As of January 1, 2020, purse seine vessels seeking a license to fish in PNA EEZs are no longer allowed to conduct any bunkering or provisioning activities in the High Seas of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Convention Area east of 130 degrees East. The vast closure, in which limited longlining will still be allowed, was designated by the eight nations that are Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), a subregional agreement for managing the world\’s last large stock of tuna from overfishing.
The PNA nations control 25% of the world\’s tuna supply and comprise the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.
In order to better control fishing effort outside of their jurisdictions, the PNA nations have amended the fishing contracts they sign with foreign fleets. In order to remain eligible to fish within national waters directly controlled by the islands, fleets must agree to refrain from fishing in certain international waters, including the new purse seine regulation.
\”Given that the PNA is made up of small island developing countries with limited staff and budgets, we have contributed a great deal to conserving bigeye tuna,\” said PNA director Dr. Transform Aqorau.
This regulation comes after years of battling overfishing in the Pacific Islands. The PNA has called for foreign fishing nations to stop their overfishing of bigeye tuna for years, and this new closure seems to be their largest action to date. Overfishing of bigeye tuna, a popular sashimi fish, caught by longline fishing and as bycatch in purse seine fishing, is a problem in the region, despite healthy levels of other tunas.
“No purse seine vessel shall, during the validity of a license issued by a Party, conduct any bunkering or provisioning activities in the High Seas of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Convention Area east of 130 degrees East. This condition shall be applied by the Parties from 1 January, 2020.”
Summary:
• This is a formal resolution adopted by the PNA.
• All purse seine tuna fishing vessels, seeking a license to fish in PNA EEZs have to comply with the resolution/high-seas bunkering ban applied to purse seiners effective Jan 1, 2020. This will become a condition of fishing in the PNA’s EEZs.
• The exception is for Kiribati flagged purse seine vessels. Kiribati flagged purse seiners are exempt if they’re bunkering from Kiribati flagged tankers under special permission by the Kiribati Fisheries Authority.
• As a result, all purse seine tuna fishing vessels wanting a license to fish in PNA waters, must now conduct their high-seas bunker deliveries to in the Pacific Ocean, between the 130°E and 150°W (within the WCPFC convention area) within PNA waters in the respective EEZ. Not in international waters
• The high-seas tankers are able to supply bunkers within the PNG EEZ, FSM EEZ, Solomon Islands EEZ, Nauru EEZ, Marshall Islands EEZ, Cook islands EEZ and Kiribati EEZ in the Central and Western Pacific. There are no prohibitions on bunkering within the PNA EEZs.
• If the bunker supply area is outside of the WCPFC convention area ( i.e. East of 150°W or West of 130°E), high-seas bunker deliveries are unaffected, as there’s no such high-seas ban on bunkering by the IATTC as of now.
