Tuna conference delegates call for conservation
Delegates at the first Seychelles Tuna Conference held here last week have called on all stakeholders to conserve tuna species and their ecosystem.
President James Michel was among guests at the opening of the meeting and said he wants Seychelles to remain a leader in developing strategies and action in sustainable fisheries development.
The delegates issued a declaration on behalf of the organisations they represented, which included governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), intergovernmental bodies, tuna processors and fishing vessel owners.
They urged the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) members to follow scientific directives for tuna conservation and management more closely.
The three-day conference focused on the impact of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, piracy and climate change on tuna sustainability. They stressed that tuna-fishing nations operating in the Indian Ocean must be at the forefront in conserving the species, urging better reporting and more research into ways to cut bycatch.
“What we are seeing today is the start of a very long initiative. We are doing our best to ensure sustainable tuna fisheries but we cannot do it alone,” said Joel Morgan, Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Transport.
Echoing his statement, Orlando Fachada of the European Commission’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Directorate added: “It’s important that the IOTC meets its mandate. We believe right now the IOTC is not performing well.”
Hosted by the Seychelles government and sponsored by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and MWBrands, the event was attended by 120 people from more than 20 countries.
Among the first speakers was Dr Alain Fonteneau, a scientist at the Institut de recherche pour le développement. He is now carrying out comparative analysis and modelling of world tuna fisheries and studying environmental interactions in the pelagic ecosystems, primarily in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. His research includes tropical tuna, albacore, bluefin and billfish.
Throughout his career, Dr Fonteneau has played an active role in the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas’ scientific work. His comparative analysis of tuna stocks and fisheries worldwide dates back to 1950.
He takes part in the scientific committees of the five tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and has published several papers on tuna fisheries issues worldwide.
The next speaker was Adolfo Valsecchi, who has an engineering background. His professional life has been dedicated to the seafood industry for more than 35 years.
He ran the No 2 Canned Seafood Business in Italy for more than 20 years and was an active member of several working groups in the EU Commission in Brussels. In 1996 he joined HJ Heinz and in 1999 became managing director of the Heinz seafood business in Europe. Today he is MWBrands’ chief executive and a member of their board.
In their declaration at the conference, the delegates:
● Expressed their support for the commitments and objectives of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and for the conservation of tuna resources and their ecosystem;
● Reaffirmed their full trust in, respect for, and expectations of the RFMOs for tuna, recognising them as the bodies best suited to manage these resources;
● Recognised the need to foster closer collaboration between the tuna industry, RFMOs and NGOs, in order to develop new and innovative approaches to ensure sustainable management of tuna fisheries.
They agreed to jointly and collectively take the following action:
● Contribute to the conservation of the ecosystem and the sustainable use of tuna resources by supporting the timely adoption of effective conservation and management measures based on the best scientific advice;
● Support efforts to strengthen and modernise the IOTC, to ensure that the challenges it faces can be effectively addressed;
● Support the full participation of the developing coastal countries of the region in the IOTC, and promote engagement of these countries to meet their obligations under the IOTC;
● Support IOTC member states in developing long-term commitments to effective enforcement of, and compliance with, IOTC resolutions, including strengthening the capacity of developing coastal states to effectively combat IUU fishing activities, which are still significant in the region;
● Encourage and support research to minimise bycatch in the tuna fisheries of the region, and reduce the potential negative effects of these fisheries on tuna resources and the pelagic ecosystem;
● Encourage IOTC member states to adopt the recommendations of the commission’s scientific committee in its conservation and management measures;
● Further enhance and promote the timely exchange of data and information on landings and statistical documents so as to ensure compliance with IOTC resolutions;
● Encourage all IOTC member states to fully cooperate in the scientific work of the IOTC by providing detailed statistical data on their fisheries, thus allowing timely estimates of the status of the tuna stocks;
● Encourage all coastal states harvesting tuna in the Indian Ocean to become full members of the IOTC;
● Consider the potential impacts of climate change on food security and fishery resources, and increase research activities to mitigate and manage such impacts;
● Ask governments, RFMOs, producers, processors, traders, retailers, NGOs, international organisations and consumers to act in a responsible and unbiased manner to promote sustainable exploitation and trade.