Special Management Measures on Eastern High Seas Pocket

Cook Islands successful in bid for Special Management Measures on Eastern High Seas Pocket

10th December, 2010, Hawaii: The Cook Islands delegation to the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has successfully introduced special management measures designed to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in the eastern high seas pocket, adjacent to its EEZ waters.

This means that all fishing vessels operating in this 116,000 square kilometre area will be viewed by a live vessel monitoring system and must submit entry and exit reports with their catch on-board before transiting the zone.

The head of delegation, Secretary of Marine Resources, Ben Ponia described the process as ‘involving an intense amount of lobby and side-discussion but it was extremely rewarding in that we were able to put in place special measures to prevent the high seas being used a launch pad for illegal fishing and to protect our fisheries stock’.

According to Ponia, the initial reaction from the floor was very positive and he was pleased to hear comments describing the Cook Islands proposal as being ‘balanced’, ‘fair’ and even ‘sophisticated’.
Ponia said that the head of the French Delegation Jonathan Lemeunier was amongst the first to congratulate the Cook Islands on passing their measure and said he ‘extends our appreciation on behalf of French Polynesia as well, of course’.

Six of the nine prosecutions for illegal fishing cases prosecuted by the Ministry of Marine Resources in recent years have been associated with the eastern high seas pocket.

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