By Pita Ligaiula in Manila, Philippines
One of the region’s most outspoken tuna advocates says the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) faces a credibility crisis if next week’s Manila meeting once again fails to deliver long-promised harvest strategies.
In an interview with PACNEWS, Shark Pacific Policy Director Bubba Cook said the Commission is running out of excuses and the world is running out of patience.
“The WCPFC is now faced with the prospect that it might be held to greater account for the decisions that it makes, thanks to greater scrutiny in the media and markets taking notice of its actions,” Cook said.
He warned that global buyers and certification schemes are increasingly tracking whether Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) follow through on science-based management and delays have consequences.
Asked what happens if Manila fails again, Cook did not mince words.
“The members no longer have the luxury of failing to act year on year to implement basic provisions that ensure the conservation and management under their charge,” he said.
Cook said the Commission’s credibility is being undermined by a small bloc of members who deliberately derail progress.
“It is increasingly evident that there is one chamber of the WCPFC that relies on pure obstruction and recalcitrance to prevent meaningful measures from advancing,” he said.
He said those members must no longer be allowed to hide behind closed negotiations.
“Of course, that will only change when they are publicly held to account for their bad faith and self-interest that only serves to make collective management actions less certain and leaves our global tuna fisheries more prone to potential declines and even collapse as a result of other external pressures such as climate change,” he said.
Cook said Manila is a critical test for whether the WCPFC can still function as a credible, science-based fisheries body.
“If they fail on harvest strategies again,” he said, “the signal to global markets will be loud and clear — this Commission can’t do its job,” Cook told PACNEWS.
