KEY POINTS:
Three large patches of the Pacific Ocean, the sea equivalent of no-man's land, should be turned into marine reserves to help ensure sustainability of its fish stocks, says Greenpeace.
The environmental advocacy agency says it makes good sense to ban fishing from pockets of international waters surrounded by the exclusive economic zone boundaries of Pacific Island countries such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Cook Islands.
Nilesh Goundar, Greenpeace's oceans team leader, has been in Auckland from Fiji to promote the concept, which is intended to help ease fishing pressures on the valued tuna stock in the region.
Mr Goundar told the Herald the high seas were not only exploited for about a quarter of the total fish take, but provided an area in which illegal activity could take place beyond the reach of surveillance.
So-called mother ships, for instance, could uplift catches off the licensed tuna fishers operating in sovereign waters which then under-reported their official catches back at port.
"There is evidence of significant under-reporting and a high incidence of unregulated fishing practices."
Greenpeace believed that turning three areas of the high seas into marine reserves would make it more difficult for such activities to take place, while also allowing for fish stocks to replenish.
"They are currently hot spots for pirate activity like trans-shipments and the Pacific nations get no profit."
Mr Goundar said the concept of creating the marine reserves was gaining momentum and already had the support of Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and the Solomons.
Greenpeace was meanwhile running a competition to find a name for each of the proposed marine reserves, the winner to become an official ocean defender.
Mr Goundar said the Pacific Ocean provided 60 per cent of the world's tuna supplies but only about 6 per cent of the industry's profits went back to Pacific island nations through agreements such as access fees.
Some tuna species, such as the big-eye and yellow fin tuna were already in decline, Mr Goundar said, and could collapse if the rate of fishing continued.
For the fisheries to remain sustainable the catch rates had to be controlled but enforcement of catch limits was all but absent, he said.
Kiribati had territorial waters almost the size of the United States but only one patrol boat.
