A critical intergovernmental meeting has ended without the necessary progress to ensure long-term sustainable tuna fishing in the Western Central Pacific, but there is still time to act to secure ongoing certification for skipjack and South Pacific albacore.
Twenty-eight tuna fisheries in the Western Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) face an increasing risk of suspension of their certification to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) standard for sustainable fishing following disappointing progress at this month’s annual meeting of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).
All 28 MSC certified tuna fisheries in the WCPO have timebound conditions of certification that require the adoption of harvest strategies by June 2023.
Harvest strategies – or the rules which ensure the long-term management of stocks – act as a ‘safety net’ if currently healthy fish stocks begin to decline. They are fundamental to sound fisheries management, and are critical to future health of the stocks, especially for highly migratory species like tuna which span geopolitical boundaries [1].
This week’s meeting of the 26 member delegations of the WCPFC [2] was a critical opportunity to make progress towards developing the science basis and management measure agreements needed to deliver these conditions.
Negotiations on harvest strategies were however, postponed until December 2022 for skipjack and South Pacific albacore, and 2024 for yellowfin and bigeye. Despite this lack of progress, the commission did agree to hold a two-day science management meeting in August 2022, which could result in recommendations on harvest strategies in time for December 2022.
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Ongoing Certification Of Western Central Pacific Tuna Hangs in the Balance