Greenpeace Calls For Pacific Solidarity To Create High Seas Marine Reserves

May 18, 2009

Greenpeace today called on the Forum Fisheries Committee meeting (1) in Niue to support strong measures to clamp down on the pirate and overfishing that threatens Pacific tuna stocks and the economic security of the region.

Greenpeace last week applauded the agreement reached by the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) (3) to support closure of the four pockets of international waters between Pacific Island Countries (2) to all fishing. This follows an historic move last May, when PNA countries agreed to close the two biggest high seas pockets to fishing. The solidarity shown by Pacific countries in defence of the region’s tuna stocks resulted in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) agreeing in December 2008 to permanently stop tuna purse seine fishing in the two larger high seas areas from the beginning of 2010.

“The PNA group have now indicated their full support for the closure of the remaining two smaller, but equally vulnerable and ecologically sensitive, areas. This is great progress and we hope to see the remaining Pacific Island Countries, New Zealand and Australia support the full closure of all four high seas areas to all fishing in the meeting this week.” said Lagi Toribau, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans Team Leader in Niue.

New Zealand has a crucial role to play in the sustainability of Pacific tuna stocks. New Zealand must support the closure of all the high seas pockets to fishing, and ensure our tuna fleet respects that closure. This must be reinforced by action in New Zealand, where seafood retailers need to move towards more sustainable tuna supplies, as outlined in the report While Stocks Last “ Supermarkets and the Future of Seafood launched last week by Greenpeace (4).

“New Zealand must help ensure the economic and food security of the Pacific region. Marine reserves are essential for this. To show support for the Pacific community, New Zealand must stand strongly behind them in Niue this week,” said Karli Thomas, Oceans Campaigner with Greenpeace Aotearoa New Zealand.

Greenpeace has been campaigning for the closure of the high seas pockets in order to halt the pirate fishing that is rife in the region and to reverse the declining trend of the region’s bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks. Creating high seas marine reserves will be essential not only to ensuring fish for the future, but to help build resilience in this vulnerable region to climate change.

“By creating larger-scale marine reserves across the region as well as globally, the marine ecosystem can be restored to a more natural state. This will be essential to helping the Pacific Ocean’s marine life and the people who depend on it to adapt to and survive climate change in the long-term.” said Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner, currently at the World Ocean Conference on climate change and oceans in Indonesia (5).

“The Pacific Island Countries have a chance to now lead the way globally in creating the first high seas marine reserves and to ensure the health and survival of the Pacific Ocean. To have a strong regional decision to close these high seas areas is essential if these areas are to receive full protection at the upcoming WCPFC meeting in December, where fishing nations will also be at the negotiation table” continued Toribau.

Greenpeace is campaigning for a global network of fully protected marine reserves covering 40 percent of our oceans as an essential way to protect our seas from the ravages of climate change, to restore the health of fish stocks and protect ocean life from habitat destruction and collapse.

The 70th Forum Fisheries Commission Meeting is currently underway in Niue: www.ffa.int/calendar

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