Accountability.Fish

The latest meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) was eventful. Yet the Commission's ongoing resistance to opening up its decision-making processes - and how their reliance on a consensus-based approach leads to many of its decisions being watered down - was in full view yet again. Here's the latest, courtesy of Mongabay: https://lnkd.in/gR2y5jiS

With the General Meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) taking place this week, Accountability.Fish continues to challenge the Commission to end its secrecy practices. For our latest release, click the link in comments.

“[NEAFC] is the most fraught and most problematic RFMO, to my knowledge,” Ryan Orgera, global director of Accountability.Fish, a Virginia-based advocacy group, told Mongabay just after the meeting, which he attended. “I’ve never seen any systematic, structural issues that are this dysfunctional.” #sustainability #RFMO #governance #fishing https://lnkd.in/epzEbpAD

The Annual Meeting of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) marked another missed opportunity to save the region's mackerel and herring stocks. In an article today in noted conservation news outlet Mongabay, Accountability.Fish Global Director Ryan Orgera attributed this failure to systemic issues within NEAFC: “This is the most fraught and most problematic RFMO, to my knowledge,” Ryan Orgera, global director of Accountability.Fish, a Virginia-based advocacy group, told Mongabay just after the meeting, which he attended. “I’ve never seen any systematic, structural issues that are this dysfunctional.” The article added that observers had said that the NEAFC meeting had a certain intensity and a degree of opacity. It also noted that observers were left out of several heads-of-delegation meetings (which often iron out agendas behind closed doors). but Orgera told Mongabay that the frequency and length of such closed meetings at NEAFC was “very irregular.” Orgera has repeatedly criticized NEAFC and its member countries for failing to be transparent in how they manage public resources; he wrote a scathing op-ed in Euractiv, a news outlet focused on EU policy, in advance of the annual meeting. The “most developed countries on Earth, most advanced economies on Earth,” should be held to a higher standard, he told Mongabay. The full article can be found at: https://lnkd.in/dhEUvTuZ

When it comes to ocean sustainability, some countries talk a better game than they deliver. Accountability.Fish is holding these countries to account - and not letting them off the hook. Like #NewZealand. https://lnkd.in/ePjdvEg3

The New Zealand Government has officially responded to our letter demanding the participation of observers in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) compliance processes and to end the practice of conducting key meetings behind closed doors.  #NewZealand #RFMO #transparency #WCPFC https://lnkd.in/e--xiuwT

Fisheries and biodiversity in the Northeast Atlantic are in decline due to years of overfishing, but governments can start to address these failures at the #NEAFC meeting in London next week. They should accelerate progress towards sustainable fisheries and internationally agreed biodiversity targets by adopting ecosystem-based fisheries management (#EBFM). This approach prioritises the long-term needs of target species such as #mackerel and #herring, as well as their predators, prey and habitat. Through #EBFM, which begins with setting ambitious ecological objectives for these fisheries, governments can break the cycle of mismanagement while further protecting other marine species that depend on these fish, like seabirds and marine mammals. Such regional efforts would help meet the global commitment to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.   #NEAFC #NEAFC2024 #Biodiversity #MakeEBFMWork OSPAR

The lack of transparency and accountability in fisheries decision-making processes in the Northeast Atlantic undermines their legitimacy, erodes trust among stakeholders, and is contributing to continued overfishing. That’s why we are calling for an end to the practice of conducting key sustainability meetings, the Coastal States Consultations, behind closed doors. Without meaningful reform, the region's most valuable fish stocks will continue to decline, with dire consequences for the marine environment and the communities that depend on them. It’s time for open governance

Overfishing of key species in the Northeast Atlantic continues to be a major problem. So what are the countries responsible for this doing about it? Having meetings behind closed doors. Accountability.Fish Global Director Ryan Orgera calls them out in Euractiv: https://lnkd.in/epmvjmrc