Prism Webcast News

Greenpeace calls on scientists to take stronger stand to save tuna

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Posted in Marine | Tagged Marine

Port Vila, Vanuatu - Greenpeace today urged the fifth annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Scientific Committee (1) to do more to end overfishing of Pacific bigeye and yellowfin tuna, by calling for larger reductions in fishing of these key species and by recommending the closure of four enclaves oninternational waters to all fishing.

More than half of the world’s tuna supply comes from the Pacific and 2008 was the highest reported annual catch in the Pacific fishery at over 2.4 million tonnes. With the world’s appetite for tuna growing continuously, the food security for local island communities and millions of people across the globe depends on this meeting recommending to the WCPFC substantial cuts in fishing and an end to the high seas plunder (2).

Last week Science published a joint paper (3) by the world’s leading fishery biologists declaring the dire need to restore marine ecosystems. They warn that fisheries exploitation targets “should be reinterpreted as an upper limit rather than a management target.”

“Catching fish the way we do undermines the viability of the fish stocks, their ecosystem and the fishing industry itself. The WCPFC must set precautionary management targets and cut fishing by half, rather that allowing outrageous increases in fishing capacity,” said Lagi Toribau Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans Team Leader at the meeting.

Another increasing threat to Pacific marine life results from wasteful fishing techniques - Fishing Aggregation Devices (FADs) used by purse seine vessels - which intensify overfishing. FADs are used to attract skipjack tuna but juvenile bigeye and yellowfin as well as sharks and other marine life are killed as by-catch when caught in the nets and thrown overboard, dead, as waste. Greenpeace is calling on a full ban on the use of these devices.

A new study (4) revealed that Oceania is an extinction hotspot. Fishing was highlighted as one of the factors forcing widespread extinctions, alongside with climate change, ocean acidification and the encroachment of human populations on fragile reef and rainforest habitats. The authors recommend 30-50% of the marine habitat be closed to fishing to avoid collapse of stocks.

Enclaves of international waters in the Pacific (5) are an important contribution to the network of marine reserves needed world-wide.
Approximately 10% of the Pacific annual reported catch comes from these areas, which Greenpeace’s previous expeditions have confirmed to be havens for pirate fishing (6). The enclaves are also rich biological and ecological areas containing vulnerable, fragile and sensitive habitats such as tropical corals and shallow seamounts.

“Marine reserves are a powerful means of protecting and restoring marine ecosystems. Greenpeace is calling on the WCPFC to close these four enclaves to all fishing.” said Genevieve Quirk Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner also at the meeting.

Greenpeace campaigns for a network of fully-protected marine reserves covering 40 per cent of the world’s oceans to safeguard them against the ravages of climate change, restore the health of fish stocks, and protect ocean life from habitat destruction and collapse.

Notes to Editor

1. http://www.wcpfc.int/meetings/2009/5th-regular-session-0

2. Greenpeace Briefing Paper to the Science meeting at bottom page of
website: http://www.wcpfc.int/meetings/2009/5th-regular-session-

3. Boris Worm, Ray Hilborn, Julia K. Baum, Trevor A. Branch, Jeremy S.
Collie, Christopher Costello, Michael J. Fogarty, Elizabeth A. Fulton,
Jeffrey A. Hutchings, Simon Jennings, Olaf P. Jensen, Heike K. Lotze, Pamela
M. Mace, Tim R. McClanahan, Cóilín Minto, Stephen R. Palumbi, Ana M. Parma,
Daniel Ricard, Andrew A. Rosenberg, Reg Watson, Dirk Zeller. Rebuilding
Global Fisheries. SCIENCE, VOL 325, 31 July 2009.

4. R. T. Kingsford, J. E. M. Watson, C. J. Lundquist, O. Venter, L. Hughes,
E. L. Johnston, J. Atherton, M. Gawel, D. A. Keith, B. G. Mackey, C. Morley,
H. P. Possingham, B. Raynor, H. F. Recher, AND K. A. Wilson. Major
Conservation Policy Issues for Biodiversity in Oceania. Conservation
Biology, Volume 23. July 2009.

5. Link to new high seas map showing 4 enclaves
http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/overfishing/solutions/political/marine-reserves

6. Pirate fishing is estimated at 21-46% for the Pacific Ocean. Marine
Resource Assessment Group (MRAG) and the University of British Columbia
(2008) “The global extent of illegal fishing”