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Tuna delegates
face daunting
challenges

28 Pacific nations have
spent years working
on a treaty

---

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

Delegates from 28 Pacific nations have spent the past six years attempting to reach an international agreement to regulate the Pacific tuna-fishing industry through monitoring, enforcement and catch limits.

Their purpose: to share the rich harvests of tuna and other fish of the Pacific equitably, without overfishing.

The region, ranging from Hawaii to New Zealand and from French Polynesia to Japan, produces two-thirds of the tuna caught worldwide, with an annual value of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

But as the "Multilateral High-Level Conference" on migratory fish stocks begins what is meant to be its seventh and final meeting, the fishing nations may still be unable to reconcile their differences.

The convention, held in Honolulu for the fourth time, convened yesterday at the Hawaii Convention Center.

If the nations finalize and adopt a tuna treaty and establish an international commission by Wednesday, it's not likely to be satisfactory or effective, said Masayaki Komatsu, who is representing Japan.

Komatsu said several issues will need to be addressed before his country will be satisfied with the agreement. Japan accounts for more than 25 percent of the fishing vessels in the Pacific region, he said. In the draft agreement being considered by the convention all countries would have equal voting strength, regardless of the size of their fishing industry.

Komatsu's concern is that the voting will be dominated by small Pacific island nations, Australia and New Zealand, which have been united as the Foreign Fisheries Agency. Then Japan would be "a minority in terms of voting power," he said.

Another issue is whether to recognize Taiwan, the second-largest fishing power in the region, on an equal standing with the other fishing nations. This matter is up for debate because China does not recognize Taiwan as a separate state.

Taiwan has been participating in talks as Chinese Taipei, but with the rights of a nation. The international group must decide whether this will continue in the future.

If Taiwan continues to be allowed to participate on equal footing with other nations, the country will be legally bound by the convention, said Chinese Taipei representative Andrew Tsia. If not, he said, "We'll be seriously considering why we're here."

Another sticking point involves the northern boundary for the regulated area. Japan proposes that the boundary separate the northern and southern regions, but Tucker Sully, director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Ocean Affairs, said the proposed boundary would cut right through Hawaiian waters.

Sully pointed out that while certain species of tuna tend to inhabit certain areas, fish don't recognize the differences in boundaries and migrate freely. The location of that boundary line "directly affects Hawaii," he said.

Ministry-level officials are expected to approve the final draft of the convention text early next week, but Komatsu questions whether the resulting document will mean much.