The International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF) is using the upcoming meeting of the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), in Papua New Guinea, to promote a number of conservation and management measures that the group says will “strengthen the sustainability and long-term viability of tuna fisheries in the region”.
The WCPFC meeting runs from Dec. 5 until Dec. 11 in Port Moresby.
In particular, IPNLF is pushing the WCPFC to:
“Continue the progress of harvest strategies that ensure the sustainability of tuna stocks while also explicitly recognizing the social and economic importance of these fisheries to coastal communities
“Strengthen the management of tropical tunas in line with the advice from the scientific committee;
“Ensure greater transparency in purse seine fishing operations by improving the monitoring and regulation of drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) and purse seine supply vessels;
“Ensure that FAD owners recover dFADs while at sea to minimise damage to sensitive coastal ecosystems;
Reduce marine pollution, including plastics and ghost fishing impacts associated with FADs and other lost gear;
“Adopt measures that reduce bycatch and protect endangered, threatened or protected species, including sharks, seabirds, cetaceans and sea turtles;
“Adopt a fins naturally attached policy to protect sharks;
“Improve the monitoring, control and surveillance of longline fishing activities; and
Impose strict monitoring and control on the use of any aerial means, such as drones, to search for tropical tunas.