Brussels, 17/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Negotiations in Auckland, New Zealand concluded on Saturday 14 November with the unanimous adoption of a convention setting up a new regional fisheries management organisation in the south Pacific. The convention will be open for signature from 1st January 2010 and should come into force in two to three years' time. The parties involved are the EU, Chile, China, Korea, Russia, Vanuatu, the Faroe Islands and Peru.
The new regional fisheries organisation (http://www.southpacificrfmo.org ), which will manage demersal and pelagic stocks (but not highly migratory species such as tuna) will cover a vast area including the waters from the most western parts of the South Pacific towards the Exclusive Economic Zones of South America. The fish species regulated include jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi), orange roughy, oreos, alfonsino, and bluenose.
Meanwhile, the interim measures regulating fisheries activities are planned until the new Convention comes into force. The south Pacific is one of the few remaining parts of the oceans which have not yet been regulated by an RFMO for non-tuna species. (L.C./transl.rt)