The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of New Caledonia, setting the stage for stronger collaboration in fisheries with the French territory.
This marks a significant step towards strengthening regional collaboration between FFA Members and New Caledonia. The MOU was signed virtually by New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou, while the Forum Fisheries Committee (FFC) Ministers were gathered in Honiara for the 23rd Annual FFC Ministerial Meeting and the 5th Annual Fisheries Ministers Meeting.
The event underscores New Caledonia’s long-standing interest to work closely with the Agency and its members.
‘We have the responsibility to make sure that our future generation would be able to benefit from the resources in our region,’ said President Louis Mapou at the virtual signing ceremony.
‘We have given ourselves the necessary resources to fulfil these ambitions, first in Fiji when we adopted the Blue Pacific Strategy and then we reaffirmed that commitment in the last Pacific Forum in Rarotonga. We also adopted an implementation plan 2020 – 2025.’
The President highlighted the crucial role of the FFA in managing maritime resources, with a particular emphasis on tuna. He acknowledged the numerous challenges faced, including overfishing and the impacts of climate change.
‘I am very happy to sign this MOU with you today because I believe it is a next step in our preparation with the Agency and within the Pacific Islands Forum,’ he said.
‘We have been cooperating with the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific region at large for 40 years in the management of the region’s resources and this MOU is a way to go further, if we can, in that objective. It will allow us to inscribe our cooperation in a framework that is more normalised than what we had before.’
New Caledonia’s interest in deepening its engagement was first requested in February 2023 and further demonstrated by its participation as an observer in the 20th FFC Annual Ministerial Meeting in July 2023.
Main image: FFA Deputy Director General Dr Pio Manoa, Niue Minister of Fisheries Hon Mona Ainu’u and FFA Director General Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen. FFA Media
