Meetings

23–29 September 2026 · Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (hybrid)

WCPFC Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC22)

Watching

The Technical and Compliance Committee is a subsidiary body of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), the regional body that manages tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. The Committee reviews how members are implementing the Commission’s binding rules, known as conservation and management measures, and sends its findings and recommendations to the full Commission.

This matters for crew because the Commission has adopted a binding measure on crew labour standards, CMM 2024-04, which takes effect on 1 January 2028. It requires flag members to ensure, among other things, safe working conditions, written contracts that crew can understand, and no forced labour or mistreatment on board. The Committee’s compliance work is where the practical questions of how such obligations will be checked and reported are worked through.

PIoWR is not attending TCC22. We are watching the meeting through its published papers and report, and we will note anything that bears on crew conditions before the Commission meets in December.

Official meeting page

Ongoing · Suva, Fiji

FMU Fishers Branch set-up, supported by Conservation International — Fiji Programme

PIoWR attending

Longline fishers in Fiji are joining the new Fiji Maritime Union (FMU) as a Fishers Branch within the FMU mandate. PIoWR remains the consultant and, through Banati Sefeti, serving as transitional General Secretary, is to be the General Secretary of the Fishers Branch. The Branch is being established.

Conservation International — Fiji Programme supports this arrangement and is working with PIoWR in the coming weeks to help establish the Fishers Branch. PIoWR also meets Fiji’s Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations, FLAG, the Fiji Fishing Industry Association (FFIA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). These conversations bring together government, employers and workers, which is where durable improvements in working conditions usually begin.

For fishers and maritime workers in Fiji, this is practical work close to home. Fiji is PIoWR’s first harbour, and we want the people who crew vessels and work the wharves to have a clear, organised voice in the decisions that shape their conditions.

• Conservation International Fiji
• ILO Office for Pacific Island Countries
• Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations

Endorsed by Forum Leaders in Koror, Palau (31 August–3 September 2026) · First sitting date not yet set

Pacific Labour Ministers Meeting (Pacific Islands Forum)

Highlight

At the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Koror, Palau, Leaders endorsed a regional Labour Ministers Meeting as a dedicated ministerial mechanism within the Forum architecture, together with its Business Case and Ministerial Charter, taking into account the ongoing Regional Review of Architecture. It will sit alongside the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting and the Forum Trade Ministers Meeting, and will give dedicated leadership on labour and workforce priorities.

This matters for seasonal workers and fishers alike. Leaders recognised that labour and workforce governance now bear directly on labour mobility, skills development, workforce sustainability and inclusive growth. For the first time, ministers responsible for labour will have their own regular seat in the Forum system. The ILO has said it stands ready to support the meeting, and has stressed the place of social dialogue with employers’ and workers’ organisations.

PIoWR welcomes the decision. We will follow the arrangements for the first sitting closely, and we hope to see workers’ voices, including those of fishers and seasonal workers, carried into it through tripartite dialogue.

Leaders’ Communiqué, paragraph 37

30 November–4 December 2026 · Port Vila, Vanuatu (arrangements provisional)

WCPFC23: Regular Session of the Commission

Highlight

The Regular Session is the annual decision-making meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Members adopt, amend or replace the conservation and management measures that bind fleets fishing for tuna and other highly migratory species across the region, drawing on the advice of the Technical and Compliance Committee and the Scientific Committee.

For crew, the measure to watch is CMM 2024-04, the Conservation and Management Measure for Crew Labour Standards, adopted in 2024 and due to take effect on 1 January 2028. It sets minimum working conditions on board fishing vessels, including a safe working environment, written contracts, decent living conditions, and duties to act when a crew member dies, is injured, goes missing or reports mistreatment. Because the Commission can revisit its measures at any session, each annual meeting before 2028 can keep this measure intact or weaken it.

PIoWR is not attending WCPFC23. We will follow the published papers and outcomes, and we will report plainly on whether the crew labour standards measure comes through the session intact.

Official meeting pageCMM 2024-04 measure text