Control over longline fishing in the western and central Pacific, the increasing catch of bigeye, albacore and other tunas, and the schism between in-zone and high seas management are shaping up as battleground issues for the region’s fishery in 2016 and beyond.
The failure of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) to agree at last December's annual meeting on new high seas fishing rules for over 3,000 longline fishing boats and the Hawaii-based United States longline fleet gaining repeated exemptions to catch more bigeye have fuelled a contentious situation.
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