WCPFC Archives - Saving Seafood

Lack of effective RFMO management of tuna fisheries threatening US commercial entities

June 17, 2022 — There are 17 regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) in total, but most attention tends to fall on the five major tuna RFMOs that are responsible for about 91 percent of the world’s oceans. These five tuna-focused RFMOs are international organizations formed by countries with fishing interests in a geographical area or highly migratory stock. These RFMOs create fishing limits on stocks in the high seas in order to manage long-term healthy populations and can monitor technical measures used by fisheries. The tuna RFMOs regulate rules and quotas for the participating member-countries to follow in order to sustain healthy tuna stocks in the geographical areas they cover.

Two of the five tuna RFMOs – the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) – manage tuna fisheries in the Pacific Ocean, covering from the coasts of North America and South America all the way to the coasts of Russia, China, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Fishing Industry Members Advise Managers on Proposed Sanctuaries and Other Issues Important to Western Pacific Region

March 11, 2022 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Fishing Industry Advisory Committee (FIAC) met today to provide advice and recommendations to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council when it meets March 22-24.

NWHI and Marianas Trench Proposed Sanctuaries

The FIAC recommended the Council develop fishing regulations for the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands sanctuary that would allow fishing to continue in as much of the sanctuary as possible. The Committee also asked NMFS to clearly identify spatial boundaries in the fishery compliance guides that include monuments and sanctuaries so fishermen clearly understand where fishing is/is not allowed. Commercial fisherman Kenton Greer expressed his concern with extending the proposed sanctuary boundaries to Middle Bank, as it is an important area for Kauai fishermen.

Regarding the potential development of a national marine sanctuary in the Northern Mariana Islands, the FIAC recommended the Council keep the fishing community informed since it would overlay the existing marine national monument and may expand fishing area closures.

Roundtable Discussion

FIAC members provided updates on the status of the fishing, seafood and related industries, continuing and upcoming issues and changes that may impact the community. “The market has rebounded in 2022 with the stability that comes from restaurants reopening and more consistent airline flights, supporting up to 20,000 pounds a day of swordfish,” said Michael Goto, FIAC chair and United Fishing Agency auction manager. Hawaii Longline Association (HLA) Executive Director Eric Kingma noted, “there was a significantly lower bigeye tuna catch rate in 2021, 40% less than the historical high in 2015 when catch was 20 million pounds landed.”

WCPFC Pacific Strategy

The FIAC endorsed the new Pacific strategy developed to address Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) issues through a more holistic approach, tying the prosperity of U.S. fisheries in the Pacific with broader geopolitical interests of the nation. Council staff and advisers have developed an information paper that emphasizes the importance of fisheries to the Pacific Islands community and their strategic importance to U.S. national interests.

“There needs to be a better way to negotiate – the relationship between the United States and small island nations has not been strong lately,” said American Samoa fishing vessel owner Stuart Chikami. “There have been recurring issues with compliance, and the Commission has been more focused on economics of a few members, rather than its intended objectives.”

The FIAC recommended U.S. advisors to the WCPFC address this strategy at their next series of meetings and work in coordination with longline and purse seine fishing industries.

During the public discussion, American Samoa Dept. of Marine and Wildlife Resources Director Archie Soliai acknowledged the longline (HLA) and purse seine (American Tunaboat Association) vessel owners for supporting the territory, noting it owes a great debt to these industries.

Equity and Environmental Justice

FIAC members recommended that the Council approve the draft Western Pacific Equity and Environmental Justice (EEJ) Planning Framework. The members agreed that marine national monument designations are disproportionately situated in the Western Pacific, amplifying economic impact to our region. The Council is soliciting community feedback to plan meaningful remedies in lieu of the federal government’s EEJ priorities. The Biden Administration is prioritizing addressing inequities for underserved communities, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, with a “whole of government” approach.

The FIAC is one of three advisory bodies to the Council required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act that provides input and recommendations on management and conservation actions from an industry perspective. Members include representatives from Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam in industry-related sectors such as fishing, seafood processing, distribution and marketing industries, fishing tackle and marine service and supply providers.

Recommendations made by the FIAC on these and other matters will be considered by the Council when it meets March 22-24, 2022, virtually, with host sites at Tedi of Samoa Building, Suite 208B, Fagatogo Village, American Samoa; BRI Building, Suite 205, Kopa Di Oru St., Garapan, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI); and Cliff Pointe, 304 W. O’Brien Dr., Hagatña, Guam. Instructions on connecting to the web conference, agendas and briefing documents are posted at https://www.wpcouncil.org/meetings-calendars. Host sites are subject to local and federal safety and health guidelines regarding COVID-19; check the Council website for updates.

Fishing Industry Advisory Committee: Michael Goto (United Fishing Agency) (chair), Stuart Chikami (Western Pacific Fisheries), Kenton Greer (commercial fisherman); Vince Haleck (Tautai O Samoa Association); Jonathan Hurd (Malolo Adventures); John Kaneko (Hawaii Seafood Council); Eric Kingma (Hawaii Longline Association); Michael Lee (Garden & Valley Isle Seafood); Sean Martin (POP Fishing and Marine); Baron Miho (Annasea Hawaii); Lino Sablan Tenorio (Tenorio & Associates); Josh Schade (Ahi Assassins); Kerry Umamoto (Hilo Fish Company); Mike Yonemura (Diamond Head Seafood Wholesale).

Western Pacific Council Recommends New Approach for Pacific International Discussions

December 16, 2021 — Recent international Pacific tuna talks were deemed “unfavorable” for U.S. interests, according to fishery managers in Hawaii.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council had hoped to convince the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to almost double the Hawai‘i longline fishery bigeye tuna catch limits. The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee supported it and the Council had worked on the increase for the past six years.

The U.S. delegation also asked the Commission to reduce the total catch on South Pacific albacore, with a goal of increasing albacore catch rates for fisheries such as American Samoa.

But the Commission disagreed. It disagreed with all of the U.S.-recommended changes.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Fishery Management Council Recommends a New US Strategy in the Pacific Islands with the WCPFC

December 10, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council discussed outcomes from the December Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting, including proposed protections on sharks, and conservation and management of South Pacific albacore and bigeye tuna. Despite scientific advice, the 18th WCPFC meeting ended without an agreement on increasing Hawai‘i longline fishery bigeye tuna catch limits, or reducing total catch on South Pacific albacore with a goal of increasing catch rates for fisheries such as American Samoa. The tone of the negotiations was unfavorable for U.S. interests.

The U.S. objectives included a 3,000 metric ton increase in the bigeye tuna catch limits for the Hawai‘i longline fishery, and that purse seine vessels based out of American Samoa, a small island developing state, have recognized privileges. The U.S. proposed prohibiting wire leaders on fishing gear to promote shark conservation and increasing observer coverage from 5% to 10%. None of these measures were adopted.

During Council deliberations, it was decided that a completely new strategy is needed for the U.S. government to tie in the geopolitical interests of U.S. fisheries in the Pacific through a high-level campaign with increased multi-federal agency engagement. Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds noted, “This can only be done by all federal agencies–Departments of State, Interior, Homeland Security and even Defense–working together well in advance of meetings to make the landscape workable for us at the WCPFC.”

For more information, visit https://meetings.wcpfc.int/meetings/wcpfc18.

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Regarding the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands sanctuary designation, the Council discussed several considerations for potential noncommercial fishery regulations, including customary exchange. The initial discussion looked at Council-developed regulations in the Pacific marine national monuments and previous Council scoping in Hawai‘i.

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries initiated the public process in November 2021, and the Council is formally consulted to provide fishery regulations. The Council will provide NOAA with a response in advance of its March 31, 2022, deadline.

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The Council discussed the feasibility of a limited cultural take for honu (green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas) in the main Hawaiian Islands. Dave Hogan, U.S. State Department, told the Council that the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC) and protection under the Endangered Species Act are both barriers to proceeding with consideration of a cultural take for any area under the U.S. jurisdiction. The U.S. is party to the IAC that prohibits the intentional capture, retention or killing of, and domestic trade in, sea turtles, their eggs, parts or products. The IAC does allow for an economic subsistence exception, but not cultural take for indigenous use.

Manny Dueñas, Council vice chair for Guam, expressed his dismay, saying he believed in perpetuating culture, rather than “pickling it and putting it in a jar.” Council members from across the jurisdictions pressed the Council to pursue recognition of the indigenous cultural harvest of honu within the IAC.

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The Council continues to prioritize efforts to support equity and environmental justice (EEJ) for underserved communities in the Western Pacific Region, and recommended that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) use data to help characterize EEJ impacts region-wide.

At the Council Coordination Committee (CCC) meeting in October 2021, the Council presented regional EEJ approaches and needs alongside the North Pacific Council and NOAA. The CCC decided to convene a workshop ahead of the committee’s next meeting in May 2022. The Western Pacific Council is taking a lead role in the development of the workshop expected to be held in Hawai‘i in February 2022.

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A CCC subgroup on area-based management created a working definition for conservation to address the goals under the president’s America the Beautiful 30×30 initiative. The working definition of a conservation area is an 1) established, geographically defined area, with 2) planned management or regulation of environmentally adverse fishing activities, that 3) provides for the maintenance of biological productivity and diversity, ecosystem function and services (including seafood production).

The Council will send a letter to NMFS that conservation areas should: 1) be informed by empirical evidence and scientific veracity, 2) be adequately monitored and enforced, 3) be adaptive to address climate change—especially in the Pacific Islands, and 4) recognize existing subsistence and native rights.

The Council manages federal fisheries operating in waters offshore of the State of Hawai‘i, the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, the CNMI and the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Areas. The next meeting of the Council will be March 22-24, 2022.

US Request For More Bigeye Tuna Denied By Pacific Commission

December 9, 2021 — A drive to increase Hawaii longliners’ bigeye tuna quota has again fallen short at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

The U.S. delegation to the WCPFC requested that its longline bigeye quota be increased by 3,000 metric tons, noting stocks appeared to not be overfished and were not unhealthy, so could withstand an increase in fishing levels.

The proposed increase to the bigeye quota was made during the WCPFC’s 18th annual session, which ended on Tuesday, but the agreement failed to get across the line. Instead, the commission opted to keep the status quo for the next two years.

WCPFC’s negotiations dictate fishing throughout the Pacific, which is home to some of the most valuable global fishing stocks. The commission’s members represent 26 economies, ranging from Japan and China to Fiji and Indonesia.

The Hawaii-based Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has supported raising U.S. catch limits for at least six years and was disappointed by the result, according to its executive director Kitty Simonds.

Read the full story at Honolulu Civil Beat

Pew Trusts, MSC Say WCPFC Need to Work Faster to Adopt Sustainable Tuna Harvest Strategies

December 9, 2021 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) warned that 22 tuna fisheries in the Western Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) are at-risk of certification suspension after “disappointing progress” was made at the annual meeting of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) this month.

The MSC explained that the 28 MSC-certified fisheries in the WCPO have timebound conditions of certification to the MSC’s standard for sustainable fishing which requires harvest strategy adoption by 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,” the MSC wrote in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Ongoing certification of Western Central Pacific tuna fisheries hangs in the balance

December 8, 2021 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

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 for country delegations to act to secure ongoing certification for skipjack and South Pacific albacore.

Twenty-two 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.

As a result, ongoing certification of skipjack and albacore beyond June 2023 is possible, but will now be dependent upon agreement and adoption of harvest strategies at the December 2022 meeting. With the delay until 2024 for WCPFC to adopt new harvest strategies for yellowfin and bigeye tuna, it is increasingly likely fisheries with certificates for these stocks will face suspension by their auditors in June 2023.

This slow progress will be particularly disappointing for retailers, brands and other supply chain companies which have committed to source tuna that meets the highest standards for environmental performance. Reflecting the value placed on MSC certification, 112 companies wrote in October to the Heads of Delegation at the WCPFC demanding that they accelerate action to develop comprehensive, harvest strategies across all tuna stocks. These calls included and have been supported by the Global Tuna Alliance, an independent group of retailers and tuna supply chain companies, responsible for tuna purchases worth USD$1.27 billion in 2020.

Tuna from the WCPO makes up over half of the global commercial tuna catch, making these tuna stocks the world’s most commercially important. Currently 85% of all MSC certified tuna caught comes from the WCPO. 78% of the MSC certified tuna caught in the WCPO is skipjack. The volume of tuna products sold with the blue MSC label has increased significantly in the past 5 years from 40,000 to 110,000 tonnes.

The growing demand for certified sustainable seafood choices has already driven improvements in fishing practices in the region. For instance, fisheries such as the Fiji Abacore and yellowfin tuna fishery have introduced a number of measures to reduce bycatch. Using longlines to catch tuna, the fishery switched from wire, which can accidently entrap sharks, to monofilament traces which sharks can bite through. The fishery also fishes in deeper waters to avoid sharks. It has also increased transparency and accountability, such as through using electronic monitoring systems and installing onboard cameras on more than 50 of its boats.

The MSC joins with many others in calling for the WCPFC to make concrete progress towards the adoption of harvest strategies at the newly scheduled science management meeting in August, regular science and technical compliance committee meetings and agree and adopt harvest strategies at its next full meeting in December 2022. The MSC also calls on all those with an interest in the long-term sustainable management of our oceans to support this effort. Failure could not only result in the loss of MSC certification of these fisheries, but also leaves the long-term health of tuna in the WCPO in question and is forcing tuna buyers to look elsewhere to satisfy their sustainable sourcing commitments.

Rupert Howes, Chief Executive Officer at the Marine Stewardship Council said: “The outcome of this week’s WCPFC meeting is disappointing for the fisheries, retailers, brands and supply chain companies which have worked so hard to achieve and support the high level of sustainability required for MSC certification. The unprecedented support for these fisheries to maintain their current MSC certifications from supermarkets and tuna brands from around the world demonstrates the growing market demand for and commitment to continue to source sustainable seafood despite the economic pressures and impacts of the current pandemic. MSC certification provides the assurance the market demands. MSC urges all those committed to seeing our oceans fished sustainably and the implementation of the UN’s Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for the Ocean to urge their governments and delegations to do all they can to accelerate the development and adoption of harvest strategies and control rules that underpin sustainable fisheries management.”

More Bigeye for Pacific Longliners? Scientists Say Yes, Along with Increased Monitoring

December 7, 2021 — U.S. fishery managers propose increasing its Pacific bigeye tuna annual catch limit and gets the Western Pacific Fishery management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee’s blessing.

The SSC discussed issues related to bigeye tuna management last week at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting and endorsed the U.S. proposal to increase its bigeye tuna catch from 3,554 metric tons to 6,554 metric tons for the U.S. longline fishery. That endorsement includes an increase in minimum observer coverage for Western and Central Pacific longline fisheries from 5% to 10%.

WCPFC analyses demonstrate the Pacific bigeye tuna stock may sustainably withstand a modest increase in longline catch for the Hawai‘i-based fishery, noting it operates in a region of low levels of biomass depletion, the Council said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood News

WCPFC faces test as expiration date nears for Tropical Tuna Measure

November 29, 2021 — The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) 2021 meeting begins 29 November, as it faces the expiration of its Tropical Tuna Measure guiding fishing controls for bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna in its jurisdiction.

The regional fisheries management organization, which oversees the conservation and management of highly migratory fish stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, will meet virtually through 7 December. In December 2020, the WCPFC’s 27 members agreed to roll over its previous Tropical Tuna Measure, but the measure is set to expire in February 2022.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

112 retailers, tuna suppliers urge WCPFC to adopt tuna harvest strategies

November 17, 2021 — More than one hundred companies in the tuna supply chain have sent a letter to the heads of delegations of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), urging them to develop and adopt harvest strategies across all the tuna stocks the regional fishery management organization oversees.

Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco, Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Target, and Kroger were among the signors of the letter, which said harvest control strategies are necessary to ensure the RFMO’s tuna fisheries retain their Marine Stewardship Council certifications.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource