Regional panel proposes 30% cut in yellowfin tuna catch in Pacific

TOKYO, Dec. 1 Kyodo - A regional commission for ocean resources management has proposed to Japan and other members of the body a 30 percent cut in the catch of yellowfin tuna in the central and western Pacific, citing overfishing, sources familiar with the proposal said Monday.

The proposal made by the secretariat of the Western and Central Pacific
Fisheries Commission, if agreed, would likely have a major impact on Japanese
fishermen and consumers as Japan is the largest catcher of the fish.
The WCPFC has scheduled an annual meeting in Busan, South Korea, Dec. 8-12, and
its members, chiefly Pacific-rim economies, are expected to agree to the
proposal there, according to the sources.
Japan accounts for around 20,000-38,000 tons of the annual catch of
100,000-150,000 tons in the region of the fish, which is widely consumed raw as
sashimi and sushi in the country.
It is considered a reasonably priced alternative to more expensive bluefin
tuna, which was subject to an agreement reached just last week by another
resources management commission to trim quotas in the Atlantic by 20 percent.
It has also increasingly been canned in recent years.
The proposal on yellowfin tuna, quoting the commission's Scientific Committee,
notes that the species is subject to overfishing and will be placed in a dire
situation in the near future if things are left unattended.
The secretariat is proposing immediate reductions in catches using seines and
is seeking an agreement at the upcoming meeting on setting a three-month
moratorium on fishing and controlling the use of devices to draw fish, known as
fish aggregating devices.
On long line fishing, a method used by Japanese fishermen, the proposal is
calling for a gradually expanded reduction from 10 percent in 2009, 20 percent
in 2010 and 30 percent in 2011.
The WCPFC, which counts the United States, China, South Korea, Taiwan and the
European Union among its members, also considered a catch reduction at its
meeting last year but a decision has been postponed to this year's meeting.
International conservation group Greenpeace also said in a recent report that
the aggregate quota of yellowfin tuna should be halved, saying that catch data
presented by WCPFC members are not reliable and that unreported catches of
yellowfin tuna come to around 34 percent of the ''official'' catches.
The group also called for a complete ban on FAD, saying young fish are caught
in large volumes by seine as a result of the increased use of the buoy device
that draws fish by taking advantage of the habit of congregating below a
floating object.
Greenpeace also urged that the commission change its current decision-making
process that requires a unanimous agreement, saying no progress has been made
in discussions at the commission, even though the scientific community noted
the need for strengthening resources management.