President Johnson Toribiong in an interview said that the measure will be a follow-up from the tuna summit held in Palau recently by the leaders of eight Pacific nations or the country’s that make up the Parties to the Nauru Agreement.
The tuna industry can be another source of huge revenues for Palau if promoted domestically, the president said, thus the government is also considering limiting fishing agreements with foreign companies, to promote the industry among the local businessmen.
The bigeye and the yellowfin tuna species, found in Palau waters are popular in the Japanese sushi market.
The president said that by the time it reaches the Japan market it has become expensive.
“Tuna becomes caviar of the Pacific, if they want sushi they should come to Palau,” the president said.
He added, “we will be changing our current law,” Toribiong said.
He said that the proposed measure will also contain recommendations on how Palau can increase financial return from the multi-billion industry.
He said this is maybe through higher fish export taxes, higher access fees and greater restrictions on fishing in Palau waters.
The government is also looking into tuna canning industry. Palau is also rich in skipjack tuna which is used for canning.
“We are looking at this industry very seriously,” the president said.
Palau is among the eight nations responsible for at least 25 percent of the world’s tuna catch, but domestic income for Palau annually is estimated to be less than a million dollars.
In that summit the eight leaders vowed to coordinate efforts to increase their share of the income while stepping up conservation efforts.
Earlier Toribiong suggested that the PNA can control tuna output and influences prices the same way the Organization of Petroleum Countries (OPEC) cartel influence global oil market.
The PNA member countries are the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
