The Philippines should come up with a viable tuna-management plan that would help the country’s fish stocks recover and return to its level in the 1980s, environmental groups said on Wednesday.
WWF Philippines and the Alliance of Tuna Handliners and Greenpeace Philippines issued the call at the start of the 18th Tuna Congress in General Santos City. Greenpeace criticized the Draft 2017 National Tuna Management Plan presented by big players of the country’s tuna industry represented by Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industry.
In a telephone interview, Vince Cinches, oceans campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, said the ongoing Tuna Congress is important because of the diminishing fish stock in the Pacific Ocean.
The Tuna Congress will run from August 31 to September 2 and one of its main objectives is to come up with a National Tuna Management Plan that will lead to sustainable fishing of tuna.
According to Cinches, the yellowfin, bigeye tuna and skipjack are “overfished,” underscoring the need for a tuna-management plan that will reform the industry “at every step in the supply chain from sea to plate.”
“The Tuna Congress is important because of the recently concluded meeting of the Western Central and Pacific Fisheries Commission [WCPFC], the body that manages the Pacific Ocean, affirming that tuna stocks are still declining,” he said.
More alarmingly, he said, is the plan of the government to expand its fishing grounds—targeting key marine-biodiversity areas, such as Benham Rise, the country’s newest territory some 250 kilometers off Aurora Province.
Cinches said the Philippines should be able to come up with measures that will stop overfishing and allow fish stocks in the country’s fishing ground to recover to avoid future problems, like access to fishing grounds outside the country’s territory.
“Benham Rise is rich in marine biodiversity and we first need to secure the area. We first need to come up with a scientific study and come up with a baseline data to protect and conserve Benham Rise,” he said.
Cinches said that, while coming up with a tuna-management plan is a “victory” for various stakeholders, the draft prepared by the tuna industry’s big players that was presented to conference participants, however, is “a big disappointment.”
Greenpeace, along with WWF and Alliance of Tuna Handliners, said the plan is devoid of science-based provisions and clear-cut measures that will stop overfishing, particularly of juvenile tuna.
Cinches said their group will come up with a list of recommendations, which he hopes would be discussed during the plenary, and integrated in the final draft National Tuna Management Plan.
In a statement, Dr. Jose Ingles, WWF consultant, said the draft 2017 National Tuna Management Plan should cover both exclusive economic zones and high seas fishing grounds, as required by the WCPFC.
The draft plan, he said, falls short of concrete management measures, such as fishing effort regulation, compliance to Fish Aggregating Device closure and limiting juvenile tuna catches to allow tuna stocks to recover.
Raul Gonzalez of the Alliance of Tuna Handliners called the proposed tuna-management plan a “purse-seine industry plan” as it is heavily influenced by major stakeholders of the purse-seine fishing fleet.
“The plan should contain clear steps and concrete actions to avoid the huge opportunity losses associated with catching juvenile yellowfin and bigeye tuna. Should this succeed, it will mean a flourishing tuna handline fisheries where the small-scale fishers will greatly benefit,” Gonzales said.
A recent tuna-stocks assessment in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean showed that the remaining Spawning Stocks Biomass of bigeye tuna is only at 16 percent, while that of yellow fin tuna is pegged at 38 percent. Most of the juvenile yellowfin tuna that are smaller than 50 centimers are caught by Philippine and Indonesian fleets.
In the Indian Ocean, where the Philippine Tuna Industry plans to expand its fleets, yellowfin-tuna stocks are already overfished at 94 percent.