Makin' Waves

Early Monday morning I arrived at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting not as a human but as "SheSeeMe" the bigeye tuna. I passed out leaflets that laid out clear solutions to the increasing problem of overfishing in the Pacific and made it clear to the Commission that the world was watching. Within a matter of minutes nearly every one of the 360 or so delegates was holding one of these little pieces of wisdom. Even the Governor of Guam took one and patted me on the fin, thanking me. Being a fish out of water actually turned out to be fun and with my task complete I transformed back into human form and returned to the meeting to observe the proceedings along with the rest of the Greenpeace delegation.

The opening kicked off with a warm welcome from the Governor of Guam who noted the importance of fisheries to Guam and and to Pacific identities. He also reminded everyone in the room that "the world was watching". The Chairman of the Commission then gave a speech where he challenged the countries represented here to take the action and responsibility required to protect and maintain the tuna stocks. His compelling words left a lump in my throat as we moved into the official proceedings. I glanced around the room and felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of people here from across the world. There are Pacific nations and also nations that have or want to have fishing fleets here.

Before resolutions can be passed there has to be consensus but this means that all the agreements inevitably get watered down to the lowest common denominator. As a result these meetings move very slowly and decisions often get deferred to working groups or future meetings. I have this song by Del Amitri in my head all the time where they sing "Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all, the needle returns to the start of the song and we'll all sing along like before". But overfishing in the Pacific is NOT a song we can keep singing because time and tuna are running out!

There was a review of the science pointing out that fishing effort has been increasing and some stocks are experiencing overfishing but most concerning was that conservation measures already implemented have not been effective.

I have been shocked by Japan’s blatant disregard of scientific data and refusal to take action in order to protect the fisheries. I don't know what Japan wants to put in their sushi in the near future but the chance of it being tuna isn't looking good if they continue to behave in this way.

On the bright side Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been consistently urging the Commission to implement strong conservation measures on the high seas and in Pacific EEZs. Yesterday Lagi and Seni gave the head of the PNG delegation the "Tuna Defender Award" in order to congratulate them on their efforts. Today PNG continued to take a stand for tuna when they asked "why do some Commission members argue against the science and continue to ignore the precautionary approach?” and then subsequently proposed that a region of the high seas be closed to tuna fishing and said "It's time to move forward!". I want to cheer and whistle for PNG every time they make a comment at this meeting!

The proposal for the closure of some of the high seas areas in this region is something Greenpeace is promoting so we were all elated when the Cook Islands chimed in with their full support of the proposal and suggested one of the other areas also be closed. The energy level in the room rose considerably at this point and Lagi lifted an award from his desk into the air while letting out a delicate "Whoooo!". I noticed several suits woke up from their 40 winks and scrabble laptop games at this point, surprised that something exciting had just happened!

So, we continue to watch and wait and each day I make my fishy appearance as "SheSeeMe" the big eye tuna and hand out newsletters that we write with our take on the proceedings. I get some nasty remarks made at me but in general SheSeeMe is well liked and our newsletter is gladly received by the delegates.

Sari, Lagi, Jason, Phil and Seni rarely get the chance to have a break because they are always busy lobbying countries and arranging side meetings with delegates from nations such as Korea and Taiwan who are key players to get on side in order to make these fisheries sustainable. I am in awe of their ability to keep up with everything since I am usually lost in all the technical jargon and complicated policies. I have to keep writing notes to Seni next to me asking her "what does that mean?" or "what the hell are they talking about now?" Several other issues are being discussed and we hope to see some good agreements being made later today and towards the end of the meeting. I'll be sure to let you know what the outcomes are.

From your elusive bigeye on Guam

Posted by wavemaker at 02:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not too long ago I remember reading that fish stocks in the Pacific were relatively healthy and that it was the only region in the world where tuna was not being overfished. But a lot has changed in just a few years and scientists are now saying that Pacific tuna stocks are severely threatened from overfishing and that the situation is critical. The Pacific countries are now faced with a very difficult challenge and the fate of many economies is at stake.

I am in Guam right now at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting where more than 20 nations will be negotiating agreements on the region's fisheries, which mainly consist of 4 tuna species (yellow fin, big-eye, skip jack and albacore). The greatest concern is over the decline in yellow fin and big eye stocks which are the tunas that are sold to the sushi and sashimi markets.

Greenpeace has an observer delegation attending the meeting that consists of 5 oceans campaigners. Seni and Lagi are here from the Greenpeace Australia Pacific office in Fiji and Jason is here from the Sydney office. Sari is here from Greenpeace International in Amsterdam and Phil from Greenpeace USA arrives this evening. Inside the meeting they will be monitoring the negotiations and outside they are meeting with the delegates and encouraging the best solutions.

I am your trusty blogger for the meeting and will be letting you know exactly what happens here in Guam. You regularly get to see the heroic actions on the water but so rarely hear about the heroes who work long hours lobbying countries at important meetings like this. Of course the adrenalin levels aren’t quite the same but that doesn’t mean what goes on here isn’t exciting.

Pacific Island countries depend on tuna resources for income and food and this region has the most productive tuna fishery in the world providing over half of the total global tuna supply. Decisions made here will affect the lives of millions and determine the fate of a massive ecosystem. I don’t think you can get much more exciting than that!

We’re calling upon the WCPFC to get serious about protecting the Pacific’s valuable fish stocks by cutting fishing effort in the region by 50%, banning all trans shipments at sea (this is when fish is off-loaded onto another boat, which allows vessels to avoid reporting their total catch by not needing to come into port) and establishing a no-take marine reserve for species managed by the WCPFC. Indications suggest that some of the industrial fishing nations will block efforts to conserve the tuna and already it seems that some of them are making threats to cut the funding of the Commission if expensive measures are put into place to regulate the fisheries. If only they were as keen on cutting fishing effort as they are to cut the funding of the Commission, which only has 8 staff and costs, les than 0.12% of the annual value of the fishery.

The meeting officially starts tomorrow and I will be making a radical physical transformation that I will tell you about later. I'll be posting an update on Tuesday. In the meantime – if you’re particularly into this issue click here for some links that may interest you. Plundering the Pacific is a very interesting summary of findings from Greenpeace joint enforcement exercises with FSM and Kiribati in 2006 that you might also be keen enough to look at.

Posted by wavemaker at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)