Pacific tuna. (Photo Credit: NOAA)

Warnings over low western and central Pacific tuna stocks

AUSTRALIA
Thursday, September 04, 2014, 04:10 (GMT + 9)

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) executive director warns tuna stocks are at a dangerous level and worsening but he claims the situation was ‘not yet unrecoverable.’

"The Pacific bluefin is I would have thought at the biggest risk, it's at about 3 per cent of its original spawning biomass, so the amount of adult fish in the water that can spawn ... it's at a pretty dangerous level," stated WCPFC director Glenn Hurry to the agency AFP.

Hurry details that other species that were also depleted were bigeye tuna – which was below the critical level of about 20 per cent of its original spawning biomass -- skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna – which was below 40 per cent of its original biomass.

Given this situation, Hurry welcomes Japan's plans to propose a 50 per cent cut on catches of young bluefin tuna in the western and central Pacific in a historic shift aimed at safeguarding the at-risk species.

Nevertheless, he considers more tough decisions needed to be made and admits it would be harder for small countries dependant on the fishing industry to pull back on their hauls.

With too many boats catching too few fish, Pacific island nations in June said they were ratcheting up the fees they charge tuna fishing boats to enter their waters by a hefty 33 per cent. It was then argued that this decision had been taken after considering that the foreign fishing vessels do not do enough to conserve the fishing resources.

The eight countries involved are from the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which control waters covering more than half the world's skipjack tuna, the most commonly canned variety.

From 1 January 2015, the PNA will raise the fishing day fee for so-called "distant water" fleets from as far afield as Europe, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, from USD 6 000 to USD 8 000.

Related articles:

- Govt plans to limit Pacific bluefin tuna catch
- PNA nations to increase fees for tuna fishing
- More fishing vessels may harm tuna stock status, a report warns

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