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)

• The Pacific–European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) programme is a comprehensive programme that supports sound ocean and coastal governance, with a focus on biodiversity protection and the sustainable use of fisheries and other marine resources. This fact sheet outlines PEUMP’s activities, and the key agencies and partners involved. (SPC is the sole copyright holder of this fact sheet, which was published in SPC Newsletter #157.)
  
• Caught in the middle: The story of Western and Central Pacific bigeye tuna, The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2013

Technical papers

• 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
• 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.
• Report on the 3rd Workshop of the Tuna Compliance Network, 22–24 February 2019, International MCS Network and Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project
• 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
  This draft Strategic Action Programme (SAP) has arisen from the findings and conclusions of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA). It reviews the problems and concerns 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 identified problems.
  
• 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.
• 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

• 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
• How is climate change affecting tuna fish stocks?, CLS, July 2019
• With coordinated effort, countries gain against illegal fishing, Pew Charitable Trusts, June 2019
• “One fish at a time”: Indonesia lands remarkable victory, The 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
• A la carte menu for tuna: Kids’ dishes, regional and seasonalspecialities, or how tuna diets vary in the Pacific, SPC Fisheries Newsletter, no. 157, 2018
• Forty years of small-scale tuna fishery development in the Pacific: lessons learned, SPC Fisheries Newsletter, no. 157, 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

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