the end of bigeye tuna?
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.as...
Commission agrees to cut tuna catches in Pacific
December 12, 2008 11:23 AM ET
Associated PressAll Associated Press news
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A commercial fishing commission agreed Friday to cut the catches of bigeye tuna in parts of the Pacific Ocean, a small step
in an effort to save a threatened species that is a favorite among sushi lovers.
But environmentalists lambasted the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission's decision to reduce catches by only 10 percent in each of the
next three years. They had sought an immediate 30 percent reduction that scientists advising the body had recommended.
"Commissions charged with protecting tuna populations are proving completely ineffective and inadequate," said Mark Stevens, senior program officer at
the World Wildlife Fund. "If they are willing to ignore the advice of their own scientists, then we can have little faith in their ability to prevent
the demise of this species."
Stevens warned that allowing the bigeye population to dip any lower could be disastrous, though he said the lack of accurate catch data from fishing
nations made it difficult to set a time frame when it might go extinct.
The monitoring and verifying system agreed to by the commission's 34 member countries and territories to ensure the cuts is effectively voluntary.
Fleets have the option to have observers on boats or to report their catch to their home country.
The WWF's Peter Trott criticized the system, saying plans to put monitors on boats would cover as little as 5 percent of the fishing fleets for all
but two months of the year. It will make it almost impossible to prevent countries from underreporting their catches, he said.
The commission is responsible for regulating commercial fishing in the region, which stretches from Hawaii to Asia and as far south as Australia.
Commission Chairman Glen Hurry said the agreement reached Friday in Busan, South Korea, was not perfect but was a "step in the right direction."
"I get 30 percent over three years. I am OK with that," Hurry said regarding the plan that requires reductions of 10 percent in 2009 with similar cuts
planned for 2010 and 2011.
Hurry said the measures adopted would be reviewed next year and possibly toughened based on scientific evidence "if these don't seem to be delivering
the right result."
The commission also agreed to ban huge floating or sunken platforms known as fish aggregating devices for two months in 2009 and three months in 2010.
It also voted to bar fishing fleets from two high seas areas near Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands that are currently not under the
jurisdiction of any country.
These measures would likely help bigeye as well as yellowfin tuna populations because they swim together as juveniles.
The reductions are probably the most far-reaching announced by any of the several bodies tasked with regulating tuna fishing around the world.
But since each commission comes up with its own set of rules and they often conflict, conservation of a globe-trotting species like tuna is made even
more difficult. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, for example, failed to agree last month on any measures to conserve depleted yellowfin
and bigeye tuna in the Eastern Pacific.
Anouk Ride, a spokeswoman for the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency, which represents 17 countries and territories including Australia and New
Zealand, said the final agreement reached Friday was a good compromise.
Ride said the commission had a "difficult battle" with the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the European Union, which fought against many
of the measures.
"But at the end of the day, cooperation was reached," she said. "It will definitely make a difference in efforts to reduce fishing and result in
commitments to manage the fishery better."
The Western and Central Pacific region accounts for 55 percent of the world's tuna production with a value of $4 billion to $5 billion. But tuna
stocks in the region have fallen since the 1960s, driven down by increasing numbers of industrial fishing fleets.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
