Capson, T.L. 2009. the Western and Central Pacific Ocean Tuna Fisheries and the Coral Triangle Initiative

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Prepared for the Office of Marine Conservation, U.S. Department of State. This draft does notnecessarily reflect the position of the U.S Department of State or the U.S. Government

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean Tuna Fisheries and the Coral Triangle Initiative

Summary: This report summarizes the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) tuna fisheries in the

context of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and, the Indian Ocean TunaCommission (IOTC). It also summarizes available information on the tuna fisheries in Indonesia, thePhilippines, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Solomon Islands, four countries that are key players in theCoral Triangle Initiative (CTI) and have a significant impact on the tuna fisheries in the WCPO and theCoral Triangle region. The paper also makes recommendations for CTI-supported objectives towardshighly migratory species (HMS) fisheries.

The WCPO tuna fishery and the WCPFC

The tuna fishery in the WCPO is diverse, ranging from small-scale artisanal operations in the coastalwaters of Pacific states, to large-scale, industrial purse-seine, pole-and-line and longline operations in both the exclusive economic zones of Pacific states and on the high seas. The four main species targeted by these fisheries are skipjack tuna ( Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), bigeye

tuna (T. obesus) and albacore tuna (T. alalunga) (Williams 2002).



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Figure 1. Jurisdictional boundaries of the WCPF Convention Area, the CTI, claimed maritime jurisdictions of PacificIsland countries (grey), the South Pacific Tuna Treaty (SPTT, http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/IFD/ifd_sptt.html), US EEZ

boundaries, and other jurisdictional boundaries of relevance.

As described in a recent report on the WCPFC and the CTI (WCPFC 2008a), within the WCPO, theWCPFC is the principal multilateral Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) responsiblefor management of the four tuna stocks listed above (Figure 1). The Commission was established by theConvention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western andCentral Pacific Ocean (WCPF Convention) which entered into force in 2004. The WCPFC is the firstagreement to enter into force for the management of highly migratory fish stocks since the adoption of theUnited Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA) (Lodge 2006). Key provisions of the UNFSA aregenerally reflected in the WCPF Convention, as are the unique political, socio-economic, geographicaland environmental characteristics of the WCPO region (WCPFC 2008a).

Figure 2. Catch (mt) of albacore, bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin tunas in the Convention

Area, by longline, pole-and-line, purse seine and other gear types (Source: WCPFC 2008).

Figure 3. Catch (mt) of albacore, bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin tunas in the

Convention Area by species for all gear types combined (Source: WCPFC 2008).



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The WCPF Commission seeks to enhance cooperation among members to address issues such asoverfishing, excess fishing capacity, illegal, unreported and regulated (IUU) fishing, insufficient or incomplete data in support of management decisions, development of more selective fishing technologyand other related matters. The Commission includes membership by Taiwan as a ³fishing entity,´1 and

encourages the independent participation by territories in its work. It also recognizes the specialrequirements of developing States, and cooperates with other RFMOs whose respective areas of competence overlap with the WCPFC. The scientific input for the WCPFC is provided primarily by theSecretariat of the Pacific Community¶s (SPC) Ocean Fisheries Programme(http://www.spc.int/oceanfish/), which leads stock assessments of the major targeted tuna species in theWCPO.

The WCPF Convention Area (WCPF CA) tuna catch for 2007 (provisional) was an estimated 2.4 millionmetric tons (mt) (Figures 1 and 2), an all-time record for the WCPO. The catch represents 55% of globaltuna production (WCPFC 2008a,b) and is worth an estimated US$3.8 billion (SPC 2008). During 2007,the purse seine fishery accounted for an estimated 1.7 million mt (73% of the total catch, Figure 2) which provides tuna for canning in regional and Southeast Asian canneries. The WCPF CA tuna catch for 2007

represented 84% of the total Pacific Ocean catch of 2.8 million mt. There is limited information on theextent of fishing in the area by non-members of the WCPFC (WCPFC 2008a).2

The purse-seine fishery targets skipjack tuna (1.7 million mt, or 73% of the total WCPF CA catch in2007), while yellowfin accounted for 18% of the total catch.3 Purse seine landings also show significantcatches of juvenile yellowfin and bigeye tuna. The longline fishery predominantly targets adult bigeye,yellowfin and albacore tuna, had a much smaller catch (10% of the WCPF CA total by weight), but itsvalue is relatively high (30% of the total value). Longline-caught bigeye and yellowfin tuna are exportedfresh or frozen to sashimi markets in Japan, the Unites States and elsewhere, while albacore is typicallyused as premium µwhite meat¶ canned tuna product (SPC 2008).

Some accomplishments of the WCPFC

The Commission has adopted a number of monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) and complianceand enforcement measures, including the Commission¶s Regional Observer Program (ROP), theCommission¶s Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), an Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) VesselList, and high seas boarding and inspection procedures²which is notably the first to be adopted by aRFMO that is fully consistent with the provisions of the UNFSA.

1 The UN Fish Stocks Conference in 1995 introduced the concept of ³fishing entity´ as a means of taking into account thecomplex position of Taiwan with respect to treaties adopted under the auspices of the United Nations. The status of Taiwan under the WCPFC has been described in detail (Lodge 2006).

2 The Members of the WCPFC include: Australia, China, Canada, Cook Islands, European Community, Federated States of

Micronesia, Fiji, France, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua NewGuinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Chinese Taipei, Tonga, Tuvalu, USA and Vanuatu. Participating members includeAmerican Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Tokelau, andWallis and Futuna. Cooperating Non-members include: Belize, Indonesia, Senegal, Mexico, and El Salvador.

3 The majority of the historic WCPF CA purse seine catch has come from the four main distant water fishing nations (DWFN)

fleets (Japan, Korea, Chinese-Taipei and USA), which numbered 147 vessels in 1995, but has gradually declined in numbers to110 vessels in 2007. In contrast, there has been a steady increase in the number of vessels flagged by Pacific Island Nations,which totaled 66 vessels in 2007. The remainder includes a large number of smaller vessels in the Indonesian and Philippinesdomestic fisheries (WCPFC 2008b).



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Based on increasing concern that overfishing in the WCPO of bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks wasoccurring, the Commission adopted a conservation and management measure that aims, over the nextthree years, to reduce fishing mortality on bigeye tuna by 30% and to keep fishing mortality on yellowfintuna from increasing.4 The Commission has also adopted conservation measures for swordfish, stripedmarlin, northern and southern albacore tuna, seabirds, sharks, and sea turtles. The WCPFC also supports projects designed to provide data for conservation and management, including the Indonesia and

Philippines Data Collection Project and the Pacific Tuna Tagging Project (www.wcpfc.int).

The following section summarizes the tuna fisheries in Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and theSolomon Islands, all of which are CTI participants and which have a significant impact on the WCPOtuna fisheries. The WCPF Secretariat has repeatedly noted that the incomplete catch, effort and biologicaldata for the Indonesia and Philippines components of the fishery remains the single largest source of uncertainty in current regional stock assessments for yellowfin and bigeye tuna. At the national level in both the Philippines and Indonesia, the capacity to undertake and interpret stock assessments and compilestatus reports is constrained by the same data deficiencies and lack of suitably trained scientists.Currently, even the total catch is not known for the fisheries in either country with any certainty, let alonethe catch by fishing gear, and catch by species, size and area, such that trends in catch rate are unable to be monitored (WCPFC 2008a,c).

The Indonesian tuna fisheries

With17,000 islands, 81,000 km of coastline, and its vast EEZ encompassing about 5.8 million squarekilometers of sea, Indonesia is the world¶s largest archipelago. In 2005, its annual fisheries productionexceeded 4 million mt, making it the world¶s 6th largest fish producer. The uncertainties with respect tothe catch, effort and biological data for yellowfin and bigeye tuna mentioned above are manifest in thedifferent estimates for tuna catches in Indonesia. For example, for the year 2004, the UN Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a value of 672,933 mt (Figure 4), Indonesia¶s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) provided estimates ranging from 720,715 - 783,380 mt (WWF2008), while estimates based on interviews conducted by the WWF (2008) indicate a total combined tunacatch of 1,942,801 mt, between 2.5 and 2.9 times higher than official statistics. In Figure 4, ³large tuna´include yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, southern bluefin tuna, albacore and longtail tuna, while ³small tuna´

are taken to include bullet tuna, frigate tuna, eastern little tuna, and striped bonito (see WWF 2008 for theassumptions and approximations in this analysis). Only skipjack tuna is identified by species. It is possible that juveniles of larger species were sometimes considered ³small tuna´ and possibly skipjack tuna. Acknowledging the uncertainties in the data reporting cited above, an estimated production outputof 790,000 mt would make Indonesia the number one tuna producer in the world.

The long-term trend in annual tuna catch shown in Figure 4 suggests that Indonesia¶s tuna catch has beenessentially level for a decade. The FAO species composition data, averaged over 2000-2006, indicatesthat small tuna are the dominant catch component in the tuna fisheries of the Indian Ocean, whereas in thePacific Ocean, skipjack tuna is the most important in terms of quantity. Figure 4 also reveals the relativeimportance of the catch from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Noteworthy is the steady decrease in thecatch of large tuna from the Indian Ocean, which was partly compensated by an increase in supply of

large tuna from the Pacific Ocean (WWF 2008).

4 At the Fourth Regular Session of the Scientific Committee (SC4) of the WCPFC in 2008, it was assessed that over-fishing of

bigeye tuna is occurring but that the stock is not in an overfished state. The most recent assessment of the status of yellowfinstocks completed at the Third Regular Session of the Scientific Committee (SC3) at Honolulu, Hawaii 13-14 August 2007, is thatthe resource is fully exploited with a high probability (minimum 47 per cent probability) that overfishing is occurring in theWCPO (WCPFC 2008a).



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Figure 4. Total tuna catch in Indonesia 1950-2006. Source: FAO (source: WWF 2008).

Dr. Purwito Martosubroto, Chairman of the Indonesia Tuna Commission and of the National Fish Stock

Assessment provided a summary of the following issues of importance to the Indonesian tuna fisheries(Martosubroto 2008):

y Declining trend of catch per unit effort (CPUE, the total catch divided by the total amount of effort used to harvest the catch).

y Shortage of bait for pole and line fisheries

y IUU fishing, especially in the eastern part of Indonesiay Managing the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs, objects that attract or ³aggregate´ ocean-

going pelagic fish, making them easier to catch in large numbers)

y Increased price of fuel since 2004, resulting in the partial conversion from longline fishing to purse seining and fish jigging in the Indian Ocean

y Bycatch of turtle and juvenile yellowfin

The Philippine tuna fisheries

The Philippines is still one of the top fish producing countries in the world and over 1.5 million Filipinosdepend on the fishing industry for their livelihood. The Philippines is also considered as a major tuna producer in the WCPO, both for domestic food security and on an industrial scale (WCPFC 2008d). Thetuna fisheries became the largest and most valuable fisheries in the Philippines during the mid-1970s,

when FADs were introduced. The country became the number one producer of tunas in Southeast Asia inthe 1980s. Official records from the WCPFC indicate that the country¶s tuna fishing fleet contributed atotal of 306,512 mt in 2004, roughly 15% of the total tuna production from the WCPO region. The catchis mainly composed of 170,431mt (55.6%) of skipjack tuna, 122,858 mt (40%) of yellowfin tuna and13,223 mt (4.3%) of bigeye tuna (WCPFC 2007).

According to a 2008 FAO the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture[http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0250e/i0250e00.htm]:



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"Analysis of survey information for some countries in the region [Malaysia, the Philippines,Thailand and Vietnam] have [ sic] shown considerable degradation and overfishing of coastal[tuna] stocks.´

There is evidence of overcapacity in the commercial fishing fleet (including tuna), which, in 1997, wasestimated to be 192% of the optimum level (FAO 2009). Within the Philippine EEZ, an estimated

354,572 mt of skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna were harvested in 2007 (WCPFC 2008d). Thedepletion of the Philippines¶ tuna resources has led to expanded fishing in the high seas of the WCPO aswell as the EEZs of neighboring countries, including Indonesia and PNG, and it is believed that up to80,000 mt of catch are taken outside the Philippine EEZ (WCPFC 2004). A 5-year bilateral agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines allowed Philippine fishermen to fish within Indonesia¶s EEZ butexpired in 2006. Indonesian Ministerial Decree No. 17/2006 (revised as Ministerial Decree No. 05/2008)stipulates that all foreign fishing companies must establish land-based processing and storage facilities,their ships must operate under the Indonesian flag, and their crew must have Indonesian nationals. Fishingin PNG has included deliveries to canneries in PNG and well as exports back to the Philippines and other canning outlets in the region. Philippines-based fishing in PNG tends to focus on FADs, much of whichoccurs in archipelagic waters.

Papua New Guinea tuna fisheriesPapua New Guinea¶s EEZ, 2.4 million km2 in extent, is one of the largest and more productive in theWCPO. A key facet of the PNG is the larger archipelagic waters encompassed within the areas under national jurisdiction. These areas are known to have high concentrations of tuna. Industrial-scale fisheriesfor tuna and associated species have operated since the 1950s, and in certain years, around 10% of theglobal catch of the main market species of tuna has been taken within PNG¶s EEZ. The tuna fishery is thelargest and most lucrative of PNG¶s fisheries and represents both domestic industry development andforeign distant water fishing nations (DWFN) access arrangements (WCPFC 2005). PNG has a growingshore-based processing capacity that has been targeted by PNG policy makers for substantial growth inthe near future.

Since 1999, the development of the tuna fishery has been guided by a National Tuna Fishery Management

Plan. The plan establishes an overall management structure, and an application framework for thelongline, purse seine and pole-and-line fisheries, including license limits and total allowable catches(TACs). The PNG longline fishery has been restricted to national or citizen companies, with limitedallowance for additional foreign vessels and recent escalations in fuel price has been especially difficultfor PNG-based longline vessels. The total catch of for 2007 was 466, 208 mt (a historical high) of which462,983 mt was captured by purse seine while 3,225 mt was captured by longline.

Solomon Islands tuna fisheries

The tuna fishery in the Solomon Islands is diverse, ranging from small-scale artisanal operations mainlyin their archipelagic waters, to large-scale, industrial purse-seine, pole-and-line and longline operations in both the EEZ of the Solomon Islands and on the high seas. The main species targeted by these fisheriesare skipjack tuna, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna and albacore tuna (WCPFC 2008e).

Within the Solomon Islands EEZ, the foreign fleets with high catch and effort data coverage are Korea,Japan, Taiwan, Vanuatu and the US, while the fleets from Belize and the Fiji also have significant catchand effort data coverage. In the period from 2002± 2007 the annual catch estimates of the SolomonIslands fleet have generally increased, especially the purse seine fleet. The size of the fleet has increasedrapidly since 2004, based on the number of licenses issued from 2004 to 2007. In the period 2002 to2007, the total annual catch for most of the foreign purse seine fleets that were undertaking fishingoperations in the Solomon Island waters had increased from 31,062 to 80,096 mt. The increase waslargely attributed to the Korean fleet which recorded over 44% of the total catch and the Taiwanese fleet



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which contributed 11%. In the purse seine fleets, total catches increased from 6,782 mt in 2002 to 22,313mt in 2006. In 2007, the catches dropped to 17,306 mt, which was attributed to a change in fleet size(WCPFC 2008e).

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission5

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is an RFMO mandated to manage tuna and tuna-like species

in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas. Its objective is to promote cooperation among its members with aview to ensuring, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilization of stocksand encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks (www.iotc.org). Unlike theWCPFC, the IOTC operates under the auspices of the FAO. The key findings of a recent performancereview of the IOTC included; (i) a series of gaps and weaknesses in the organization¶s legal framework;(ii) high levels of uncertainty due to the lack of data on tuna stocks; and (iii) a poor record of complianceand limited tools for addressing non-compliance (Anonymous 2009). Data from the FAO on reportedcatches of the four major tuna species in the Indian Ocean from 1950-2000 reported that the catchincreased gradually to about 200,000 mt in the early 1980s, and thereafter rapidly increased to between700,000 and 900,000 mt by 1999. The rapid increase is mostly due to the introduction by France andSpain in the early 1980s of purse-seine fisheries targeting skipjack and yellowfin tunas(http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5428e/y5428e05.htm).

Figure 5. Convention Area of the IOTC (dark blue) (Source: Anonymous 2009).

The Coral Triangle Initiative and tuna RFMOsRecognizing that the CTI is a ten-year initiative with an ultimate long-term time horizon of 15-20 years,the initiative provides an opportunity to support and reinforce the work of relevant RFMOs in the regionand to strengthen the tuna conservation and management capacities of the host-country participants to theCTI. An investment of CTI resources in the following areas is recommended:

1. Encourage and support the full participation by CTI countries in the relevant tuna RFMOs, includingrobust participation in scientific discussions by national scientists and analysts. For Indonesia, encourage progress towards becoming a member of the WCPFC.

5 The parties to the IOTC include Australia, Belize, China, Comoros, Eritrea, EU, France, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan,Kenya, Korea, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Sultanate of Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Sudan,Tanzania, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vanuatu.



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2. Strengthen domestic data collection in the CTI with an emphasis on Indonesia, the Philippines and theSouth China Sea and the development of the capacity to implement the relevant data collection provisionsof the tuna RFMOs.

3. Strengthen domestic regulatory capacities to conserve and manage tunas, including the ability toimplement Conservation and Management Measures adopted by the WCPFC and the IOTC.

4. Facilitate the implementation of Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) programs, in particular,domestic observer programs that ideally would become part of the WCPFC ROP and contribute to theneeds of the IOTC.

5. Conduct assessments of non-target, associated and dependent species including sea birds, sharks andturtles in both the WCPFC and IOTC Convention Areas.

6. Consider of how conservation and management of resources for highly migratory species inarchipelagic waters can be made compatible with measures adopted for EEZ and high seas areas of bothRFMOs.

ReferencesAnonymous (2009). Report of the IOTC Performance Review Panel: January 2009. I ndian Ocean TunaCommission. 56 pp. Available at http://www.iotc.org/files/misc/performance%20review/IOTC-2009-PRP-R%5BE%5D.pdf

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2009. Fish and Aquaculture Profile: Philippines.http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/FI-CP_PH

Lodge MW. 2006. The Practice of Fishing Entities in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations: TheCase of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western andCentral Pacific Ocean. Ocean Development & I nternational Law:37, 185 -207.

Martosubroto P. 2008. Trade, IUU Fishing and Fisheries Management : the case for Indonesia. Presentation at theA

sia Pacific Economic Cooperation-Fisheries Working Group-sponsored workshop, ³Economic Security andSustainable Tuna Fisheries in the Coral Triangle´, October 10-12, 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Pokajam, S. Tuna Management Policies & Conservation Measures in Papua New Guinea. Presentation at the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation-Fisheries Working Group-sponsored workshop, ³Economic Security and SustainableTuna Fisheries in the Coral Triangle´, October 10-12, 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia.

WCPFC 2004. Report of the Philippines Tuna Fishery Data Collection Workshop, 20-21 October 2004, QuezonCity, Metro Manila, Philippines. http://www.wcpfc.int/science-and-scientific-data-functions/indonesia-and-

philippines-data-collection-project

Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) 2008. Update on tuna fisheries. 1/2008.http://www.spc.int/oceanfish/Docs/Tuna%20Fisheries_1-2008.pdf

WCPFC 2005. WCPFC±SC1 FR WP±10. Tuna Fisheries Report ± Papua New Guinea

WCPFC 2007. Recalculation of the Philippine Tuna Production from the WCPO.WCPFC-SC3-FT SWG/IP-10

WCPFC 2008a. The WCPFC and the Coral Triangle Initiative. WCPFC

WCPFC 2008b. WCPFC, Scientific Committee of the 4th Regular Session, Overview of Tuna Fisheries in theWCPFC including Economic Conditions ± 2007, WCPFC-SC4-2008/GN WP-1. Williams P and Terawasi P.



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WCPFC 2008c. UNDP Project Document, West Pacific East Asia Oceanic Fisheries Management, PIMS Number 4084.

WCPFC 2008d. Annual Report± Part1, Information on Fisheries, Research, and Statistics. WCPFC-SC4-AR PART1/WP-24, Philippines.

WCPFC 2008e. Annual Report ± Part 1, Information on Fisheries, Research and Statistics. WCPFC-SC4-AR PART1/WP-26, Solomon Islands.

Williams PG. 2002. Western and Central Pacific Ocean Tuna Fisheries, 2002. Available athttp://www.spc.int/OceanFish/Html/SCTB/SCTB16/gen1.pdf

WWF. Getting off the hook, Reforming Tuna Fisheries of Indonesia. Ingles J, Flores J, and Musthofa I. (Ed. MousPJ).

Documents

Capson, T.L. 2009. the Western and Central Pacific Ocean Tuna Fisheries and the Coral Triangle Initiative