April 2020 No images? Click here Newsletter of the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Secretariat for members, participating territories and observers.
Executive Director, Feleti Penitala Teo, OBE Welcome to the first edition of the Secretariat’s Quarterly for 2020, the e-newsletter that provides updates on news on the Commission and the work of the Commission Secretariat. As this edition comes out, readers would have been impacted in some ways or another by the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic. The work of the WCPFC and its Secretariat is not immune from the disruption and havoc that the pandemic is wrecking all over the world. Although Pohnpei, FSM, the home of the Secretariat remains COVID-19 free at the time of this publication, the risk of infection has certainly been elevated significantly by the fact that the two main ports of entry into Pohnpei, FSM, Guam and Honolulu now have confirmed cases of the virus. So, the Secretariat has instituted all precautionary measures by promoting good hygienic practices in the office and working environment as advocated by international, regional and national public health agencies. The Secretariat is also trialing ‘teleworking’ arrangements by requiring staff to work from home in preparation for the time that Pohnpei may impose severe restrictions on public movement when there are confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pohnpei. Many regional and international meetings have been postponed, cancelled or convened through virtual mode utilizing online and internet-based facilities such Skype or Zoom. Although the WCPFC’s first formal meeting for 2020, the 16th Scientific Committee (SC16) meeting is not until August, the Secretariat has already fielded queries on the prospect of cancellation of the meeting. The decision to defer or convene the SC16 meeting in another format is, of course, a matter for the Commission. And until such a decision is made, the Secretariat is maintaining and working toward the usual deadlines in preparation for the SC16 meeting as initially decided. So, the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly place some stress on the heavy workload for the Commission and the Secretariat for 2020. At the 16th annual meeting (WCPFC16), the Commission sanctioned a significant number of workstreams for this year. The Commission established a working group on the Compliance Monitoring Scheme to progress work on reforms envisaged to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme including the streamlining of annual reporting; the development of audit points; and enhancing the participation of observers in CMS processes. The transshipment review working group will continue its review work, so as the Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC) working group on observer related issues. Three other working groups tasked to consider FAD issues, electronic reporting and electronic monitoring issues and reinvigorating the South Pacific albacore roadmap will have physical meetings in conjunction with the SC16 and TCC16 meetings. There is also a small working group tasked to review gaps in Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) reporting with the view to recommend ways to fill those gaps. This year will be the final year of the current tropical tuna measure and a successor measure is required to continue this management regime for the three key tropical tuna species namely bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin. The Commission at WCPFC17 will, therefore, be required to consider and adopt a successor measure for the tropical tunas. Although the Commission did not decide on an intersessional process to initiate negotiations of the new measure, it agreed to convene a 7 day meeting for WCPFC17 which will also consider amongst others the limit and allocation issues for the purse seine fishery in the high seas and the bigeye longline fishery. The Commission will continue to heighten its concentration on progressing the implementation of the Commission work plan for the adoption of harvest strategy, and therefore the work of the Scientific Services Provider, The Pacific Community – Oceanic Fisheries Programme (SPC-OFP) and the SC16 this year are critical for facilitating that progress. Before the COVID-19 imposed travel restrictions, I was able to participate at the final meeting of the Steering Committee of the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) Tuna Project which was convened at the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) Headquarters in Rome in January 2020. The meeting considered the project terminal evaluation report and provided oversight and guidance on the process for the submission of a proposal for a second phase of the project to Global Environment Facility (GEF). A design team has been constituted to manage the process and documentation for the submission targeting the GEF Council meeting on 2nd to 4th June 2020. If the GEF Council approves the submission, then the next stage of the process is the development of the project framework document which will include more details of the child projects and their activities and budgets. If all goes as planned the second phase of the ABNJ Common Oceans Tuna Project will commence implementation in early 2022. WCPFC Chair, Ms Jung-re Kim with Secretariat staff at the 16th annual meeting in the Sir John Guise Indoor Stadium, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 11 Dec 2019. COVID-19 Related Proposals As this edition of the newsletter comes out, the Commission Chair has already invoked on two occasions the process stipulated under rule 30 of the WCPFC Rules of Procedures for the Commission to consider taking intersessional decisions as urgent responses to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. One is the Chair’s proposal to suspend the requirements for observer coverage on purse seine vessels set out in paragraphs 34 and 35 of Conservation and Management Measure (CMM) 2018-01 and CMM 2018-05 until 31st May 2020. The other is in relation to the proposal by Korea to suspend until 31st May 2020 the requirements under paragraphs 13 and 25 of CMM 2009-06 as they relate to observer coverage during at-sea transshipment and in-port transshipment for purse seine vessels respectively. The Secretariat has also established a COVID-19 page on the Commission website to provide links to information of relevance to the WCPO fishery that CCMs may wish to share with other CCMs. The link to the page is https://www.wcpfc.int/covid19. Science Work in 2020The Commission at WCPFC16 in December 2019 approved a budget of over USD 2.15 million for science projects for this year, including the 2020 scientific services from SPC-OFP and other science projects. Key services from the Scientific Service Provider include the Commission’s data management and analyses, compilation of catch and effort estimates, Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) bigeye and yellowfin tuna stock assessments, implementation of shark research plan, review of tropical tuna measures and development of a WCPFC harvest strategy framework. Other science projects include topics related to tuna tissue bank, tuna tagging project, purse seine species composition, acoustic FAD analysis, weight and length conversion, shark research plan for 2021-2025, bomb radiocarbon otolith aging, South Pacific striped marlin population biology, close-kin mark-recapture estimation of the population size, and limit reference points for WCPO elasmobranchs. The USA will conduct and fund two projects endorsed by the Commission namely i) Updated Monte Carlo simulations of the potential of longline shark mitigation approaches incorporating updated knowledge; and ii) Population projections for oceanic whitetip shark. The SC16 meeting is scheduled to be held in Samoa from 11 to 20 August 2020. The SC16 is expected to review the results of four tuna stock assessments namely the WCPO bigeye and yellowfin tuna assessments conducted by the SPC-OFP, and the Pacific bluefin tuna and North Pacific albacore tuna assessments conducted by the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean (ISC). The implementation of the Harvest Strategy Workplan continues to be a key activity of the Commission and the Scientific Committee in 2020. The SPC-OFP takes the lead in this area of work in respect of developing harvest strategy frameworks for skipjack, bigeye, yellowfin and South Pacific albacore with funds from the core budget and those generously provided by the government of New Zealand. The Commission reviewed the current progress of the work, which includes evaluating performance indicators and management procedures through management strategy evaluation frameworks for skipjack tuna and South Pacific albacore tuna, together with multispecies approach related to bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks. These science works will be critical in the development of successor measures for the tropical tunas and for South Pacific albacore. Harvest strategy frameworks are also under development for the Pacific bluefin tuna and North Pacific albacore stocks lead by the ISC. The SPC-OFP will convene by electronic means the preparatory workshop for the 2020 stock assessments from 22nd to 23rd of April. The workshop will concentrate discussion on the key inputs and plans for the bigeye and yellowfin tuna stock assessments to be presented to SC16. The Japan Trust FundThe Secretariat collaborates closely with Japan on the implementation of the Japan Trust Fund (JTF) projects for 2020. The deadline for the call for proposals for 2020 JTF funding support was extended until 31 January 2020. Seven proposals were received and five were selected for funding support in 2020. Projects that received funding support include capacity building for harvest strategy; domestic tuna market development; maintain high level data collection and tuna fisheries; observer Programme; and capacity building in fisheries legal section. Further information on the JTF is available at https://www.wcpfc.int/implementation-article-30-convention. The WPEA Project The New Zealand funded WPEA Project entitled the Western Pacific East Asia Improved Tuna Monitoring (WPEA-ITM) continues to make steady progress with its activities in the participating countries namely Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. The main objective of this Project is to strengthen the capacities of those countries in monitoring tuna fisheries and catches in order to provide more accurate catch estimates by species and by gear for regional tuna stock assessments. The 2nd WPEA-ITM Steering Committee Meeting was convened in Manila, Philippines on the 14th and 15th of February 2020. The meeting was chaired by the Executive Director in the absence of a representative of the New Zealand government. It was attended by representatives of the three participating countries and supported by other Secretariat staff namely Mr Aaron Nighswander, Finance and Administrative Manager; and Ms Alice McDonald, WPEA Project Manager, and a staff from SPC-OFP Mr Peter Williams, Principal Fisheries Scientist-Data Management. The meeting discussed the progress of country activities, challenges in implementing the 2019 Work Plan and proposals for inclusion in the 2020 and future years workplans and budgets. Unfortunately, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, several WPEA workshops scheduled for the month of March were postponed and alternative means were explored to ensure some of the work can be conducted remotely or online. Executive Director Teo, Finance & Administration Manager and WPEA Project Manager McDonald with participants of 2nd WPEA-ITM Steering Committee meeting at Hotel Jen, Manila, Philippines, 15 Feb 2020. Update on the Compliance Monitoring Scheme (CMS) With the imminent departure of a key staff from the compliance team in the middle of this year and dealing with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of duty travels, the Secretariat compliance team has started earlier than usual on preparations for the draft compliance monitoring report in accordance with the procedures under the revised CMM 2019-06 and the updated list of obligations approved at WCPFC16 for review in 2020. Members, participating territories and cooperating non-members (CCMs) have been advised of the availability of the Annual Report Part 2 online reporting systems. The Secretariat is also pleased to confirm that this year’s system incorporates some of the streamlining reporting suggestions. The most significant change is the creation of a separate “Annual Report Part 2 prior year obligations list” which has been pre-populated with each CCM’s response to implementation-type obligations that applied in 2018. This has left a shorter list of specific reporting requirements (maximum of 65 questions) related to the 2019 reporting year, in the “Annual Report Part 2 (2019 Specific) list. An updated quick guide for Annual Report Part 2 was provided to all CCMs through WCPFC Circular 2020-16. On the 7th and 8th of April the Compliance Manager, Assistant Compliance Manager Ms ‘Ana Taholo and Assistant Science Manager Ms Elaine Garvilles will be participating in a Remote SPC/Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Tuna Data Workshop, to provide support to Pacific CCMs preparations for Annual Report Part 1. The presentation by the Secretariat to that meeting will include an update for the participants on the trial to explore a streamlining suggestion for Annual Report Part 1 through the publishing of the WCPFC Annual Catch and Effort (ACE) tables on the WCPFC website. As tasked, the Secretariat intends to prepare a paper in conjunction with SPC-OFP on the experiences and outcomes of the ACE tables trial in 2020, and its cost and resources implications for SC16 and TCC16 consideration with the view to tender and advice to WCPFC17. The Secretariat has also commenced some preparations identifying how the online Compliance Case File System can be upgraded to better meet CCM’s needs. The Secretariat is grateful for the 21 CCMs’ responses received to the online questionnaire that was issued on March 4. It is envisaged that the CCM responses to questionnaire will be a major input into a TCC16 paper describing the upgrades to the system that CCMs were requesting and outlining the feasibility and cost estimates for such upgrades. Those that need further assistance with any Compliance Monitoring Scheme matters, to contact the Secretariat’s Compliance Manager, Dr Lara Manarangi-Trott at lara.manarangi-trott@wcpfc.int.
Links to key Compliance Scheme information: · A suggested list of key reporting deadlines in 2020 and reporting templates can be accessed from this link [https://www.wcpfc.int/compliance-monitoring] · A list of significant dates, which includes key reporting deadlines, is accessible as an iCalendar (iCAL) link through the calendar on the Commission website from this link [https://www.wcpfc.int] · An e-compilation of the complete list of currently in force CMMs, including the new CMMs from the 2019 AGM can be accessed from this link [http://www.wcpfc.int/conservation-and-management-measures] · Copies of other key documents and guidelines can be accessed from this link [https://www.wcpfc.int/guidelines-procedures-and-regulations] · The ACE Table page can be found under the “Scientific Data” tab on the WCPFC home page, and for ease of access the ACE tables link is [https://www.wcpfc.int/ace-by-fleet] Cross Endorsement Observer Training A Cross Endorsement Observer Training was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from January 27th to February 2nd. The training was carried out by Ernesto Altamirano, Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) Observer Manager and Trainer, and Karl Staisch, Regional Observer Program (ROP) Coordinator from WCPFC. The venue was the Crown Hotel conference rooms and the course was attended by fifteen selected National Fisheries Authority experienced PNG observers. The observers were shown the forms and reports that are expected if the purse seine vessel they are observing decides and is approved to cross over into the Eastern Pacific (150W longitude) to complete a trip that commenced in the WCPO. Trainees were shown and tested on the IATTC requirements, and a refresher is provided on the requirements of the WCPFC ROP. Purse seiners particularly US purse seiners are regularly requesting certified cross-endorsed observers to be placed on their vessels, in case the Captain of the vessel may decide to cross over into the Eastern Pacific to fish. All observers that attended the training passed the course. ROP Coordinator Karl Staisch and IATTC observer trainer Ernesto Altamirano with participants of the 2020 WCPFC-IATTC Cross-Endorsement Observer Course, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 2 Feb 2020. FFA Regional Observer Coordinators Workshop The FFA Regional Observer Coordinators Workshop (ROCW) was held between 10th and 15th February 2020. It was attended by most countries and organisations that have Regional and National observers although a couple of countries could not attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The meeting was held in the Tuvalu Convention Centre and was well organised by Tuvalu. The workshop discussed many observer issues, including cost recovery, observer safety and safety equipment, travel issues, Pacific Island Regional Fisheries Observer (PIRFO) updates, briefing and debriefing issues, observer training, data collection issues and a presentation of the observer carrier transhipment. The WCPFC ROP Coordinator, Mr Karl Staisch made a presentation and explanation to the meeting on the role of observers in all the new CMMs approved at WCPFC16 in Port Moresby, PNG in December 2019. The meeting also discussed the international observer conference to be held in Hobart in February 2021; participants were encouraged to attend this meeting. The members at the ROCW decided that the next workshop should be held prior to the conference and that the meeting would be held in Brisbane. This would give participants the chance to attend the conference in Hobart. The final function was attended by the Prime Minister of Tuvalu Hon Kausea Natano. He spoke on the importance of observer roles in monitoring fishing vessels operation as well as an important source of employment for Tuvaluans as observers. The schedule for the 2020 ROP audits has been postponed due to the impacts of COVID-19 measures. For ROP-related matters please contact the ROP Coordinator, Mr Karl Staisch at karl.staisch@wcpfc.int. Regional Observer Programme Coordinator Staisch with FFA Regional Observer Coordinators Workshop at the Tuvalu Convention Centre, Tuvalu, 15 Feb 2020. Updates on other Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Work
Collaborations with other tuna regional fishery management organization (RFMO) Secretariat compliance counterparts continue through the Tuna Compliance Network (TCN) which is currently chaired by the Secretariat Compliance Manager, Dr Lara Manarangi-Trott. Activities in early 2020, included TCN initiating an initiative to assist RFMO Secretariats with collaborating and sharing information about changes to each RFMOs respective IUU vessel lists. This initiative is intended to support other RFMOs have approved cross-listing procedures that requires consideration of other RFMO’s Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) vessel lists and changes therein. Links have been included on the WCPFC website to other IUU lists [https://www.wcpfc.int/wcpfc-iuu-vessel-list]. In the VMS work area, the Compliance Manager, VMS Manager and ICT Manager Tim Jones have been working closely with the Co-Chairs, Mr Viv Fernandes (Australia) and Mr Terry Boone (United States) of the VMS small working group (SWG) in their efforts to identify the VMS reporting gaps. A dedicated page has been set up on the website to support the VMS-SWG [https://www.wcpfc.int/2020_vms-swg]. The Co-Chairs have issued a draft concept paper which referenced a submission from the Secretariat on the relevant information and issues in support of the work of the working group. The Secretariat is pleased to confirm that it has completed the delivery of a WCPFC14 task to deliver an automated IT solution that provides CCMs with each of their vessel's daily VMS reporting status. This report can be accessed by authorized CCM users through the website within the CCM portal menu under the Compliance and MCS Scheme link [https://www.wcpfc.int/ccm-vessel-monitoring-system]. For all VMS related queries please contact the Secretariat VMS Manager, Mr Albert Carlot at albert.carlot@wcpfc.int. Community Outreach Despite the strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Secretariat continues to engage in communal activities in Pohnpei. It has provided sponsorship for a fishing tournament and a tennis tournament which were both scheduled for early in the year but were deferred as precautions for the spread of the COVID-19 virus. A small donation was also provided to support an annual debate amongst high schools in FSM convened in conjunction with the FSM Law Day.
More Solar Panels for the Headquarter Building The Secretariat, with funding support from the USA and core budget provisions, is in the process of installing an additional 30-kilowatt peak (kWp) of solar panels on the headquarter building. This will bring the total solar capacity to 90kWp for the office and it will be a huge step towards the WCPFC’s headquarters being a zero-net energy (ZNE) building. We welcome new readers to Secretariat Quarterly. Just click the subscribe button and we'll add you to the recipients list. |