Press Release:
Greenpeace, Suva.

Suva, Fiji Islands,  A decision to set aside 4.5million square kilometers of international waters in the Pacific as off-limits to purse seine fishing for tuna represents one of the largest ocean protection moves in history said Greenpeace. (1)

In congratulating the leaders who orchestrated this as a component to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) (2) meeting in the Marshall Islands last week, the international environmental group said Pacific Island Countries have shown exceptional and much needed leadership in defending the Pacific ocean at a time when it is needed most.

“By taking protective moves to rescue the region’s declining tuna stocks and to protect the broader marine biodiversity, the people of the Pacific are one step closer to sustainable fisheries and a healthy Pacific,” said Duncan Williams, oceans campaigner with Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

In addition to these proposed areas, the PNA countries previously pushed for almost complete protection of two large high seas areas in the western part of the Pacific Ocean (3).

The PNA has also taken progressive steps to reduce the use of fish aggregation devices (FADs) by fishing operations. Purse seine fishing vessels using FADs results in large amounts of unwanted by catch, including juvenile tuna, sharks and turtles: rendering its canned tuna products unsustainable.  These deadly fishing magnets are partly responsible for the sharp decline in valuable big eye and yellow fin tuna stocks in the Pacific.

“The necessary next step to ensure sustainable fisheries in the Pacific region is to extend the closures in the high seas to also include long-line fishing for tuna and a complete ban on purse seine fishing using FADs,” added Mr Williams. The region is well placed to reap large economic and environmental benefits by embracing sustainability.

 “Time and tuna are running out and East Asian fishing nations must now agree to these proposals at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting in December and close the high seas enclaves of the Pacific to all fishing activities,” concluded Mr Williams.

The high seas enclaves are areas of the Pacific rich in marine biodiversity including deep-sea corals, turtles and sharks. These areas are also an important migratory route for the region’s tuna populations and are targeted by wasteful and destructive as well as illegal fishing operations, including purse seine fishing vessels, which use FADs.

Greenpeace is campaigning for a global network of marine reserves to cover 40 percent of our oceans, areas off limits to harmful fishing, mining, drilling and other extractive activities. With marine reserves, our oceans and fish stocks can begin to recover.

 Notes:

 (1)    The closure is a unilateral move by eight Pacific Island countries who are part of the PNA i.e.; Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu; to sustainably manage tuna.  The closure will be implemented via licensing conditions for fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ’S) of the PNA countries. Vessels not licensed to fish in the waters of PNA countries but members to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) can still continue to fish in the areas.

(2) PNA countries own waters that supply 25% of the world’s tuna, an estimated $2 billion worth of fish every year.

(3)Weblink to map.

The 5th annual meeting of the WCPFC meeting in Busan, Korea in 2008 agreed to the closure of high seas 1 & 2 to Purse seine fishing.