The eight nations that control the richest tuna fishing grounds in the Pacific are establishing their first headquarters in the Marshall Islands, a move that is putting Asian fishing nations on notice that they want a bigger share of the $3 billion generated from tuna caught in the Pacific, said Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority Director Glen Joseph on Friday.
Over the past year, the “Parties to the Nauru Agreement,” or PNA, countries have flexed their muscles, seeking to enforce tuna catch limits to prevent over-fishing while increasing the revenue flowing into the islands from the fishing industry.
Currently Pacific islands receive less than five percent of the total catch value, or about $150 million a year, Joseph said.
The PNA countries have used their muscle to force a change starting in 2008 from the past practice of licensing all vessels equally to selling “vessel days” based on 2004 catch levels, a system which is based on fishing “effort” and differentiates between older and newer, more sophisticated vessels.
The larger, more technologically advanced vessels receive fewer “days” for fishing because they can catch and haul a greater volume of fish than the older vessels.
Joseph said fisheries ministers from the eight PNA nations — Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Palau, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands — voted earlier last month for the new secretariat to be in Majuro.
The move is being fast-tracked with a study team established to evaluate details of costs and administrative issues associated with setting up the new headquarters.
A special meeting to focus on the secretariat is scheduled for June, Joseph said.
The Papua New Guinea government has committed $1 million to developing the PNA Secretariat, he said.
Joseph said establishment of the PNA Secretariat is not an effort to break up the Forum Fisheries Agency, or FFA, which has represented all the independent countries in the region since the 1980s, but is rather an effort by PNA to fully establish itself.
“PNA has always been a subgroup within the FFA,” Joseph said. “We’re not advocating a split.”
He said a more powerful PNA will translate into greater economic benefits for both PNA and non-PNA countries in the region.
“There will definitely be spinoff benefits for non-PNA nations,” Joseph said. “This move is a catalyst for change. The status quo is not acceptable. We want a larger slice of the $3 billion pie.”
