Press Release: EU initiative strengthens drive to sustainable fishing in Western and Central Pacific

The annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) held in December 2006 in Apia, Samoa, concluded with agreements on a range of important new conservation and control measures, several of them based on proposals by the European Union. In particular, the WCPFC adopted a range of monitoring and control measures which will make a substantial contribution to conserving fish stocks in the region. Key among these was an EU proposal to combat Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing. WCPFC will in future formally blacklist IUU vessels, which is crucial for tracking down and eliminating IUU activities. As a result, all Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) managing tuna and tuna like species now have such measures in place, thus closing a gap in the global management of tuna resources.