Follow the leader With an eye to the future: addressing failures in the global management of Bigeye Tuna Mary Lack Acknowledgements Mary Lack is a consultant from Shellack Pty Ltd. International Affairs, National Marine Fisheries Service; and Mr. Ray Clarke of the Pacific Islands Regional Office of the National The author acknowledges, with much appreciation, the Marine Fisheries Service. contribution of Glenn Sant (TRAFFIC International) and Lorraine Hitch (WWF Australia) to this report. Officers from the TRAFFIC Preparation of this report was made possible with funding network provided invaluable advice on the availability of trade support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. information. Citation: This document should be cited as: Lack, M. (2007). The report also benefited greatly from the helpful and insightful With an eye to the future: addressing failures in the global comments provided by: Adam Langley, Principal Fisheries management of bigeye tuna. TRAFFIC International and WWF Scientist, Oceanic Fisheries Programme, Secretariat of the Australia. Pacific Community; Ms Deirdre Warner-Kramer and Ms Holly Cover photograph: Unloading tuna caught by longline in the Koehler, Office of Marine Conservation, US Department of Western Central Pacific Ocean. © SPC Oceanic Fisheries State; Ms Kelly Denit and Ms Kim Blankenbeker of the Office of Programme / Siosifa Fukofuka. © 2007 TRAFFIC International and WWF Australia. All or in part of this publication must credit WWF Australia and rights reserved TRAFFIC International as the copyright owner. All material appearing in this publication is copyrighted and The views of the authors expressed in this publication do not may be reproduced with permission. Any reproduction in full necessarily reflect those of TRAFFIC, WWF or IUCN. i Table of contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . i TABLE OF CONTENTS . ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. .1 INTRODUCTION. .5 BIOLOGY, DISTRIBUTION AND STOCK STRUCTURE . 6 FISHERIES. .7 Fishing methods . 7 Farming of Bigeye Tuna . .8 BROADER ECOSYSTEM IMPACTS OF BIGEYE TUNA FISHERIES. .9 Bycatch . 9 Food web effects . 11 Habitat . 11 MARKETS . 12 FACTORS AFFECTING THE ECONOMICS OF FISHING. 13 CATCH AND TRADE. 15 Catch . 15 Trade . 16 FAO data . 16 National trade data . 16 Trade documentation scheme data . 16 Summary. 24 STOCK STATUS . 25 The Atlantic Ocean stock . 26 The Indian Ocean stock . 26 The eastern Pacific Ocean stock . 27 The western Pacific Ocean stock . 28 STRUCTURE AND NATURE OF MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS . 30 Management measures for Bigeye Tuna. 30 Size limits. 30 Catch limits. 30 Effort and capacity limits . 33 Temporal and spatial closures . 33 Trade documentation schemes. 34 Other controls . 36 Management of bycatch in Bigeye Tuna fisheries . 36 EFFECTIVENESS OF MANAGEMENT . 40 Bigeye Tuna . 40 Bycatch . 44 The causes of management failure . 45 The level of knowledge and data on stocks and fisheries 45 The quality of the scientific advice 46 The existence and functionality of management infrastructure 46 The extent to which RFMO members are bound by international law 48 The extent to which legal obligations are upheld 51 CONCLUSIONS . 52 RECOMMENDATIONS . 54 REFERENCES . 56 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . 58 APPENDIX A. 59 APPENDIX B. 60 ii Executive summary Bigeye Tuna Thunnus obesus is a highly migratory Without swift and effective management action, the species, of which separate stocks are considered status of Bigeye Tuna stocks is likely to deteriorate to exist in the Atlantic, Indian, Western and Central in the same way as stocks of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Pacific, and Eastern Pacific Oceans. It is an important Thunnus thynnus and Southern Bluefin Tuna Thunnus target species for industrial longline tuna fisheries on macoyii, which are now considered by The World the high seas and smaller-scale longline, purse seine Conservation Union to be Critically Endangered or and ring-net fisheries in national waters. Increasingly, Endangered. The analysis in this report has, however, Bigeye Tuna is also taken as bycatch in purse seine found that management of Bigeye Tuna has been fisheries fishing for Skipjack Tuna Katsuwonus pelamis far from swift and effective to date. On the contrary, and Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares using fish management has been slow to respond to scientific aggregating devices. advice and has generally failed to initiate management measures that address the specific causes of fishing Bigeye Tuna is widely traded. The mature fish taken pressure on Bigeye Tuna. Members of regional fisheries by longline fleets attracts high prices on the sashimi management organizations (RFMOs) have failed to meet markets of Japan and, increasingly, in Europe and North their legal obligations under the United Nations Fish America. Juvenile Bigeye Tuna taken by purse seine Stocks Agreement (UNFSA) and to act in accordance fleets is used in the lower value canning industry. with accepted international protocols for fisheries management. A major reason for this is the absence of Responsibility for the management of Bigeye Tuna and an agreed framework for management decision-making. the status of the stocks is summarized in the table The adoption of biological reference points and agreed below. The best scientific advice available indicates that decision rules that trigger management responses, the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) stock is overfished, through the development of precautionary management that overfishing is occurring in the other three stocks strategies for each of the Bigeye Tuna stocks, would and that all stocks are, at a minimum, fully exploited. improve the rigour of decision making and minimise There is no scope to increase catch of Bigeye Tuna the opportunities for delays in the implementation of without putting the stocks at risk. appropriate management measures. Management responsibility and stock status for Bigeye Tuna Atlantic Ocean Indian Ocean Western and Eastern Pacific Central Pacific Ocean Ocean Management International Indian Ocean Tuna Western and Central Inter-American Responsibility Commission for Commission (IOTC) Pacific Fisheries Tropical Tuna the Conservation Commission (WCPFC) Commission (IATTC) of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Stock status • Fully exploited • Fully exploited • Fully exploited • Overfished • Overfishing is • Overfishing is • Overfishing is occurring in some occurring occurring years Estimated maximum 93 000-114 000 111 200 110 000 – 120 000 106 722 sustainable yield (tonnes) Total catch in 2005 60 453 112 400 157 102 102 376 (tonnes) Proportion taken as 21% 23% 28% 60% bycatch by purse seine vessels 1 Apart from the legal and/or moral obligations of RFMO • flag State enforcement of catch limits, area and members to manage and conserve Bigeye Tuna stocks, seasonal closures and effort limits cannot be relied the economic incentives to do so are high. As noted upon above, many industrial fishing fleets rely heavily on Bigeye Tuna. Long-term reductions in the abundance • implementation of trade-related measures in order of stocks will have significant, direct and indirect to reduce reliance on flag State enforcement of impacts on income and employment in these fleets conservation and management measures has been and in associated processing and trading enterprises. compromised by the failure of these measures to Further, a number of small, island States rely heavily on apply to all components of the catch income derived from fees paid by these fleets to access • failure to collect and analyse reliable bycatch Bigeye Tuna stocks in their national waters. Alternative data, and the failure to implement precautionary income sources in many of these States are limited and and ecosystem-based management measures to depletion of Bigeye Tuna stocks will compromise their mitigate impacts on bycatch species in the absence long-term economic prosperity. In addition, there are of such data, continues to put at risk a range of potential market opportunities that can be exploited by threatened species of seabirds, sharks, turtles and sustainably managed Bigeye Tuna fisheries. The first of other finfish these relates to the potential of Bigeye Tuna to fill the gap between supply and demand of major competing • the absence of independent observer programmes products in the sashimi market, namely Atlantic and of sufficiently high coverage of the fleet severely Southern Bluefin Tuna, as restrictions on the catch of compromises the collection and reliability of data these species tighten in response to dwindling stocks. on both target and bycatch species The second opportunity derives from the increasing consumer demand, particularly in emerging sashimi • IUU fishing, by both members and non-members of tuna markets, for fish from ecologically sustainable RFMOs, remains a threat to Bigeye Tuna stocks fisheries. There is growing interest at all market levels in fish products that meet certification standards The economic viability of Bigeye Tuna fisheries and the such as those established by the Marine Stewardship economic stability of a number of small island States that Council. Meeting certification standards would provide rely heavily on such stocks, is threatened by ineffective a marketing advantage by differentiating Bigeye Tuna management of Bigeye Tuna stocks and, in particular, products from non-certified, competing products. by the failure to address the impact on sustainability Failure to manage Bigeye Tuna stocks sustainably and economic returns resulting from increased catch of denies these Bigeye Tuna fisheries access to these