Non-Growth of Tuna Fleet

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The statement made by members of the World Tuna Purse Seine Organization at their 2^nd annual assembly, that is “to promote the creation of a worldwide tuna boat registry, with the objective of achieving a non-growing status of the tuna fleet in the world” points into a clear direction. WTPO members believe the best way to manage tuna resources worldwide is to control the amount of purse seiners (from about 80 M/T to 3500 M/T in size).

I share the views of the WTPO; that currently the best way to manage tuna resources is to limit the worldwide catching capacity, instead of applying quota systems to vessels or nations. We have seen what happens to quotas in most oceans. Fishermen often do not respect quotas; these are often hard to check, unless each boat carries an independent monitor. Therefore, limiting the amount of vessels seems a more objective option, and less difficult to check. It is estimated that there are now around 550 tuna purse seiners active around the globe. But will a non-growing status of the world tuna fleet really address the issue of over-exploitation of tuna resources?

Controlling the world tuna resources faces two major problems: lack of management bodies - lack of enforcement. A little less than 50% of the world catch of skipjack comes from the Central Western Pacific Ocean; an enormous stretch of water. An area covered by many small island nations, developing countries. Island nations where policies are often based on the local interests. But nations where local politicians and government workers regularly let their decision-making be steered by their own personal gain, instead of the interest of their community. Coast guards, or navy of these island nations often lack the manpower, equipment and strength to stand up against poachers and outlaws, roaming their fishing grounds and EEZ in high powered boats. Corruption, or “ among friends”-policies in assigning fishing licenses unfortunately still play a role. The many small island nations, who are part of the MHLC, have been working hard to establish regulations in their tuna hunting grounds. Even if they succeed in establishing such regulations, it is questionable if they are actually able to enforce them. Can they together control an area where close to 1.500.000 M/T of skipjack is caught each year?

Do they have the financial, and naval resources to control their EEZ, and bring up IUU (Illegal, Unreported Unregulated) vessels, or non-registered tuna boats, which have no license? Can and will they impose a complete stop to the growth of the tuna fleet?

The non–growing status of the world tuna fleet could also conflict with the intentions and policies of these small island nations to build their own tuna fishing fleets and industry. Building their own fleet to finally start benefiting from their own resources, and to stop the exploitation of their EEZ by foreign vessels of developed countries. It seems almost naīve to think that these nations will be able to enforce non-growth of tuna boats, unless they are part of a strong regional body, and provided with the needed funds.

The whole policy of NON-GROWTH by the WTPO seems to be based on the assumption that the world’s tuna resources are now fully exploited. But even scientists are not agreeing on what exactly the sustainable level of skipjack catch should be. Also too much of the tuna caught goes unreported. This makes it difficult to draw a reliable scientific picture.

In my opinion there is only one way for the WTPO to go, given their concern about the available tuna resources: Promote the use of independent international monitors on each and every tuna purse seiner in the world. Observers assigned and trained by regional tuna fisheries organizations, which could then, not ony report the volume and the location of the catches, but also observe the fishing methods used, respecting international regulations, the amount of by-catch, the size of the fish (skipjack no lower then 1.5 kg!), and log many other important scientific and economical data. Tuna caught without such an independent observer on board, and not meeting sustainable standards, could then be ear-marked as non–environmental friendly, and not be allowed to be sold to canneries anywhere in the world. Such a move would not only lead to finding the right balance between fleet size and tuna resources, it would also show that the WTPO is not just out to defend the established position of its current members, but really wants more transparency and serious sustainable tuna stock management. I believe this will be the method with the biggest pay-off for the eco-system, the tuna and its hunters!

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