After a Pacific Ocean tuna commission called on 25 of its members to slash bigeye tuna catches by 30 percent over the next three years, Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency was the first to announced a cut of 10 percent in its quotas for bigeye tuna catch. The new quota was proposed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s (WCPFC’s) science sub-commission in an effort to maintain the sustainability of the threatened species, was approved at the WCPFC’s annual meeting in South Korea’s Busan Dec. 8-12.
According to Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency the sub-commission proposed a similar measure in 2006, at the time calling for a 25 percent reduction in catches, but it was rejected by WCPFC members. It is said that under the new measure, members of the WCPFC, including Taiwan and Japan, would work to reduce their catches of bigeye tuna by 30 percent between 2009 and 2011.
Taiwan said that it has maintained the agreement and will lower its 2009 fishing quota to 14,269 tons from 15,854 tons this year. Tsay Tzu-yaw, deputy director-general of the Fisheries Agency, told that the fishing quotas for 2010 and 2011 will be decided after the effectiveness of the implementation of the lower quota has been evaluated. He added that under the measure, all fishing vessels belonging to its members are being asked to install the system by April 2009 so that the WCPFC will be able to monitor vessels, including whether they intrude into the territorial waters of other countries.
