Greenpeace to report fishing violations of Phl

MANILA, Philippines - The environmental group Greenpeace disclosed that it would submit to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) fishing violations allegedly committed by the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that cause the low supply of tuna.

In a statement, Greenpeace said that the dossier detailing the alleged violations of fishing regulations would be submitted to the WCPFC which is scheduled to meet in the Philippines.

The group said a similar dossier that it had previously submitted resulted in heavy penalties for the fishing companies as well as inclusion in a global pirate fishing blacklist of the fishing boats that were used.

The WCPFC is also known as the Pacific Tuna Commission.

Among the violations recorded were illegal transshipment, vessels operating in the high seas without permits, failure to report via the mandatory Vessel Monitoring System, operating in the high seas without mandatory observers onboard, and illegal deployment of fish aggregating devices (FADs).

The commission will meet in Manila this week to form management and conservation measures in the face of fast-declining tuna stocks.

Waters around Pacific island countries supply about 60 percent of the world’s tuna demand, but species such as yellow fin and albacore tuna are reportedly on the brink of becoming extinct due to over fishing by ships from Asia, the Americas and Europe.

“While at sea, we saw firsthand that pirate fishing and destructive fishing methods abound in the Pacific. The evidence we gathered clearly demonstrate failure by governments and industries to comply with the most basic rules they themselves have instituted through the Tuna Commission,” said Chow Yuen Ping, Greenpeace campaigner onboard the ship Esperanza that docked in Manila yesterday.

Last month, Greenpeace conducted an expedition in the waters of Palau and the Pacific High Seas Pocket 1, the area of international waters between the exclusive economic zones  of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Papua New Guinea.