Pacific nations agree to 30 pct cut in tuna catches by 2011

BUSAN, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- Pacific nations on Friday agreed to cut their tuna
catches by 30 percent and ban fishing in international waters to protect tuna
reserves, South Korean officials said.

The 25 members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission adopted a
resolution at the end of their annual meeting in the southern port city of Busan
to cut bigeye tuna catches by 30 percent over the next three years, they said.
Major catchers like South Korea and Japan called for a more gradual cut, while
the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand backed the resolution, they
said. Europe called for an even sharper reduction.
The resolution also bans bigeye tuna catches in international waters surrounding
the member countries starting in 2010.
Korea and Japan protested, saying it is against international law to prohibit
catching the highly migratory species of bluefin tuna in international waters,
but their argument was not accepted, officials said.
The resolution also prohibits purse-seine fishing vessels, which use long nets to
encircle tuna, from throwing fish-aggregating devices from August to September in
2009. The period expands to three months in 2010.
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is the central
decision-making body for management of tuna fishing in the Western and Central
Pacific Ocean. Member countries reached the resolution after fierce debate at the
end of their six-day meeting, officials said.
An official of the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said
Korea sought to slow the banning process out of concern for its fisheries
industry, but "in the final stage of the meeting, other fishing nations changed
their position to be positive about the ban and (South Korea) had to give in."
Environmentalists called for more.
"We support the fishing ban in international waters, but it's still not enough
with the 30 percent cut in tuna catches," Choi Su-yeong, director of the Korean
Federation for Environmental Movement, said. "We will continue our campaign to
stop tuna overfishing for the sake of sustainable fishing."
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)