Harvest Strategies and Allocation – Preliminary Paper
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is unique among tuna regional
fisheries management organisations due to the significance of catches from small island
developing State exclusive economic zones, and their collective influence on conservation and
management negotiations. This has enabled the WCPFC to make significant progress on the
development of harvest strategies in fisheries that occur largely inside their waters.
In 2017, the 14th Regular Session of the Commission established target reference points (TRP)
for skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye that will enable the development of long term harvest
strategies. Simultaneously, the WCPFC agreed to develop a process to allocate rights for the
high seas purse seine fisheries, and the tropical longline fisheries more generally. Although
harvest strategies do not require explicitly allocated fishing rights, the implementation of
harvest control rules (with pre-agreed adjustments to effort or catch on the basis of changes
in stock status) does necessitate that there be explicitly agreed responsibilities for
implementing adjustments to fishing effort or limits, and clarity over how these adjustments
are implemented.
While negotiating these commitments, the WCPFC is required by its founding Convention to
ensure that decisions do not transfer a disproportionate burden of conservation action onto
developing States. More broadly, the global community has recognised the importance of
fisheries to SIDS, and Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14) has committed to increase
the economic benefits to Small Island Developing States and least developed countries from
the sustainable use of marine resources by 2030.
Looking forward, these simultaneous developments provide opportunities for the WCPFC to
carefully negotiate and create transparent and equitable rules to guide management and
allocation decisions, and implement their conservation obligations consistent with the WCPFC
Convention. use of marine resources by 2030.