Pacific oceanic fisheries – Resources

Fact sheets

• Summary of Preliminary Results of Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), 2018, four pages, WCPO Fisheries Management
  Tuna are highly mobile species that can move large distances. Tuna fisheries are not contained within one country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and will move through many EEZs as well as the high seas. This makes tuna fisheries a “transboundary problem”. This fact sheet describes a diagnostic analysis of this transboundary problem. The link to the complete report is below under “Technical papers”.
  

• Western and Central Pacific Oceanic Fisheries Management: Summary of Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis, 2018, two pages, Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP2), April 2019.
  A shorter summary of the TDA
  
• Strategic Action Programme for Western and Central Pacific’s living marine resources, 2018, OFMP2, April 2019
  A summary of the Strategic Action Programme (SAP), a set of actions that will resolve or reduce the problems discussed in the TDA. The small island developing states (SIDS) will implement the SAP with the support of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Pacific Community (SPC). The link to the complete report is below.
  
• Collective best practices for well-managed FAD fisheries, ISSF, February 2019
• As part of OFMP2, FFA has produced a fact sheet on Climate change and Pacific tuna fisheries.Topics covered include:
  1. Climate naturally affects the distribution and abundance of tuna
  2. Climate change under continued high greenhouse gas emissions will change tuna habitats
  3. Climate change reduces nutrients and food availability for tuna
  4. Climate change affects the 4 species of tuna differently
  5. Climate change will affect fishing catch and revenue, but there are options
  6. Decline in coastal fisheries under climate change means tuna is vital for food security
  7. Research modelling addressing knowledge gaps.
  

(SPC images are copyright)

• Pacific–European Union Marine Partnership Programme, 2018
• Global sustainable fisheries management and biodiversity conservation in areas beyond national jurisdiction, FAO, 2017
• Caught in the middle: The story of Western and Central Pacific bigeye tuna, The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2013

Technical papers

• Global status and conservation potential of reef sharks, M Aaron MacNeil and others, Nature, July 2020
• International Seafood Sustainability Foundation 2019 annual report, ISSF, 2020. An online report, with many links to detailed information throughout.
• Trends in tuna carbon isotopes suggest global changes in pelagic phytoplankton communities, by Anne Lorrain and others, including Valérie Allain, Global Change Biology, October 2019
• The disjuncture between regional ocean priorities and development assistance in the South Pacific, Jeremy Hills (University of the South Pacific) and others, Marine Policy, vol. 107, September 2019
• Not all who wander are lost: Improving spatial protection for large pelagic fishes, by Kristina Boerder, Laurenne Schiller, and Boris Worm, Science Direct, July 2019
  The authors examine methods of protecting ongoing supplies of tuna and other seafood for human consumption. They conclude that, for highly migratory species such as tuna, protecting their environment is not sufficient: fisheries also need to be better managed. There are many ways to do this, including using remote-sensing devices to track tuna and fishers. Combining protected areas, for example by joining them with corridors that are also protected, would also help protect stocks.
• Global ensemble projections reveal trophic amplification of ocean biomass declines with climate change, Heike K. Lotze and others, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), June 2019
• Report on the 3rd Workshop of the Tuna Compliance Network, 22–24 February 2019, International MCS Network and Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project
• Impact of climate change on tropical tuna species and tuna fisheries in Pacific Island waters and high seas areas, Conservation International, December 2018
• Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), 2018
  This report fills an earlier gap in the management development process for the Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries. When the original Strategic Action Programme (SAP) was adopted in 1997, it was not based on a detailed TDA. This document is the result of a number of working groups and consultations, with specific inputs from many organisations. Much of the information was gathered from high-quality existing reports and publications, and examines the root causes of the problems discussed.
  
• Strategic Action Programme for the sustainable management of living oceanic resources by the small island developing states of the Western and Central Pacific, Oceanic Fisheries Management in the Pacific, draft for review, October 2018
  The Strategic Action Programme (SAP) reviews the problems and concerns that were identified in the TDA. It identifies a set of clear priorities for action by the Pacific Island countries and territories, and their partners in the region, to resolve or minimise the problems identified. All ministers on the Forum Fisheries Committee, which governs the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), signed their country’s agreement with the SAP in June 2019. FFA announced the signing in a media release.
  Download SAP signed all FFC Ministers in June 2019.
  

• Implementation of Global and Regional Oceanic Fisheries Conventions and Related Instruments in the Pacific Small Island Developing States, FFA; document of the PFOMP2 project containing background information on the significance of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean to tuna fishing, the effect of tuna fishing on marine environments, and the socio-economic landscape of the SIDS
• Fisheries of the Pacific Islands: Regional and national information, FAO 2018
  This publication provides a quick and general understanding of the status of fisheries and aquaculture in the Pacific Islands region. It is an update of the 2011 FAO publication, Fisheries of the Pacific Islands: Regional and national information. In addition to a regional overview, it provides fisheries and aquaculture profiles for the 14 independent Pacific Island countries, including chapters on:
  1. General geographic and main fisheries economic indicators, including a summary of fisheries statistics reported to FAO
  2. Production sectors
  3. Post-harvest sectors
  4. Socio-economic contribution of the fishery sector
  5. Trends, issues and developments
  6. Institutional framework
  7. Legal framework.
• This report is discussed in Franscisco Blaha’s blog, May 2018
• Policy analysis and engagement toolkit: A guide for Pacific non-government organisations in the fisheries sector, WWF, 2018
  This guide aims to help non-government organisations (NGOs) assist public officials of Pacific Island countries to write and implement more effective fisheries policies. It also covers research, participation and engagement in the generation of policy, and policy analysis.
• Efficiency of the circle hook in comparison with J-hook in longline fishery, Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction, summarises a paper on tests conducted on longline vessels fishing in the Bay of Bengal, in which the two hooks catch similar percentages of target fish, but the circle hook catch a much smaller percentage of bycatch. A link to the paper is included on the page.

Popular articles

• “Hold on brother”: final days of doomed crew on Chinese shark finning boat, Guardian, July 2020
• North Korea’s “ghost ships” linked to illegal fishing by China fleet, study finds, Guardian, July 2020
• Sharks “functionally extinct” at 20% of world’s coral reefs as fishing drives global decline, Guardian, July 2020; mentions that Federated States of Micronesia and French Polynesia had among the highest numbers of sharks recorded in the study, and that 8% of Palau’s GDP comes from shark tourism. The paper of the study is published in Nature.
• Indonesia calls for RFMO reforms in response to crew abuse on board Chinese longliners, Seafood Source, June 2020
• Indonesia seeks UN protection after deaths on Chinese fishing ships, Nikkei Asian Review, May 2020
• New fisheries management method benefits industry and ocean health, Pew Charitable Trusts, May 2020
• Tuna carry evidence of human causes of global heating, TunaPacific, February 2020
• Climate change likely to see tuna move from Pacific territories, warns scientist, TunaPacific, 10 December 2019
• Fishing for the future: the case for harvest strategies, Pew Charitable Trusts, December 2019
• Best practices for transhipment, Pew Charitable Trusts, November 2019
• Poor Filipino fishermen are making millions protecting whale sharks (in change of livelihood from fishing to tourism), The Conversation, August 2019
• How is climate change affecting tuna fish stocks?, CLS, July 2019
• Sharks: one in four habitats in remote open ocean threatened by longline fishing (including the southern periphery of the WCPO), The Conversation, July 2019
• With coordinated effort, countries gain against illegal fishing, Pew Charitable Trusts, June 2019
• Size, species, capture location: what makes tuna high on mercury?, SPC, June 2019
• “One fish at a time”: Indonesia lands remarkable victory, The Guardian, January 2019
• Industrial fishing ushers the albatross closer to extinction, say researchers, Guardian, January 2019
• Owner and officers of Japanese fishing vessel charged with unlawful trafficking and smuggling of shark fins, United States Attorney’s Office, District of Hawaii, December 2018
• Misery at sea, 2018, Greenpeace report on forced labour and other human rights abuses, and poor working conditions on Taiwanese distant-water fishing vessels
• The Pacific–European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) programme now in implementation phase, Fisheries Newsletter, no. 157, SPC, September–December 2018
• A la carte menu for tuna: Kids’ dishes, regional and seasonalspecialities, or how tuna diets vary in the Pacific, Fisheries Newsletter, no. 157, SPC, September–December 2018
• Forty years of small-scale tuna fishery development in the Pacific: lessons learned, Fisheries Newsletter, no. 157, SPC, September–December 2018
• Pacific tuna managers must set science-based policies, fight illegal fishing, Pew Charitable Trusts, November 2018
• Scientists recommend catch limits for Pacific fishery, TunaPacific, October 2018
• Pacific–European marine and development partnership signed, TunaPacific, September 2018
• Like water and oil: fish as a geostrategic resource, TunaPacific, August 2018
• “They are taking out a generation of tuna”: overfishing causes crisis in Philippines, The Guardian, August 2018
• Sustainable management of tuna fisheries and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ, Common Oceans ABNJ Program, FAO

Posters & videos

Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management, a poster explaining the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP2), 2018

Marine biologist Valerie Allain describes the SPC’s largest collection of tuna tissue samples available to scientists for research on understanding tuna (3:50 mins).

Laurent Dagorn, a senior scientist with the French Research Institute for Development, describes the utility of FADs when they are not over-used. Video in English, produced by ISSF (3.39 mins).

Country web page reports: Bycatch

The Pacific Community (SPC) hosts a Member Countries Tuna Fisheries web site. It gives individual countries information on aspects of their fisheries. Reports on bycatch are a great example of the SPC reports produced specifically for each country. Once Pacific countries have this information, they are in a stronger position to negotiate a better deal with fishing fleets. Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) use their own password to access their country’s confidential data and reports. Those who need a login and password can get it from Emmanual Schneiter at SPC.

Each confidential country web page includes data and graphs that are updated 4 times a year. The main groups of data included on country pages are listed here.

• Catch by species (of target tuna):
  – summarised by gear type and by flag
  – national fleet catch summarised inside and outside EEZ.
• 2. Catch by gear type:
  – summarised by species and by flag
  – national fleet catch summarised inside and outside EEZ.
• Catch per unit effort:
  – summarised by gear type and flag
  – purse-seine catch summarised by FAD association
  – spatial plots of effort and catch by 5° and 1° latitude/longitude squares.
• Biological data for target tuna species (just length frequencies currently)
• Gear characteristics (e.g. hooks per set for longlines, set start times for purse seines)
• Observer collected data (longline vessels only):
  – observer coverage
  – observed CPUE (catch per unit of effort) of target and bycatch species
  – list of all bycatch species and fate of key species

The country web pages are particularly useful for helping each country to produce a Part 1 Report that summarises their historical fishing activities within their EEZ. This report is required annually for inclusion to data summaries at the annual WCPFC Scientific Committee meeting.

SPC researcher Steven Hare explains (57 secs).

Regional networks