A revised tropical tuna measure was agreed on during the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting in the Cook Islands, but little progress has been made on tighter monitoring of transshipment that has a reputation for nefarious fishing activity. The decision was made in Rarotonga earlier this month as 26 member countries and participating territories convened to make rules for the world's largest tuna fishery. The measure dictates management around bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna. Pew Charitable Trusts' Glen Holmes said it is arguably the most important piece of management the WCPFC has.

As part of the measure, Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) closure periods in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean were reduced to allow more fishing. FADs are used to attract fish and closure periods mean purse seine fishing vessels cannot fish close by them. The closure periods have been reduced from five months to two and a half months in both the high seas and exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Holmes said the change will put more pressure on tuna stocks, but it is not a concern for his organisation because the science says it is okay.

"Essentially, the closures have been halved to what they previously were and that will result in much higher economic returns for the islands who are selling days for the purse seine fleet," he said. Holmes said "as a trade-off" the longline fleets can also increase how much they can fish but subject to increasing observer coverage - whose job it is to ensure ships are adhering to fishing rules.

Before the meeting, observer coverage for the longline fleet was 5 percent, while the purse seine fleet has 100 percent coverage. "If they increase it to 10 percent coverage, they will get a 10 percent increase on the amount of bingo that the limited members can catch," Holmes said.

World Wildlife Fund Western and Central Pacific tuna programme manager Bubba Cook said observer coverage should be increased purely on science and compliance - not so longline vessels get more opportunities to fish. "That's not the reason we should be increasing observer coverage we should be increasing observer coverage on principle alone."

The Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) director Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen said the new measure was carefully balanced. In 2022, a management procedure, which is a pre-agreed framework for making fisheries decisions, was adopted for skipjack tuna.

Source: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/505287/nations-agree-on-revised-tuna-strategy-but-concerns-over-vessel-monitoring-remains

The central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), and Maldives Customs data show that fish exports stood at MVR 1.9 billion during the same period last year. Therefore, exports for the current period are up 10.3 percent from last year.

According to statistics, among the various types of fish exports, skipjack tuna, and yellowfin tuna were the most prominent, with fish worth MVR 1.4 billion exported both fresh and frozen. Additionally, canned and poached fish worth MVR 500 million were also exported until November.

According to the latest MMA data, skipjack tuna is currently priced at MVR 26.2 per kg in the international market.

Source: https://avas.mv/en/138087

The various forms of assistance provided by the Antique Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to fisherfolk have increased marine production in the province.

Alette Gayatin, Senior Aquaculturist at the OPA, said in an interview Tuesday that the province has increased its fish production compared with last year's, owing to government interventions.

“Through the OPA, there are Lambaklad projects in the six coastal municipalities of Antique that have reported 57.53 metric tons of fish production as of October 2023,” she said. She enumerated the towns as Libertad, Pandan, Sebaste, Barbaza, Bugasong and Tibiao.

The Lambaklad project employs the "otoshi-ami" method using fishing gear and nets. Gayatin added that although she could not ascertain the amount of assistance the BFAR has extended to the fisherfolk, the fishing gear, boats, nets and other equipment have contributed greatly to the fish production. “Based on our available data, the fish production in Antique for the first quarter of 2023 is already 6,623.82 metric tons,” she said.

Gayatin said they are still waiting for reports from the municipalities so they can update the data on the total fish production for the year. Antique has a total of 18 towns -- 15 are coastal municipalities and three are inland or mountainside towns. “The fish consumption in Antique is 18-20 kilos per year per person,” Gayatin noted.

Source: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1215680