OceanLaw On-Line Paper No. 3, April 2001

Report: First Session of the Preparatory Conference for the Establishment of the Commission on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific

Dr Sandra Tarte
Senior Lecturer, History/Politics Department
University of the South Pacific

Abstract
In September 2000, member states of the Pacific Islands Forum together with other coastal states of the Pacific and distant water fishing nations adopted a convention, known for short as the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Convention. Under the convention, a Commission will be established for the conservation and management of highly migratory fish stocks (principally tuna) in the western and central Pacific. The conference establishing this Commission also mandated participants to convene a preparatory conference within six to nine months (that is, between April and July 2001). The tasks of this preparatory conference or Prepcon (which will continue until the convention enters into force) are to lay the groundwork for the Commission and to ensure that no vacuum exists in the period between adoption of the convention and its entry into force. Entry into force is expected to take about three years. Specifically the Prepcon is to establish the organizational and financial framework for the new Commission and its subsidiary bodies, as well as facilitate the future work of the Commission. It is to begin the process of collecting and analyzing data on status of the fish stocks, and if necessary recommend conservation and management measures. An interim secretariat might also be established to support these tasks. The first session of the Prepcon was convened by New Zealand, the depositary of the convention, in Christchurch from 23 to 28 April, 2001. This paper provides a review of the discussions and progress made at that meeting.
Originally published in [2001] International Fisheries Bulletin No. 13