Joint media release by Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and SPC.

In Honiara last week, Mike Batty, Director of SPC’s Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division, presented the findings of a six-month study on Solomon Islands tuna fisheries to Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) staff and key stakeholders.

Overfishing of bigeye tuna continues in the western and central Pacific tuna fishery, the world’s biggest tuna fishery, according to the 2010 tuna fishery assessment report released this month by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

Though the species is not at risk of extinction, and is never likely to be, the assessment found that bigeye fishing effort needs to be reduced by at least 32% from the average levels for 2006–2009 to ensure long-term sustainability.

Using fisheries and biological data, some going back to the 1950s, SPC has assessed the trends and current stocks of the four tuna species mainly targeted by fishers: skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye and south Pacific albacore.

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Collecting and managing information is the core task for the majority of staff employed in Pacific Island Fishery government agencies. The tuna data they collect provides a clear picture of the fishery, a solid basis for management decisions and offers an appreciation of historical fishing patterns.  To support this work, SPC has run a series of regional workshops aimed at sharing the best practices for gathering and preparing tuna data, which are subsequently used in the management of the tuna fishery in the western and central Pacific (see http://www.spc.int/oceanfish/en/meetingsworkshops/tdw).   To convey the message even further and facilitate the implementation at the country level, a series of national data workshops have also been undertaken since the start of 2010.

A record number of participants attended this year’s annual stock assessment workshops hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Oceanic Fisheries Programme (SPC-OFP). A total of 30 participants from 23 Pacific countries attended the workshops which are now recognised as an important program in capacity building for fisheries officers and managers in the region. This year, for the first time, participants were introduced to the Tuna Management Simulator (TUMAS) a new software tool developed by the OFP that allows fishery managers and advisors to evaluate the performance of different management options.  TUMAS allows commission members to explore and compare the results of different management options and assists them to make management decisions and negotiate at regional fisheries meetings.