Young tuna haul in Western Pacific to be held below 2002-04 levels+

TOKYO, Dec. 11 Kyodo -
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has agreed to hold catches
of young bluefin tuna aged up to three years old in the Western Pacific for
2011 and 2012 below the 2002-2004 levels to help prevent a depletion of the
stock, Japan's Fisheries Agency said Saturday.
The agreement was struck at an annual meeting in Honolulu of the 25 WCPFC
member economies that include Japan, China, Samoa, South Korea, Taiwan and the
United States, the agency said.
The deal would obligate Japan to slash its annual catches of such young bluefin
tuna by 30 percent from around 6,000 tons at the present.
But an agency official in Tokyo said the accord ''will not have a large impact
on (bluefin tuna) consumption in Japan.''
In addition to the deal on young bluefin tuna, the commission agreed to try to
hold overall bluefin tuna catches for the next two years also below the
2002-2004 levels.
As for bonito whose stock in waters surrounding Japan has been on the decline,
Japan proposed cutting the number of large-scale net fishing boats for catching
a large number of fish in one haul, but the issue was deferred for further
discussions.
The statement adopted at this year's WCPFC session also incorporates language
calling on South Korea to devise measures to limit its catches of young bluefin
tuna, although the country balked at such a curb in the course of the
deliberations.
The language effectively obligates South Korean bluefin tuna fishermen to
reduce catches, the Japanese agency said.
Japanese and South Korean fishing boats have been catching large quantities of
young bluefin tuna in the Pacific with large net fishing boats, and critics
have expressed concern that these moves threaten to deplete the bluefin tuna
stock in the waters.
The WCPFC coordinates to determine resource management measures on fish such as
tuna, bonito and swordfish in the central and western Pacific.
==Kyodo