Poor management of the tuna fisheries will lead to collapse of the industry and loss of livelihood and food supply for the people of the Pacific.
The other path leads to the collapse of the major tuna fishery
and loss of livelihood and food supply for the people of the
Pacific.
Unfair fishing
The majority of tuna fishing in the region is being carried out
by foreign industrial fishing boats.
These fleets are migrating into the Pacific Region from over
fished waters elsewhere in the world - over 70% of the world's
fisheries are either being over fished or fished at their maximum
level.
These boats often register themselves to countries that do not
impose strict requirements on how they conduct their business so as
to minimise restrictions on their activities.
Many of these distant water fishing fleets are also supported by
governments that provide subsidies to their fishing industries
which gives them an economic advantage over fleets from other
nations.
These distant governments also often provide aid to the Pacific,
which puts Pacific Island nations in a difficult diplomatic
position when attempting to tackle issues in relation to the
fishing activities of these governments' fleets.
95% of the revenues from the legal tuna fishery go to distant
water fishing nations such as Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the European
Union and the USA. The financial return to pacific islands nations
through access fees and licenses amounts to around 5% of the US$2
billion the catch earns on the market each year.
Poor monitoring
A major challenge to the sustainability of fisheries in the
Pacific region is posed by the limited ability of Pacific Island
nations to monitor and regulate fishing activity in pacific
waters.
Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (pirate fishing) is
likely to be greatly worsening the over fishing problem in the
region. Regional fisheries management authorities in other regions
have estimated that pirate fishing takes as much as 39% of total
catch. Pirate fishing amounts to the theft of fish from Pacific
Island governments and law-abiding fishing operators.
No Regulation
Added to the insidious problem of pirate fishing is the fact
that fishing activity in high seas areas is not regulated.
High seas areas lie between the boundaries of Pacific Island
nations' waters. There is currently no control over fishing vessel
activity in these areas including the amount of fish that they
take.
Pacific Island nations with assistance from the Forum Fisheries
Agency have been working to respond to the threats to tuna
sustainability for some time through a range of legal, managerial
and capacity-building initiatives.
The most significant development for fisheries management in the
region in recent years has been the establishment of the Western
and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in December 2004.
This new regional fisheries management organisation is tasked
with establishing a management and conservation regime across all
the waters of the South Pacific (including the high seas), which
should address the regulatory vacuum around much of the fishing
effort.