WCPFC Ignores Calls For Transshipment Ban

A week-long meeting of the WCPFC ended on Tuesday no further forward in addressing the issues of illegal tuna transshipment by longliners occurring in the region.

It is reported that a proposal put forward by the Cook Islands to place a blanket ban on transshipping in eastern high seas was effectively ignored during the meeting, and labelled to be discussed at a later date.

A campaigner for Greenpeace Australia, Lagi Toribau, said: “Pacific nations such as Nauru have already announced bans on transshipment in their waters, and it’s time for the WCPFC to adopt a more regional approach to this issue.”

Illegal fishing and transshipments by longliners are widespread and unregulated throughout the WCPO, with the area of high seas enclosed by the Cook Islands, Kiribati and French Polynesia an especially big “hotspot” for these activities.

In recent weeks a Taiwanese-flagged vessel was caught both illegally fishing tuna and shark fins near waters of Papua New Guinea. After it was identified, authorities from Taiwan escorted the vessel back to port where it now faces the suspension of its fishing license for up to a year.

Many NGO’s believe that cases like these are just the tip of the iceberg and allude to much larger illegal fishing and transshipping operations occurring in the Western Central Pacific. Illegal transshipping allows for catch to become almost untraceable as it can be mixed with other catches and sent almost anywhere in the world.

The full WCPFC will hold its annual meeting at the end of November where the nation members will agree on how best to end the damaging practice.