The group WWF in its report mentioned that important tuna species are under threat from overfishing in Asia’s diverse Coral Triange region and a drastic rethink is needed to stave off collapse. WWF researcher Lida Pet Soede informed that tuna species in the triangle, including heavily overfished bluefin and big eye tuna, are under increasing pressure as fleets move in from depleted fishing grounds in other parts of the world.
WWF explained that the Coral Triangle — which is bounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor — contains spawning and nursery grounds as well as migratory routes for up to 89 percent of the world’s tuna catch. It is said that the triangle is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth.
Accoridng to Soede the larger context of the Coral Triangle, where there still are very important spawning grounds for a number of very valuable tuna species is critical. She informed that last week a decision was taken by Spain, Japan and other countries to close down bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean will mean more fishing ships will move into the triangle.
She also said that regional collaboration around management of this global commodity is pretty obvious. If you can’t agree on managing this commodity together, everybody is going to get hurt.
It is told that representatives from the six Coral Triangle nations, fishing companies and WWF are meeting in the Indonesian capital until to discuss ways of curbing overfishing in the area. It is said that the discussions are set to include the creation of a carbon-trading style system to pay countries with large spawning grounds such as Indonesia in return for reducing fishing of tuna. Saut Hutagalung, a senior official in the Indonesian fisheries ministry, said the country was struggling to regulate tuna fishing by a fleet of mostly small, unlicensed boats.
