The decisions reached at the 12th Regular Session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, including taking measures to conserve the region’s tuna stocks, are soon to be integrated into the national fishing rules and regulations, the Fisheries Agency said on Wednesday.
The commission, which is the governing body that sets the rules on the use of tuna stocks and marine ecosystems in the region, held its latest meeting in Bali, Indonesia, from Thursday last week to Tuesday, with about 600 people from 26 members, including Taiwan, the US, the EU, Japan, South Korea, China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pacific Island nations, attending.
Taiwan was represented by a delegation led by agency Deputy Director-General Huang Hung-yan (黃鴻燕), which included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, academics and specialists in maritime law and fishery resources, as well as representatives from fisheries associations.
The commission agreed on a plan to develop harvesting strategies for most of the region’s commercially fished tuna stocks.
It took measures to make the data on harvests more transparent by keeping track of records since 2006 and to protect sea birds.
The agency said it is to coordinate with fishing boat operators and representatives from the fishing industry to adjust the methods of harvesting fish and to revise tuna fishing quotas and request the submission of data on the harvest of long-finned tuna to respond to the commission’s recommendation to reduce the tuna harvest.
In response to the commission’s new measures, the agency said it is to take more stringent actions against fishing vessels that fail to submit data or heed the regulations introduced by international fishery organizations.
However, Pew Charitable Trusts and the World Wide Fund for Nature have said that the meeting failed to produce concrete measures to curb the overfishing of bigeye and bluefin tuna, a media report said.
Commission members concluded the meeting without taking action to end the overfishing of bigeye or Pacific bluefin tuna, Pew said, according to the report.
Measures to improve shark conservation and prevent illegal fishing also failed to gain footing, the report said.
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