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Pacific nations
try again for
tuna-fishing
agreement

But their last attempt here
four months ago failed,
as have all efforts since 1994

---

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

Some 250 delegates from 28 Pacific nations will be back in town next week, hoping to sign a historic international agreement to regulate a $1.7 billion tuna-fishing industry across a huge swath of the Pacific.

But don't hold your breath.

The same group was here just four months ago, trying as it has since 1994 to find common ground on such issues as limits on the number of fish that can be caught, monitoring and enforcement.

"I wouldn't bet any money on it," said Wayne Heikkila, general manager of the Western Fishboat Owners Association, based in Eureka, Calif. "There's some pretty big issues left and one of the biggest is who's going to pay for the commission once it comes down."

The Multilateral High-Level Conference on the conservation of fish stocks is scheduled Wednesday through Sept. 5 at the Hawaii Convention Center. The gathering will be the third in Honolulu in the past 18 months and the seventh since the first convention was held in the Solomon Islands in 1994.

Satya Nandan, conference chairman and Fiji's former ambassador to the United Nations, is pushing for a signed treaty this time around. But others are skeptical because key nations, including Japan, Taiwan and the two Koreas, have been slow to accept the proposed ground rules.

Those include the establishment of quotas based on historical catches, electronic monitoring and the ability of an international commission to board ships at sea.

Bringing widely divergent interests and values together in the world's biggest fishery is ambitious, many agree.

"The idea that there are simple solutions couldn't be further from the truth," said James Cook, former chairman of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Cook said he believes a treaty will be signed by a majority of delegates, establishing a framework for future controls.

Richard Shiroma, a recreational and sometimes commercial fisherman who operates his 25-foot boat within 40 miles of shore, is on the periphery of discussions about conserving marine resources on the high seas. But he plans to attend his second conference to speak up for small-scale fishermen who have long felt the impact of large-scale fishing far beyond their range.

"In the past, I could go right outside of Kaneohe in the four-to-seven-mile range and catch ahi," he said. "That hasn't happened in many moons."

Shiroma said ahi catches have been gradually dropping for 25 years.

"The ocean doesn't contain unlimited resources, and it has to be managed effectively," he said. "We can't afford to use it without conscience."

Among issues the convention seeks to resolve:

Boundaries: While there is general agreement on the southern and eastern boundaries of waters to be regulated, consensus has not been reached on the northern and western boundaries.
Budget: Member nations would pay a basic fee based on relative wealth.