1. Purse seine tuna fisheries in the South Pacific: Mapping the distribution of their benefits around the globe
Evangelia Drakou1, John Virdin2 & Linwood Pendleton1
1Institute of the Law and Economics of the Sea,
University of Brest, France
2 Nicholas Institute, Duke University, USA
Good afternoon everyone, thanks for being here. My name is VD, I am an interdisciplinary researcher here in Brest and I will present you the work that we have been doing together with John Virdin from the Duke Uni and Linwood Pendelton on the …

2. “To develop detailed and spatially explicit accounting of the value of marine ecosystem services”
The work I am presenting here today, is part of the MOW project that was supported by TNC, in order to…
It involved a broad list of partners around the globe with lots of expertise on different domain related to the Ocean Wealth
Our group’s worked focused on mapping and assessing different ES generated by our oceans, linked to tourism, carbon sequestration and climate regulation and fisheries, which is what I will present you here.

3. Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries in the WCPO Region
West and Central Pacific Ocean Region
2.02 * 106 metric tons (2013)
79% skipjack
18% yellowfin
3% bigeye
Japan
Chinese Taipei
Korea
USA
Pacific Islands
One of the cases to which we applied that, was linked to the WCPO region and the services linked to the purse seine tuna fisheries there.
The purse seine fishery produced an estimated 2.02 million metric tons in 2013 (79% of which was skipjack, 18% yellowfin and 3% bigeye), caught almost entirely in the tropical waters of the equatorial band, with the highest catches in the zone between 5 degrees N and 10 degrees S (Terawasi and Williams, 2015). Within this band, a number of roving fleets follow the tuna stocks as they migrate through national waters and the high seas, including four main distant water fleets from Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and the United States, as well as a growing Pacific Islands fleet and (largely) domestic fleets operating in Indonesia and the Philippines (Terawasi and Williams, 2015).
Distribution of Purse Seine Tuna Catch (2011 – 2013). Source: WCPFC, 2014
Indonesia
Philippines

4. The West and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) region
Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries
Has been supporting the economy and the livelihoods of the WCPO region since 1950s.
The West and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) region
Amount of tuna being caught increases exponentially per year
0.5% of the value chain attributes benefits to the local WCPO communities
Benefits to Pacific Island Countries ~$500Million (2013)
Unequal benefit distribution among fishers/ processors, but still accounts for e.g. ~36% of GDP in Tuvalu, 32% in Kiribati
The World Bank Tuna Fisheries. Pacific Possible

5. Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries
Has been providing food, supporting jobs and livelihoods to people around the globe.
~60% of world’s tuna supply
Only 10% is processed regionally
In total the 0.5% of the value chain gives benefits to the local communities in terms of jobs, while 10% only is processed locally, with Bangkok being the major tuna canner (besides PCI’s trade preference within EU).

6. Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries in the WCPO Region
Within the tuna fisheries supply chain from the WCPO region to the global markets, a range of direct and indirect beneficiaries of different types occurs.
So why purse seine tuna fisheries in the WCPO region?

7. Aim
To assess & quantify the spatial extent and distribution of benefits generated by the purse seine tuna fisheries of the WCPO region.
 To understand the distribution of direct and indirect beneficiaries at a global scale, and benefit sharing rights among them.

8. Ecosystem Services Well being Ecosystem Services Mapping
An integrated SES approach
Ecosystem Services Well being
Ecosystem Services Mapping
To do this we used an integrated approach that combined the ES well being framework to which we then added a spatial dimension in order to represent geographically the magnitude of this benefit flow.

9. Ecosystem Services – Well-being framework
Global Fish consumers
Value to nutrition: number of fish meals provided
Occupation
Social relations
Money to buy fish
Nutritional well-being
Social desirability of fish as food
Local Fish consumers
Volume, Species, Fish landings
Ecosystem
Harvest
Jobs supported in the point of harvest
The ES well being framework is following the logic of a typical value chain, but gives emphasis to the social aspects of well being in it.
The one we show here is a simplified version, which starts from the ecosystem, it considers the different ecosystem elements, ecosystem functions happening there and then due to human intervention, assumes that some goods are generated, which in our case, have a value, both nutritional and in terms of income. This value undergoes social transformations, and under specific socio-economic conditions contributes to the human well being.
Market structure and fish price
Catch/revenue sharing arrangements
Use rights, Capital
Value to income: Market value of fish sales & supporting industry
Financial well-being
Jobs supported in the processing point
Trans-shipment
Adapted from Daw T et al 2016 Ecology and Society 21(2):11

10. WCPO Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries
Ecosystem
What?
How much?
Where?
Who?
In our WCPO purse seine tuna fisheries, the region is our initial ecosystem, some of the fish is being caught locally (30%) and then the rest is being caught by foreign purse seine fleet, which then undergoes loining and canning processes in Bangok and PNG and then it’s been shipped for consumption in Europe and North America. Canned tuna was developed in the 50s as a low protein alternative to salmon and is now a global commodity (high volume, low price, low profit margins).

11. WCPO Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries
Harvest points (EEZ) in 2013
Harvest waters
Estimated purse seine catch (metric tons)
% of the total catch
Federal States of Micronesia
167,941
8.9
Kiribati
279,902
14.8
Nauru
83,970
4.4
Palau
6,998
0.4
Papua New Guinea
664,766
35.1
Rep of Marshall Islands
27,301
1.8
Solomon Islands
139,951
7.4
Tokelau
Tuvalu
69,975
3.7
International waters
86,309
4.6
Indonesia
186,349
9.8
Philippines
166,734
8.8
TOTAL
1,894,880
100
Source: Drakou et al, in prep;
estimated from SPC; FFA (2014) and WCPFC Data Catalogue

12. WCPO Purse Seine Tuna Fisheries
Fishing fleet origin & total catch (2013)
Fleet origin
2013 Catch (metric tons)
% of the total catch
China
81 828 4
Chinese Taipei 11
Ecuador
21 442 1
El Salvador
13 273
Indonesia 12
Japan
Korea
New Zealand
24 230
Philippines
( domestic) 8
Pacific Islands 23
Spain
45 010 2
USA 13
Vietnam
22 484
FSM
24 182
Kiribati
72 241
RMI
77 634
PNG
Solomon Islands
24 769
Tuvalu
10 866
Vanuatu
22 484

13. Catch distribution (2013)
Total catch per fleet origin (2013)

14. Loining, Canning & Final Retail Markets
15%
29% 5%
12%
33% 6%

15. Not a matter of regional concern!!
Spatial extent of the WCPO beneficiaries
20 countries
5 continents
Not a matter of regional concern!!
This is a first attempt to estimate the flow of benefits across around 20 countries and 5 continents

16. Major seafood companies & countries they impact
Source: Österblom et al Transnational Corporations as ‘Keystone Actors’ in Marine Ecosystems (PlosOne)
Major seafood companies & countries they impact
Such a global level analysis is not relevant to tuna, but to other species due to the fact that seafood companies are now expanding globally affecting the well-being and economies of many countries around the globe. Therefore a geospatial approach could be a good one.

17. Do we know enough? Volume, Species, Fish landings Ecosystem
Global Fish consumers
Trans-shipment
Global Fish consumers
Value to nutrition: number of fish meals provided
Occupation
Social relations
Money to buy fish
Nutritional well-being
Social desirability of fish as food
Local Fish consumers
Local Fish consumers
Volume, Species, Fish landings
Last consumption pattern data we spotted, in 2008
Ecosystem
Harvest
Jobs supported in the point of harvest
Market structure and fish price
Catch/revenue sharing arrangements
Use rights, Capital
Value to income: Market value of fish sales & supporting industry
Financial well-being
Financial well-being
Jobs supported in the processing point
Trans-shipment
Trimarine, Itochu, FCF Fishery co. Ltd

18. Do we know enough?
Lack of data on intermediate steps between point of harvest to market
“Patchy” time-series data (--> interpolation --> uncertainty)
Acquire social data on the distribution of final benefits
Move beyond traditional mapping to more innovative visualization approaches

19. Equity & Benefit sharing
Future directions
This attempt to map (spatially and conceptually) the benefits generated from one region but circulated globally could guide research towards more global oriented rather than ecosystem-based approaches, while raising awareness about seafood consumption and its global impact.
Equity & Benefit sharing

20. Thank You