GEF funded Oceanic Fisheries Management Project II launches new Western and Central Pacific Ocean oceanic fisheries Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis report.

Under the direction of FAO and UNDP, the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency is implementing the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project. The objective of this project is to support Pacific SIDS in meeting their obligations to implement & effectively enforce global, regional & sub-regional arrangements for the conservation & management of transboundary oceanic fisheries thereby increasing sustainable benefits derived from these fisheries.

The Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) study is a core project activity and was undertaken for FFA by Professor David Vousden of Rhodes University in South Africa who is vastly experienced globally in undertaking similar analyses.

Professor Vousden noted that “Tuna are highly mobile species that can move large distances and are not contained within one country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and will move through many EEZs as well as the high seas. This makes tuna fisheries management a transboundary challenge”.

In a consultative and analytical process, a TDA Identifies, confirms and prioritises the threats to effective oceanic resource management, interprets the environmental and socio-economic effects of each threat, identifies the practices that drive the root causes of each threat and defines potential actions for reducing the root causes of threats.

The findings of the 2018 WCPO Oceanic Fisheries TDA were presented to the annual meeting of the Forum Fisheries Committee (FFC) IN May 2018.

In presenting the report Professor Vousden noted that “There are two important observations that can be made regarding the tuna fishery since the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) establishment in 2004. Firstly, all the available scientific monitoring evidence and modelling supports the conclusion that the tuna fishery in the Convention area is sustainable and is currently not being overfished. Secondly, this is down to the fact that the countries, regional fisheries bodies and partnering agencies have been working closely together through this Convention to effectively implement the various activities and requirements in terms of monitoring and managing the fisheries, both within their EEZs and in the high seas as well”.

However, that said, the TDA study did identify a number of concerns that need to be addressed in order to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the oceanic fisheries resources as well as a range of actions that can be taken to address the issues raised.

The concerns identified are weaknesses in aspects of fisheries management and compliance, especially in high seas, Inadequate application of ecosystem management strategies, the potential impacts of climate change, coastal activities and pollution affecting the ocean ecosystem and the impacts of waste disposal and pollution at sea.

For each of the areas of concern the TDA proposes a wider range of mitigation solutions which were also considered by the FFC meeting in May. In acknowledgement of the need to address the concerns raised in the TDA, the FFC meeting endorsed the further development of a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) which is a road map of priority actions designed to address the threats and effects identified in the TDA. It is negotiated between PICTs and stakeholders, and needs to be endorsed at the ministerial level of the relevant government sectors. The Pacific Island Forum leaders already have a Regional Road Map with clear goals and strategies and the new SAP which is now in preparation will embrace and reflect these. The draft SAP will be presented to FFA Members at the next meeting of the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP2) Steering Committee in October 2018 for the subsequent consideration of Ministers.