Fiji, Dec. 5 -- Calls to shut down high seas transshipment erupted at WCPFC22 on Thursday, with Sharks Pacific Policy Director Bubba Cook and the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) warning that the practice is fuelling IUU fishing, corruption, opaque supply chains and ongoing labour abuses.

Cook delivered one of the sharpest interventions of the week, backing statements from Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) and accusing some members of treating high seas transshipment as a "blanket entitlement" rather than the narrow exception originally intended by the Commission.

"We would like to align ourselves with and support the previous comments of RMI, FFA, PNA and, w...