Sea Delight Letter Supports Proposal for Northern Pacific Swordfish Harvest Strategy

September 1, 2019

The Delegations of Member States of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), Northern Committee, have gathered in Seattle Washington for their 15th Regular Session.

 For stakeholders in Northern Pacific (NP) Swordfish fisheries there is an important proposal on the table: “Proposal by the United States of America, Harvest Strategy for North Pacific Swordfish Fisheries, WCPFC-NC15-2019/DP-14”.

 Calling for clear Limit Reference and Target Reference Points for NP swordfish, the plan would offer guidance for fishery managers and Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) administrators working for sustainable swordfish fisheries in the region. Swordfish is an important secondary catch in many tuna fisheries. Well-managed swordfish fisheries would greatly benefit fishers and fishing communities in the Northern Pacific. Achieving management goals should be readily attainable as the most recent stock assessment for Northern Pacific Swordfish shows that stocks are not overfished or experiencing overfishing.

Northern Pacific Swordfish stocks are not overfished or experiencing overfishing

For this reason, Sea Delight has submitted the letter below to the WCPFC Northern Committee. The letter has also been endorsed by 5 other key NP swordfish stakeholder organizations.

“Letter for the Consideration of the Northern Committee 15th Regular Session on September 2 to 6, 2019, at Portland, Oregon, USA

 With regard to the development of a Harvest Strategy for North Pacific Swordfish Fisheries and proposal WCPFC-NC15-2019/DP-14.

 The Sea Delight Group of Companies import and distribute tuna, swordfish and mahi-mahi into both the North American and European Union markets. 

We have specific interests in North Pacific swordfish.

There is a growing international market demand for sustainability assurance for all fish products, including swordfish.

 We hereby express our strong support for adoption by the Northern Committee of the “Proposal by the United States of America, Harvest Strategy for North Pacific Swordfish Fisheries, WCPFC-NC15-2019/DP-14”.

Sea Delight sincerely hopes the WCPFC NC will adopt the proposal. Once the results are known, they will be reported here.

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