Accountability.Fish

Fisheries have a massive impact on global sustainability - economically and environmentally. Yet every year, certain countries in the Pacific are blocking observers from attending crucial meetings where decisions about overfishing are being made. Here's why Accountability.Fish Global Director Ryan Orgera is calling for those meetings to be opened up:

Fisheries have a massive impact on global sustainability - economically and environmentally. Yet every year, certain countries in the Pacific are blocking observers from attending crucial meetings where decisions about overfishing are being made. Here's why Accountability.Fish Global Director Ryan Orgera is calling for those meetings to be opened up:

What level of transparency is an acceptable level of transparency? Accountability.Fish Global Director Ryan Orgera speaks out on the discrepancy in observer coverage between different types of fishing vessels operating in the Pacific. Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)

What is the level of transparency we are calling for, when it comes to the vessels that are fishing for tuna in the Pacific? Here's our Global Director Ryan Orgera on the subject:

Today, Accountability.Fish publicly disclosed 17 WCPFC members that block observers from key sessions of its Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC) meeting, failing their obligations under the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA). The named members include #Australia, #CookIslands, #Fiji, #Kiribati,#MarshallIslands, Federated States of #Micronesia, #Nauru, #NewZealand, #Niue, #Palau, #PapuaNewGuinea, #Samoa, #SolomonIslands, #Tokelau, #Tonga, #Tuvalu, and #Vanuatu. Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)

Global fisheries happen in networks, not in a vacuum. Even certifications have their obvious limitations. Let’s be mindful of the networks we participate in. https://lnkd.in/gKX3b-Rd

8 months later and not much has changed at Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) …

Sometimes things aren't as they seem. Take this 'press briefing' by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which they are congratulating themselves for organizing this week. What the WCPFC isn't saying is why they exclude observers from the key parts of their actual compliance meetings, or media from their compliance and general meetings. They talk the talk. But they don't walk the walk. End the secrecy.

When it comes to sustainability in the world of fisheries management, there's a lot more talk than walk these days. Take, for instance, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) - which loves to talk up its "commitment to sustainability" - but conducts key sustainability meetings behind closed doors. A story in pictures.

In a recent study commissioned by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the organization announced that 11 of the 23 major commercial tuna stocks worldwide are “successfully avoiding overfishing and maintaining target stock biomass levels when measured against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard” “The bar set by the ISSF to ‘celebrate success’ is exceptionally low,” states Accountability.Fish Director Ryan Orgera “If you take their report at face value then over half of the commercial tuna stocks are being overfished. How can anyone reasonably consider this to be a ‘success’?” “Furthermore, we can’t necessarily believe the data ISSF (and others) use to verify these 11 commercial stocks that are purportedly maintaining stock biomass levels, because the process that leads to the public reports is not transparent as it allows no civil society observers for over half of Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC) meetings.” Even the ISSF called out the WCPFC’s lack of transparency as recently as November 2023 (see link in comments). How then can anyone be comfortable with WCPFC’s public data? #ISSF #WCPFC #TCC https://lnkd.in/dTxY36-c