Greenpeace: Tuna could be fished to extinction by 2048

Aug 25, 2009, 15:07 GMT

Taipei - Greenpeace and a Taiwan conservation group on Tuesday called on Taiwan to cut down its tuna catch, because overfishing could cause tuna's extinction by 2048.

Greenpeace held a similar news conference in South Korea last week, and it will soon make the same demand on Japan.

Japan is the world's top tuna-catching nation, and Taiwan is the second-largest.

At the Taipei news conference, Greenpeace and the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan jointly urged the Taiwan government to join the global community to cut the Pacific tuna catch by 50 per cent. Scientists warn that if current exploitation trends continue all commercial fish species could be wiped out by 2048.

The two groups asked Taiwan to support the Western and Central Pacific Fishery Commission (WCPFC) to close the four pockets of international waters in the Pacific Ocean as marine reserves to sustain the tuna stocks.

The two groups will call on the Taiwanese government and the fishing industry to communicate their demands.

'If we don't take immediate action now, there will be no tuna left for future generations. As a key player in Pacific fisheries, Taiwan should work with other governments to cut the Pacific tuna catch by 50 per cent including closure of the four high seas pockets, and enforce effective measures to regulate the Taiwanese fleet and stop pirate fishing,' Greenpeace Spokesman Stephen Campbell said.

The Western and Central Pacific is the biggest tuna fishing ground in the world. More than half of the tuna caught globally - nearly 2.5 million tons per year - comes from the Pacific.

In 2007, fleets from the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan accounted for around 80 per cent of Pacific tuna caught, according to the Greenpeace.

Bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin tuna has been overfished for many years, with pirate fishing being a serious problem. The fishing industry is already suffering as the catch of bluefin tuna has dropped significantly over the last few years and average weight of the catch also dropped.

Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan pointed out that Taiwan has over 2,500 fishing vessels operating across the Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Atlantic for tuna fishing.

According to the latest figures released by the WCPCF, 246,187 tons of tuna were caught by the Taiwan fishing fleet in 2008.