President Baron Waqa says while Nauru and seven neighbouring islands have taken action "to sustainably manage our tuna,” tuna fishing is still threatened by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Speaking at the plenary session of the UN Ocean Conference in New York, Waqa said this “is a criminal act, akin to piracy, and must be addressed with urgency.”
He said the nation's landmass is only 21 square kilometres and the exclusive economic zone is over 15,000 times larger and its economic survival depends on tuna.
Waqa urged governments, businesses and civil society to support the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration to ensure that all tuna products can be tracked from the vessel where the fish is caught to the final buyer.
Nauru has pledged to hold a national week for ocean awareness and clean-up campaign.
‘We commit to establishing a Marine Pollution Plan of Action that will address waste management and includes marine pollution prevention activities. However, we will continue to aspire to do more but we need key partnerships to tackle plastic pollution and improve ocean literacy that will empower our citizens to act,” Waqa said.
The Ocean Conference, which runs through Friday, focuses on the targets outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by Governments in 2015. In particular among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 14 highlights the need to conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources to benefit present and future generations.
The main areas of work at The Ocean Conference will be a political call to action, a segment on partnership dialogues and voluntary commitments. Hundreds of commitments have already been registered.
Photo by UN Media