Western and Central Pacific Commission Adopts Measures to Limit Capacity and Reduce Bycatch

December 19, 2005

Release from:
NOAA

The first substantive meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) was held in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, December 12-16. The U.S. delegation was led by William Gibbons-Fly, Director, Office of Marine Conservation, Department of State, and William Robinson, Pacific Islands Regional Administrator, NOAA Fisheries, and included other representatives of NOAA Fisheries, the Department of State, the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, fishing industry groups, and other nongovernmental organizations. The meeting was reasonably successful, given that this is a brand new Commission, and it was the first time the WCPFC members faced decisions that would potentially limit or cut back fisheries.

The WCPFC adopted conservation and management measures for bigeye and yellowfin tuna; purse seine and longline fisheries were capped at recent catch levels, setting a benchmark for future reductions. The U.S. purse seine fleet will be limited to its 2001-2004 average (not constraining) while the longline catch will be limited to the 2004 level, which is less than what will likely be the U.S. 2005 catch. U.S. purse seine effort in Forum Fisheries Agency countries' waters under the South Pacific Tuna Treaty is unaffected. The U.S. delegation was also successful at getting a North Pacific albacore resolution similar to the one adopted by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, although only for one year. A similar one-year resolution limits the number of U.S. vessels fishing for southern albacore to the recent 2000-2004 levels (likely not constraining). In addition, a non-binding resolution on capacity urges members to reduce any purse seine capacity that entered the fishery after earlier resolutions to this effect were adopted, beginning in 1999.

The United States successfully proposed bycatch resolutions for both sea turtles and seabirds. The sea turtle resolution requires that members implement the FAO Technical Guidelines to Reduce Sea Turtle Mortality in Fishing Operations and includes numerous other non-binding measures such as urging members to undertake trials of circle hooks in longline fisheries. The seabird resolution requires members to implement the International Plan of Action on Seabirds and report back to the WCPFC. Unfortunately, a shark resolution introduced by the United States failed to pass, because of a procedural complication that occurred late in the meeting. It will be taken up again at next year's meeting (December 11-15, 2006, in Samoa).

For more information, visit www.wcpfc.org.