Mon, Sep 06, 1999 page17

• Conservation of Pacific Ocean fish resources goal of Honolulu meeting

  INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS Talks on the first conservation and management convention for the Pacific are expected to help prevent overfishing in the region

  • AFP
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  An international fisheries meeting opening today in Honolulu is expected to make significant progress in talks on the first conservation and management convention for the Pacific, a Marshall Islands official says.

  "We're still on target for completing the convention by June 2000," said Rhea Moss, the Marshalls undersecretary for Asia and Pacific Affairs who specializes in fisheries.

  "Ours [the Pacific] is the only region in the world taking a proactive stand in managing its fisheries resources," Moss said. The Pacific was trying to prevent overfishing that has destroyed many fisheries worldwide, she said.

  

  This undated photo from early 1999 shows a Korean purse seiner in Majuro atoll off-loading tuna onto a mother ship for transshipment to Asian canneries. An international fisheries meeting opening today in Honolulu is expected to make significant progress in talks on the first conservation and management convention for the Pacific.

  PHOTO: AFP

  And the convention now being negotiated was precedent-setting in other ways, she said. "This is the first attempt to implement the United Nations' Law of the Sea regarding management of highly migratory fish on the high seas," Moss said.

  The fact that Asian and American governments and their fishermen were willing to negotiate management of fishing on the high seas was significant, demonstrating virtually everyone accepted the need to preserve the Pacific's two-billion-dollar a year tuna industry, she added.

  The proposed Pacific convention is being negotiated among the 16 Forum Fisheries Agency island nations and the major rim fishing countries, including the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.

  It attempts to bring together many disparate interests into a management regime that would be overseen by an international commission funded by each member nation. The Honolulu meeting is to be the fifth high level multilateral conference on the conservation and management of highly migratory fish stocks in the western and central Pacific since 1997.

  The Honolulu talks, Moss said, would seek agreement on a number of key issues including:

  -- "allocation" or allowable catch systems used to conserve resources, which could involve total tonnage quotas, limitation on fishing vessels or fishing "seasons."

  -- a decision-making mechanism for the commission, including dispute resolution.

  -- use of a vessel monitoring system for overseeing and managing foreign fishing vessels and their catches on the high seas.

  -- funding the commission, and how much each member will pay.

  -- the extent of the Pacific covered by the convention.

  Agreement on the convention boundary was virtually completed at the last negotiation except for the northwest sector near Japan. "This area is still in dispute," Moss said.

  It was an important area because Japan has a major yellow fin tuna industry near its zone, so its inclusion in the convention has management implications for the Japanese, she said.

  Moss said the convention would not only affect distant water fishing nations but island nations as well. "The convention has many implications [for the islands] for managing national commercial fisheries," she said.

  Only a few islands operated their own commercial fishing fleets. Most, at present, make do with foreign fishing license fees and the payment of approximately five percent of the landed value of the fish caught in their zones. Moss said, however, that for the Marshall Islands and other nations in the South Pacific, this was likely to change.

  "In the long term, 10 to 20 years, we might be vying for total allowable catch on the high seas if we're operating our own fleets of fishing vessels," she said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Chinese carrier group entered Japanese waters

  • 2

    Magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits Hualien County

  • 3

    Think tank hosts war games in Taipei

  • 4

    Students rescued from Cambodia

  • 5

    Home sales agent tops average wage list of TWSE