The Pacific's environmental agency chief has called for a curb on the dumping of waste by fishing vessels in the region.
Plastic in the ocean. Photo: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Cesar Harada
SPREP director-general Kosi Latu was speaking during the Fiji hosted UN Oceans Conference in New York.
Mr Latu says over a 12 year period, fisheries observers on board purse-seine vessels in the Pacific reported 10-thousand cases of dumping.
He says, "Despite the presence of an observer, all manner of pollutants were knowingly discarded into the ocean, including plastics, oil and unwanted fishing gear."
Mr Latu says the results are "surprising and shocking".
The Marshall Islands expects to set a record in revenue from purse seine tuna fishing in 2017, with an anticipated $24 million in revenue. A purse seiner transships its load of tuna to a carrier vessel in Majuro’s lagoon during 2016. Photo: Hilary Hosia
Analysis of the 10-thousand reports from 2003 to 2015 show 44 percent of pollution and dumping was by vessels fishing in the waters of Papua New Guinea.
Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia's waters were the next most polluted at 13 and 12 percent respectively.
Waste dumped by fishing vessels poses a major hazard to marine wildlife, as well as ship navigation.
A Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority fisheries observer monitors tuna being off-loaded from a purse seiner in port Majuro, now said to be the busiest tuna transshipment port in the world Photo: AFP PHOTO / Hilary HOSIA