Taipei (dpa) – Environmentalists warned Taiwan Saturday to not roll back protections for Pacific tuna stocks at a key fisheries meeting later this month. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission will decide on four zones of international waters, known as the Pacific Commons, that stretch from Palau to French Polynesia. Greenpeace said 1,800 Taiwanese fishing vessels travel to the fishery annually and haul back 250,000 tons of tuna. “Taiwan often comes out against any protection for tuna at these meetings,” Yen Ning, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, said. “But when we ask Taiwanese fishermen, they have all told us their catches are declining.” The swath of the western Pacific Ocean is home to 60 per cent of the world's tuna catch, with three of four major species threatened with extinction, according to Greenpeace. A ban against purse seine fishing in two zones expired last year, setting up a showdown over fishing rights between Pacific island nations and Asian countries with sizable fishing fleets. Island nations want to protect tuna as a precious resource, but fishing powers like Taiwan and Japan, whose vessels travel to the region to get their catch, have an entire industry to protect. Greenpeace wants the commission to expand the net ban to all four zones and cut tuna yields from the region by 50 per cent. “By doing this, we can guarantee that future generations of Taiwanese and people from around the world will have tuna to eat,” Yen said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/3ldlD Tags: Greenpeace, Taiwan, Tuna Section: Animals, East Asia, Environment, Food, Going Green
