The Chair of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Rhea Moss Christian has praised the efforts of what she described as two of the smallest countries of the Pacific in issuing fisheries challenges that other nations should follow.
She was referring to the call by the President of the Marshall Islands Hilda Heine for Pacific nations to commit to a 2023 target for the abolition of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, Peter Christian’s urging for the adoption of electronic monitoring technology to achieve full transparency of tuna fisheries by 2023.
American Samoa has a large delegation attending the WCPFC meeting which opened in Honolulu yesterday.
Speaking at the opening of the 15th meeting of the Commission in Honolulu yesterday, Moss Christian said the commission has the lead responsibility in meeting these challenges issued by two of its members at the highest level.
She added, “I believe that we are already on this path”.
Chair Moss Christian in her opening remarks stressed the importance of the commission’s work to present and future generations.
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The WCPFC is the group that determines catch levels of critical tuna species, like big eye, yellow fin and skipjack in the Pacific Ocean.
Resolutions from the meeting must be approved by consensus.
Caption: Chair Rhea Moss Christian & Director of WCPFC Feleti Te’o with Pacific island journalists covering the meeting with funding from Forum Fisheries Agency and the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS).
Photo by Lisa Williams
