earth science

Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission

Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission rather than just read about it. In short: The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is a regional fisheries management organisation established to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central areas of the Pacific Ocean. Its full name is Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.

Key takeaways

Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is a regional fisheries management organisation established to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central areas of the Pacific Ocean. Its full name is Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. It commenced operations in late 2005, and its secretariat is based in Pohnpei, in the northern Pacific state of the Federated States of Micronesia. It was established by the international treaty Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPF Convention), which entered into force on 19 June 2004. The WCPF Convention is the second regional fisheries management agreement negotiated since the conclusion of the 1995 U.N. Fish Stocks Agreement.

Operation The WCPF Convention was based on the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement, and addressed the specific characteristics of the western and central Pacific Ocean. It established a framework for the participation of fishing entities legally binding them to its provisions. Territories and possessions can participate in the work of the Commission, which also cooperates with fisheries in other regions whose competence overlaps with WCPFC. Cooperation with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission is of particular importance because of the overlap in respective Convention Areas and the wide range of some of the stocks (such as Bigeye tuna, and the two Albacore Tuna stocks) jointly managed by WCPFC and IATTC. The High Seas of the WCPFC Convention Area also overlaps with the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation and the new North Pacific Fisheries Commission Convention Area. However the fish stocks managed by these RFMOs are different from those managed by WCPFC, and interactions are likely to be restricted to those involving bycatch and multipurpose vessels. The WCPFC Secretariat maintains the Record of Fishing Vessels authorized by their flag States to fish for tuna and other relevant highly migratory fish stocks in the WCPFC Convention Area, manages a Vessel Monitoring System, maintains standards for the national and subregional observer programs that make up the Regional Observer Program, and convenes meetings of the Commission. Primary scientific services are provided under contract by the Oceanic Fisheries Programme of the Pacific Community (SPC), and one of the WCPFC subsidiary bodies - the Northern Committee - also obtains scientific advice from The International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species in the North Pacific Ocean (ISC). On 20 March 2023, the United States Navy and USCG began patrols to implement enforcement of the treaty through agreements with partner nations in the area.

Governance As established by the Convention, the Commission is the governing body composed of representatives from members, cooperating non-members and participating territories (collectively, CCMs). The Commission holds annual meetings, usually in late November or early December, presided over by a Chair and a Vice-Chair, who are elected from the membership. The Commission held its 19th regular session in late November 2022, in Da Nang, Vietnam. Decisions of the Commission are normally made by consensus, but the Convention also provides for a two-chambered voting mechanism, with member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) forming one chamber. The Commission progresses much of its work through three subsidiary bodies: the Scientific Committee (SC), which usually meets in early August; the Northern Committee (NC), which usually meets in early September; and the Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC), which usually meets in late September. The fourth subsidiary body, the Finance and Administrative Committee (FAC), sets the Commission’s budget. The current chair of the Commission is Dr. Josie Tamate, the former Director-General of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Niue and first Polynesian to chair the WCPFC. She succeeds Jung-re Riley Kim of South Korea, who was simultaneously the chair of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, Rhea Moss-Christian of the Marshall Islands, the first female chair of the WCPFC, Charles Karnella of the USA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Satya Nandan of Fiji, who was also the first Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, and Glenn Hurry, a former CEO of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority. Pursuant to Article 15 of the Convention, the Commission established a permanent secretariat headed by an Executive Director who is responsible for implementing the policies and activities of the Commission. The secretariat is located in Kolonia, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia in a building funded by the Chinese government. In December 2022 at the 19th regular session of the WCPFC in Da Nang, Vietnam, Rhea Moss-Christian was appointed the Executive Director of the Commission, succeeding Feleti Teo of Tuvalu, who served as Executive Director from 2014-2022. Moss-Christian was previously the first woman to serve as chair of the WCPFC from 2014-2018 and subsequently chaired the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission. Previous executive directors include Glenn Hurry of Australia (2010-2014), who was also the inaugural chair of the WCPFC, and Andrew Wright of New Zealand (2005-2010), who later served as the executive secretary of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

Trust fund In 2023 Taiwan promised to donate two million USD to the WCPFC's trust fund.

Membership Membership of the Commission is open to the States that participated in negotiating the 2004 Convention. The contracting parties to the Convention, by consensus, may invite States or regional economic integration organizations that wish to fish for highly migratory fish stocks in the western and central Pacific to accede to the Convention. This approach restricts access, emphasizing that the initiative to accede lies with existing parties, not with new applicants.

Observers Mexico Nicaragua United Kingdom 25 intergovernmental organisations 36 nongovernmental organisations

Performance of the Commission The status of stocks under the oversight of the Commission is informally summarized in the ISSF Status of Stocks Report.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission

In research: Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2005 establishments in Oceania, Fisheries agencies, Fisheries conservation organizations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in simple terms?

Why does Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.