| Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC June 28, 2007 U.S. Joins Western and Central Pacific Fisheries ConventionOn June 27, 2007, the United States completed the process to become a member of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. The Commission is a treaty-based organization established to conserve and manage tunas and other highly migratory fish stocks across a vast range of the Pacific Ocean.
The U.S. Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, delivered the U.S. instrument of ratification for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention to the Government of New Zealand, which acts as the Depositary for the Convention, on June 27. The United States will officially become a Contracting Party to the Convention and a member of the Commission 30 days from this date, on July 27, 2007. The U.S. submission to the Depository also included a declaration authorizing the participation of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in the work of the Commission as Participating Territories. The Convention entered into force in June 2004, establishing the Commission as an important regional fishery management organization, the first of its kind in the western and central Pacific Ocean. Through the work of the Commission, various nations, including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand and Pacific Island States of the Forum Fisheries Agency, work together to implement a comprehensive conservation and management program with the goal of ensuring the long-term conservation and sustainable use of highly migratory fish stocks in the west and central Pacific. While the commission focuses mainly on tuna species, it also works to reduce the inadvertent catch of sea birds and sea turtles in commercial fisheries and has adopted measures to improve compliance with, and enforcement of, fisheries regulations. The United States has been a key player during the past decade in the efforts to establish the Commission. The United States continues to strongly support the mission of Commission and as a Contracting Party, looks forward to increased involvement and participation in the upcoming Commission meetings. 2007/528 |
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