Tuna fishing in the Pacific under threat

Tuna fishing is a $7 billion industry for the Pacific Islands that is under serious threat both by legal and illegal overfishing, and especially being undermined by over licensing of foreign fishing vessels at the expense of locally owned and operated fishing enterprises.

In 2012 a record 2.65 million tonnes of tuna was taken from the Pacific, accounting for 60% of the global catch. Fleets from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, USA, and even from as far away as Europe, fished most of the catch.

But the industry association, PITIA (Pacific Islands Tuna Industry Association) has warned on many occasions, that unless there is better management of this lucrative resource in the Pacific, the threat of extinction of some of the tuna species is quite high, and the nations of the Pacific stand to loose economically in a big way.

Local Pacific governments are being told that the problem with the fishing industry is in their hands. They need to do something to reduce the catch, and even to ban tuna fishing in some parts of the Pacific.

The implication is that despite their knowledge that stocks are becoming unsustainable, governments continue to issue licenses to foreign vessels, getting a short-term revenue from licensing yet sacrificing the long-term benefits of better quality catches, higher market prices, and better benefits to the domestic fishing industry.

Tuna has for centuries provided an important source of food for Pacific islanders. Today, tuna fishing is also an important source of income and employment. For some island nations, the tuna resources within their 200-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) represent their only significant renewable resource, and their best opportunity for economic development.

The fishery in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean varies in size, from small-scale local operations to large-scale, industrial purse seine, pole-and-line, and long-line operations, all within the economic zones of the Pacific states and on the high seas.

The main species targeted are skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye, albacore, and the favorite of sushi eaters, bluefin tuna.

Marshall Islands fisheries director, Glen Joseph has called for the foreign nations vessels ‘to commit to cut catches by 30%.’ This will help support sustainability, he says.

Local governments are urged to cease or decrease issuing licenses to foreign vessels as most of the foreign vessels are subsidized and the licensed local vessels cannot really compete with their foreign counterparts.

‘No fish, no jobs’ is the most recent warning call given by PITIA. The industry association which is made up of 25 member Pacific nations urges governments to do something to help stop the growing unemployment that comes from local fishing boats being “tied up for good” and fishermen without jobs.

Most of the catches of tuna are within the EEZs of Pacific Island nations.

The Cook Islands, however, has come up recently with a proposal to ban tuna fishing in the Pacific Ocean’s eastern high seas, despite opposition from the powerful fishing nations of China, South Korea, and the United States.

At the December 2013 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting in Cairns, Australia, the Pacific Island nations supported the Cook Island’s proposal.

Ben Bonia, leader of the Cook Islands delegation to the meeting alleged there are ‘too many boats in the fishery and up to 50% are not complying with conservation measures.’

Environmental group Pew Foundation issued a report based on a study they conducted, finding stocks of Bluefin tuna, a specialty of sushi lovers, had fallen 96% from their original levels, ‘with juveniles forming the majority of specimen now being caught, pushing the species close to extinction.’

Maurice Brownjohn, Commercial Manager of PNA (Parties to Nauru Agreement) was blunt in his comments about current status of the local fishing fleets in the Pacific.

He told Islands Business magazine, ‘that government tuna fishing policies should benefit domestic not the subsidized foreign fleets.’

The catch according to surveys may be greater in total because there are great numbers of vessels fishing in the area. However, the catch from each unit vessel has decreased significantly, and the size of the catch is also a big concern.

All of this confirms there is a sustainability problem, and if nothing is being done, the industry, according to ‘fishing prophets of doom’ is seriously heading for a collapse.

Many local fishing fleets have ceased operations, as in Fiji with companies like Fiji Fish and Solander. They’ve had to tie up their boats, lay off staff and close operations.  PITIA reported that more than 50% of the Fijian fishing fleet has now been ‘tied up.’

‘The subsidized Chinese fleet had crippled the domestic fishing fleet in Fiji,’ Fiji Fish Chief Executive, Graham Southwick told Islands Business.

There is only one fishing vessel still in operation in Tonga, a drop from a high of 26.

American Samoa, even with the support of the powerful United States has recently put its fleet on the market.

Similar stories come from Samoa, and the once vibrant Papua New Guinea domestic long-line fishery is no longer in operation.

Another problem that Pacific nations have to deal with is the illegal pirate fishing conducted within their waters. Long-liners from Taiwan and the Philippines are constantly being caught in the high seas transferring catches that were fished in the waters of Pacific nations.

Stock assessments, according to PITIA, continue to produce relatively healthy results, however, actual experience at sea tells otherwise. Practice shows there is a fast local depletion regardless of the perceived overall state of the stock.

Dr. Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington, an expert researcher on tuna fishing, says, ‘You manage sustainability not by how many fish stock you’ve got but by managing the fishing itself.’

As against those who say that at the current rate of overfishing, all fish will be gone by 2048, Dr Hilborn says that all fish stock will not be gone.

‘It is sustainable,’ he says. ‘But you must regulate catch limitation and fleet reduction.’

He claims that despite the threat, there are lots of fisheries that are well managed.

Despite disagreements as to the solution and how to monitor sustainability, there is a general consensus among WCPFC members there must be reform in the tuna fishing industry.

Japan and the Philippines have given reformers a hopeful signal by making a joint proposal with eight island nations to adopt conservation measures, including reducing big eye tuna quotes.

And this is where the Pacific nations need to pick up the ball, so to speak, in legislating, making treaties, and establishing policies that would assist in the overall management of fisheries, helping to conserve probably the most significant renewable economic resource of the Pacific islands.