Majuro fish meeting

High acclaim follows Majuro fish meeting

Debbie Singh

Spc, Noumea

The Second Multilateral

High-Level Conference

on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific (MHLC2) was held in Majuro, Marshall Islands, in June. The meeting comprised repre sentatives of the Pacific’s distant water fishing nations and French terri

tories, including representatives from

the Forum Fisheries Committee.

Participation at the meeting was gener ally at ministerial level and included 150 participants. Representatives of the South Pacific Commission attended the meeting in an observer capacity.

Of the SPC contribution to the meeting, Director-General Bob Dun said: “The SPC’s Oceanic Fisheries Programme (OFP) contribution in data collection and research on the region’s tuna stocks is unique and is essential as the scientific basis for any stock management scheme which may evolve. It is also a Pacific ser vice in resource monitoring and research which will need to be maintained indefi

nitely.

“Given the urgent push towards a mul tilateral management system for our tuna fisheries, questions are being asked about the forms of new scientific and administra tive relationships that will have to be developed. [The SPC] has a lot to offer in contributing to this endeavour but we need to make sure that our contribution is offered to the best advantage of SPC’s

member states and territories, the fishing interests of the region operating under the Law of the Sea Convention and SPC’s institutional future,” he said.

The Majuro Decalaration on the Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific adopted at the end of the meeting high lights issues needing to be addressed and provides a framework for working activi ties and negotiations aimed at having the

conservation/management mechanism

established in three years - by June 2000.

“The Majuro contribution has been such a stimulating one,” said Dun.

“Basically, it’s because the Pacific seems ready for change. There’s a spirit of cooperation bringing disparate parties together towards shared goals.

Delegations are aspiring towards the future and forgetting past wounds and legal precedents.”

Dun had words of high praise for the meeting’s chairperson - Indo-Fijian Satya Nandan, Director of the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica.

He said the multilateral meeting bene fitted much from the leadership of Nandan, whom he described as an international negotiator, wise in the ways of the United Nations and experienced in the special challenges of marine management.

“It was an education to see the combi nation of firm leadership, good-humoured camaraderie and personal effort which moulded the cooperative spirit of the meet ing into measured success - achievement without pain.

“It’s important to note that Nandan is committed to his own continued involve ment with this negotiation process until a successful conclusion is reached.

“He’s not short of calls on his time and, having given this priority to the Pacific, he certainly won’t be prepared to see the MHLC’s achievement targets dissi pate.”

One of the most important contributions

from MHLC2 was to endorse the results of the scientific consultation held at the SPC in Noumea in 1996.

The recommendations give support to the continuing role of the Oceanic Fisheries Programme, call for further improvements in the coverage and avail ability of fisheries data, and identify needs related to research programming and sci entific collaboration.

In addition, there was a growing con sensus for the establishment of a scientific advisory-cum-collaborative body for west ern and central Pacific tuna research. It is felt this could likely develop around the OFP and its existing scientific groups - the Standing Committee on Tuna and Billfish (SCTB) and its associated research net works.

An important feature of both the minis terial and multilateral meetings was Dr John Hampton’s presentation of OFP’s research results on the status of Pacific tuna stocks.

Hampton said: “[The meeting] was generally seen to be a success, with more progress being made on issues than

thought possible.

“This was [also] due to the skill of the chairman who took control of the meeting, agenda and output from the start.

“The opinion seems to be forming that the OFP is an appropriate vehicle to pro vide research coordination and scientific services to the future management arrange ment.

"This view needs to be reinforced wher ever possible, particularly within the SPC. membership.”

Dr Hampton’s paper emphasised the value and unique place of OFP’s tuna research; expressed confidence that the region’s main tuna stocks were still in a healthy state, particularly skipjack , but

also highlighted a worrying picture with

the less productive, but valuable, bigeye tuna.

In summing up the meeting, Nandan described it as a “truly seminal event”.

“History will judge it as one of the most important initiatives that has been taken in this region,” he said.

MHLC3 will convene in a year’s time and will receive reports from two interces sional technical consultations - one deal ing with issues relating to fisheries man agement and the other with monitoring, control and surveillance. ■