Pacific tuna stocks at centre of regional fisheries talks in Port Vila

Résumé détaillé

The adoption of key tuna fisheries management measures on the table for this year's 23rd Regular Session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), scheduled…

The adoption of key tuna fisheries management measures on the table for this year's 23rd Regular Session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), scheduled to take place in Port Vila, Vanuatu, from 30 November, is critical for the sustainability of tuna fisheries in the region.

Niue's Josie Tamate, who is the WCPFC chair, told RNZ Pacific this week that all measures that are being discussed and that would be tabled at the meeting, are focused on ensuring that tuna stocks remain healthy, and that small island developing states that rely largely on their fisheries for income, are not negatively affected.

She said the big decisions for the Commission would be the adoption of the implementing measure for the South Pacific albacore, and also the bigeye management procedure.

Tamate, who is also finishing off as chair at the Port Vila meeting, said they would also be monitoring the COP31 meeting in Turkey, especially on the decisions on the oceans.

The WCPFC adopted a resolution on climate change in 2019, and there was also decision for climate change to be a standing agenda item at the Commission meeting.

"It is a challenge because, you know, we're managing and then you also have these conditions, the changing conditions due to climate change, so we will continue to have a conversation on the impact of climate change," Tamate said.

"I like to see what will be the outcomes from the COP31, and how do we weave those in as part of an overall conversation that we need to have at the commission, so we're not just doing things in isolation.

"We don't work in a bubble, but we're working with all these issues that has an impact on the fisheries, and especially on the distribution of tuna and movement.

"There's some information that says that there's a movement of the distribution from the west to the east. Again, those are implications that the Commission will be looking into because it does come with a whole lot of implications."

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