Pacific journalists who have been covering the 11th session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Apia this week have been told they won't be allowed into cover the final session of the meeting scheduled for 3pm today.

The decision was apparently made by the WCPFC Secretariat and conveyed to journalists this morning.

Their refusal to open up the last session in which country delegates usually present their final country statements could only spell trouble for the outcome of the negotiations, observers say.

Indications from some of the delegates say as feared, Commission members from the Distant Water fishing Nations (DWFN) have blocked any moves by Pacific coastal states to introduce newer measures to control fishing of Bigeye tuna and the use of FADs - fish aggregating devices - in the high seas.

DWFN states of China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan have also refused to provide their operational catch effort data, as required under the convention of the commission.

As a likely response, some Pacific states, members of the influential sub-group the Parties of the Nauru Agreement (PNA) in particular may force DWFN to adopt these tougher fishing measures in the high seas as a condition to buying fishing days in their own 200 mile exclusive economic zones.