditions required to fish within a country’s exclusive economic zone.

The result of this assessment will be presented at the next annual meeting of the Forum Fisheries Committee, in the Cook Islands in May.

The meeting featured a series of presentations, including a review of the western and central Pacific tuna fishery, by the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA).

This was followed by an explanation of the national perspectives of the minimum terms and conditions by Dylan James, New Zealand fisheries economist, and a presentation on the international perspective by Dr. David Doulman, from the fisheries department of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.

The Canadian Government, through the Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development (C-SPOD) Program, funds the three-day summit and the monitoring, control, and surveillance program at FFA, based in Honiara.

The delegates focused their efforts on harmonizing each country’s laws and regulations to manage access to the fishery by foreign fishing vessels. This approach plays a key role in regional efforts to pair fisheries law with enforcement.

Delegates produced one of the strongest policy statements ever made by FFA member countries in terms of regulation and control of foreign fisheries activities in their exclusive economic zones.

“It was a very productive day, and we’re looking forward to the next step when some of these detailed assessments of the good fishing practices required of each member country will be spelled out,” says Dr. Kenneth MacKay, field program coordinator for the C-SPOD program. “The meeting in May promises to be yet another turning point for the tuna fishery in the Pacific.”

This project is part of the Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development (C-SPOD) Program, Phase II, which is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and coordinated by the South Pacific Forum Secretariat and LGL Limited, Canada.

C-SPOD projects are developed and implemented by the participating regional organizations, and are approved and managed by a program management committee including CIDA, the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency, the South Pacific Forum Secretariat, the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, and The University of the South Pacific.

All C-SPOD projects are designed to ensure equity and balanced benefits for all Pacific Islanders including children, women, and men.