From New Year's Day Tuna stocks in the eastern Pacific will be facing the unprecedented threat of unregulated fishing after the agency that is supposed to regulate the fish catch in these waters failed to reach agreement at its annual meeting.
The Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission manages stocks throughout the eastern Pacific a vast area of ocean stretching from French Polynesia to the Americas.
The commission's members include American nations with Pacific coastlines and the distant water fishing nations whose fleets ply these waters.
The environmental watchdog organisation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, is very concerned.
Its spokesperson, Grantly Galland, who attended the commission meeting online, spoke to Don Wiseman about their concerns.