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Eastern Pacific Fishing Nations Fail to Conserve Tuna
Eastern Pacific Fishing Nations Fail
to Conserve Tuna
July 1, 2008
 Rodney McInnis, Southwest Administrator of NOAA’s Fisheries
Service and U.S. Commissioner to the Inter-American Tropical
Tuna Commission (IATTC), today expressed disappointment that
a few countries blocked the Commission’s plan to conserve
depleted tuna stocks.
The IATTC’s annual meetings concluded
on Friday in Panama without agreement on a plan to conserve
yellowfin and bigeye tuna, which have in recent years
been subject to overexploitation. The Commission has responsibility
for the conservation and management of these shared international
fisheries resources, but measures can only be adopted if all
Commission members agree.
“The IATTC has failed to take action
at a critical juncture for the successful management of these
tuna stocks,” said Commissioner McInnis. “The
United States certainly does not want to see a sharp decline
of yellowfin and bigeye tuna stocks in the Eastern
Pacific similar to the depletion and looming collapse of eastern
Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna, but we fear that
because the members of this Commission are failing to adopt
a management regime supported by the best available science,
we may be headed down that path in the near future.”
Over the last several years, the Commission’s
staff scientists have consistently warned that reductions
in fishing are necessary to maintain the abundance of yellowfin
and bigeye tuna stocks at sustainable levels in the eastern
Pacific Ocean. IATTC scientific staff recommended a 12-week
closure of the purse seine fishery in the eastern Pacific
Ocean, an off-shore area closure for the conservation of bigeye
tuna, and reductions in allowable harvest levels of bigeye
tuna by longline fishing vessels.
 The overwhelming majority of IATTC member countries, including
the United States, agreed in principle to a slate of measures
consistent with the scientific staff’s recommendations. However,
consensus was blocked by a few member countries that cited
uncertainty in the estimates of the status of the stocks and
their unwillingness to accept significant fishing reductions.
Commissioner McInnis added, “We are
extremely disappointed that despite the high quality of analyses
and scientific research provided by IATTC scientists that
indicates we must cut fishing levels, some countries cannot
be convinced to follow their recommendations. Overfishing
these tuna stocks could undermine the economic livelihood
for many people and reduce supplies of sustainable yellowfin
and bigeye tuna.”
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stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.
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to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated
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