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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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is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety
through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and information service delivery for transportation,
and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's
coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global
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is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries
and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring
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and protects.
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