As this edition comes out, participants to the 15th annual session of the Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC15) held from 25th September to 1st October 2019 in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, the home of the Commission Secretariat, would have just returned home from Pohnpei.

The TCC15 meeting was successfully concluded under the leadership of the new TCC Chair Mr Laurence Edwards II (Republic of the Marshall Islands).

The TCC15 Outcomes Document has been posted to the Commission website and the Summary Report containing a suite of recommendations will be forwarded to the 16th annual regular session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from 5th to 11th December 2019 (WCPFC16).

The meeting arrangements for the Port Moresby meeting have already been distributed and are also posted on the Commission website.  I am expecting to distribute the meeting agenda for WCPFC16 shortly.

In the month of August, I represented the Commission at two major regional meetings.  One of which is the annual Pacific Islands Leaders meeting held in Funafuti, Tuvalu from 12 to 16 August.  

The WCPFC is an accredited observer at the premier annual political meeting for the Pacific attended by heads of states and governments of island states of the Pacific.  I was afforded the opportunity to address Pacific leaders on the key activities and challenges of the WCPFC.

The report I provided on the status of the health of the four key commercial tropical tunas of the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) was well received by leaders with their caution against complacency.  The key focus of the leaders meeting was on climate change and I was able to brief leaders on the Commission’s efforts in reviewing the impacts of climate change on the abundance and distribution of the tuna fisheries of the WCPO.

The other meeting, I participated at was the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Judicial symposium from 5 to 8 August.  The symposium was attended by judicial officials from FFA member states including a number of Chief Justices.

The meeting was designed to update judicial officials on latest developments on international and regional fisheries laws and technologies to broaden their knowledge to assist them when they preside over fisheries cases.

I was invited to contribute a presentation on the role of regional fisheries management organisations in international and regional fisheries laws, in particular, the fisheries regime of the WCPFC.  I found the exchanges with the judges most invaluable and provided an insight into the courts handling of fisheries cases.

As may be seen from the activities in this newsletter, it has been an eventful last three months.  Except for the Finance and Administration Committee (FAC), all the other three subsidiary bodies of the WCPFC have had their annual meetings and their meeting reports will be forwarded to be considered at WCPFC16.  The FAC will have its meeting immediately prior to and at the margins of the WCPFC16.

The 19th International Scientific Committee Meeting

The 19th plenary session of the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species (ISC19) in the North Pacific Ocean was held in Taipei City, Taiwan, during 11-15 July 2019.

Dr John Holmes (Canada) chaired the meeting, and delegates from Canada, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, USA and observers from Monterey Bay and the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council attended the meeting. The WCPFC Secretariat also attended the meeting.

Science Manager, SungKwon Soh with with the ISC19 participants at Sherwood Taipei Hotel, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei, 11 Jul 2019.

Some of the key highlights from the ISC19 include:

• In 2019, the ISC conducted a full stock assessment for the Western and Central North Pacific Ocean (WCNPO) striped marlin stock.  Currently, the stock is overfished, and overfishing is occurring relative to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) - based reference points.  The results of WCNPO striped marlin stock assessment is considered to be the best available scientific information on the stock.
• The results of the 4th management strategy evaluation (MSE) for North Pacific albacore (Yokohama/Japan, 5-7 March 2019) were reviewed; and the results from the 2nd MSE for Pacific bluefin tuna (San Diego/USA, 20-21 May 2019) were discussed.
• The ISC reviewed recommendations from the peer review report of stock assessment function and agreed that independent expert reviews could improve the quality of stock assessments.  In 2020, there will be benchmark stock assessments for North Pacific albacore and Pacific bluefin tuna.
• The next ISC Plenary will be held in the United States of America in July 2020.

The 15th Scientific Committee Meeting

The 15th regular session of the WCPFC Scientific Committee (SC15) was held in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, from 12 to 20 August 2019.

Mr Ueta Faasili, Jr. (Samoa) chaired the meeting, and six conveners (Ueta Faasili, Jr.; Hiroshi Minami; Keith Bigelow; Robert Campbell; John Annala; and Yonat Swimmer) facilitated four theme sessions (data and statistics; stock assessments; management issues; and ecosystem and bycatch mitigation).

Over 150 delegates attended the meeting from 27 cooperating members, participating territories and cooperating non-membets (CCMs) and 11 intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations as well as the WCPFC Secretariat.

WCPFC Secretariat staff with participants at the opening of the SC15 in Pohnpei, FSM, 12 Aug 2019.

The SC15 Outcomes Document that includes key decisions and recommendations, is posted on the SC15 website https://www.wcpfc.int/meetings/sc15 .  The SC15 Summary Report was circulated to CCMs and Observers for comments due by 4th of November 2019.

Among many outcomes from SC15, the results of four stock assessments in 2019 are highlighted below.

• The provisional total Western and Central Pacific Convention Area (WCP-CA) tuna catch for 2018 was estimated at 2,716,396 metric ton (mt) (the second highest on record), which is 81% of the total Pacific Ocean catch of 3,373,512 mt, and 55% of the global tuna catch (the provisional estimate for 2018 is 4,930,621 mt).
• A stock assessment for skipjack tuna was conducted in 2019; and the total provisional skipjack catch of 1,795,048 mt in 2018 is a 10% increase from 2017.  With the median recent Spawing Biomass (SBrecent) (2015-2018)/)/ Spawning Biomass in the absence of fishing (SBF=0) = 0.44 and median recent Fishing mortality (Frecent) (2014-2017)/FMSY = 0.45, the skipjack stock is not in an overfished state and overfishing is not occurring.  Management recommendations for bigeye, yellowfin and South Pacific albacore are maintained from previous assessments.
• A comprehensive stock assessment was conducted for oceanic whitetip shark in 2019.  With the median SBrecent (2013-2015)/SB0 = 0.04 and the median Frecent/FMSY = 3.94, the WCPO oceanic whitetip shark stock continues to be overfished and overfishing is occurring relative to commonly used depletion and MSY-based reference points.  SC15 recommended that further efforts to mitigate catch and improve handling and release practices are required to further reduce F and improve stock status.
• Both Southwest Pacific striped marlin and North Pacific striped marlin stocks were assessed in 2019 by SPC and ISC, respectively.  SC15 noted that both stocks are generally overfished and undergoing overfishing according to MSY-based reference points.
• Regarding administration issues, SC15 recommended the current SC Chair U. Faasili continue for his second term, and recommended Tu'ikolongahau Halafihi (Tonga) as SC vice-Chair.  SC15 also recommended that SC16 would be held in Apia, Samoa during 11 – 20 August, 2020.  Tonga offered to host in 2021, and Palau offered to serve as host in 2021 should circumstances prevent Tonga from hosting.

The 15th Northern Committee Meeting

The 15th Regular Session of the WCPFC Northern Committee (NC15), chaired by Mr Masanori Miyahara, was held in Portland, Oregon, United States of America, from 3 to 6 September 2019.  The NC15 has a special meeting structure, which includes the Joint IATTC-WCPFC NC Working Group Meeting on the Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna (JWG-PBF), co-chaired by Madam Dorothy Lowman (USA) and the NC Chair.

The 4th JWG-PBF was convened immediately after the opening of the NC15 and continued interchangeably with NC15 plenary session up to the 5th of September.  NC15 was attended by around 100 participants from Members and Observers.

However, the participants agreed to resume NC15 in the margin of the Commission meeting in December to formally adopt its meeting report.  NC15 didn’t secure the requisite quorum in Portland.  Prior to the NC15, the 2nd Catch Documentation Scheme Technical Meeting for Pacific Bluefin Tuna, chaired by Mr Shingo Ota (Japan), was convened on 2 September 2019.

The opening session of the 15th Regular Session of the Northern Committee at Hilton Portland Downtown, Oregon, USA, 3 Sep 2019.