The Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) stretches approximately 6,000 nautical miles across numerous jurisdictions, from the archipelagos of Southeast Asia to the remote atolls of Kiribati in the Central Pacific. This vast ocean is home to the world’s largest and most productive tuna fisheries, supplying global markets and providing critical revenue to Pacific small island developing States. Strategically, the Pacific islands States, Australia and New Zealand have developed a collaborative approach, establishing global precedents in management, science, monitoring, control and surveillance. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is one of the world’s most modern regional fisheries management organisations, successfully managing target stocks at sustainable levels through science-based limits that are informed by an independent science provider and operational data. Between 2008-2013, the WCPFC closed the western high seas pockets to the largest industrial fishing fleets in order to reduce fishing mortality while avoiding a disproportionate burden of conservation on to developing small island States. Although this measure was lifted in 2013, tropical Pacific island States continue to implement this closure through their domestic licensing arrangements.
These experiences provide important insights for the new High Seas Treaty for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Given the critical importance of these regional fisheries to the viability of Pacific small island States, and the history of strategic cooperation to restrict high seas fishing activities and implement science-based management, these insights can provide critical guidance for the High Seas Treaty Conference of Parties as it considers how best to achieve its conservation objectives without undermining the mandate of existing bodies such as the WCPFC. This presentation analyses the experience of Pacific Island cooperation in the context of the WCPFC and provides a commentary on opportunities and challenges for high seas conservation in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.