To say that I’m “enjoying” the 20th WCPFC plenary may not be fair to the concept of “enjoying”. My 1st skipper told me that either you should be earning money or learning… if you are doing both: bingo! This is definitely bingo time for me!
it is like a multi player sport
I was invited to be here by my boss in the Marshalls as I was involved during the last few years in the working groups and then in SC and TCC… so an analogy would be I have been mincing the meats and working with different mixtures of spices and see how they work… now I’m here seen how the sausages are made!
I can only admire the delegates and the policy advisors of FFA and PNA for their stamina and chess-type strategies to achieve their objectives. This respect and admiration extends to the people in the WCPFC secretariat and the chairs of the working groups… they keep it going and focused after hours of discussions with very different views over the same issue… I finish the day exhausted… I don’t know how they do it… full respect.
As well as the games the DWFN plays by not wanting to move and using their “pressure” to stall change… right now, for example, we have recommendations from SC and TCC for increasing observer coverage for Longline from 5% to at least 30%... this is supported by all of FFA/PNA, NZ, EU, Australia and Canada… yet resisted by China and with the silent complicity of Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
In any case, the intervention of the day was from my friend Bubba Cook, who is here representing WWF (he is surely the most respected NGO representative in the region)
“We would like to align with the previous comments about observer coverage from New Zealand, PNA, and fully agree with the EU on this being the single most impactful issue to improved fisheries management and the role of this commission. Observer coverage has implications across data gaps and information lapses and all the associated analytical difficulties. One of the delegations earlier this week made the point that the need for the best available science justified a delay for action on another item. We already have the best available science for observer coverage, which has been confirmed repeatedly by the SC and the TCC. 5% observer coverage has never been enough; it’s not enough now, and it never will be enough. So, for those members that have dug their heels in on improving observer coverage, you are openly and flagrantly denying the best available science. In one respect, I agree with China, “why not 100%?” We certainly think that is appropriate.
So, while one sector bears the conservation and compliance burden with 100% observer coverage and is even implementing a pay rise for observers, other sectors are stagnant or possibly even moving backwards. We should accept nothing less than a step change in improvement in minimum observer coverage on that point alone because the PS fishery is justifiably upset about the compliance burden they carry. Whether it's human or EM, it's time that the longline sector pulled the weight they’ve offloaded off on the purse seine fleet for 17 years. With that, we support the actionable dates that the US, AU, and NZ suggest."
As per the “NGOs” (including academia, MSC, etc.) present here in the meeting, it is a mixed bunch, and you have different levels of engagement, specialisation, and collaboration. Yet, as one friend made me notice, they have one common factor: they are almost all Westerners, as you see in the picture to the left.
(and I’m saying this fully conscious that I’m not from the Pacific and primarily from Eastern European ethnic origin)
So, I’m not passing judgment here; it is just that it is fully evident in the forums where I participate. And all of them are opinion holders… not stakeholders.
Yet, on the other side, one ex-fisherman is among them, and I respect that.
As for the rest, there are industry representatives yet, but I am not sure if any have been a fisherman themselves.
Yet what is very clear is that there are no fishermen representatives… I know having a WCPFC Fisherman's Association would be like herding cats. Primarily because of the way the crewing system is set up; however, it really stings me that they are the only not represented group in a multi-billion dollar sector built on the back of their existence.