Taiwanese And Japanese Vessel Inspections Will Help Identify Illegal Fishers

By Michael Rudolph

GUAM - Guam's local tuna population will soon have an added layer of protection against overfishing that will enable better protection of endangered tuna species in the Western and Central Pacific.  

Japan and Taiwan will engage in an agreement which has the intent to "provide better protection to endangered tuna stocks" according to a statement from Taiwain's Council of Agriculture (COA) as reported by Fish Information and Services (FIS).

The FIS reported that in a release from Taiwan's Fisheries Administration under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA), on Christmas day an agreement between Tawain and Japan will go into effect that allows "on-board inspections of each other's fishing vessels in international waters."  

The inspections will require that operating licenses and fish catch reports are readily available for inspection and that a refusal to cooperate with such an inspection will classify the vessel as “illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU)” and be subject to punishments such as license revocation.

In addition the release states that the Cook Islands, New Zealand and the United States are each slated to engage in similar agreements with Taiwan.

This could be good news for conservationists and local fisherman of Western and Central Pacific Islands as the large commercial fishing liners will be subject to increased oversight and regulation.  These protective measures are ultimately meant to prevent the depletion of tuna in the Western and Central Pacific.

According to the Associated Press, "the Western and Central Pacific Ocean has become the source of more than half of the world's tuna catch due to stock depletions in other oceans." This figure is quantified in the FIS article which states that "the annual fish catch in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean is of 2.5 million tonnes and the yield from illegal fishing is thought to be an annual 850,000 tonnes."

However, tightening the regulation on the region's tuna catch may lead to a decrease to the amount of available tuna and an increase in how much customers will pay.

Read the Fish Information and Services story "Fishing boats to conduct mutual on-board inspections", December 1, 2009.

Read the Associated Press story "Hawaii anxiously watching year-end tuna supply", November 21, 2009.