It has been realized that the Pacific Islands could earn much more if they take some decisive measures in different areas ranging from basing sophisticated fishing vehicles in their own islands to establishing downstream processing facilities.
Regional cooperation in the Pacific Islands has been reflected in the Third Implementing Arrangement of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement. In this agreement nine countries, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, have agreed to take measures to conserve their valuable tuna stocks.
It is fact that tuna is the Pacific’s most sought-after resource. In fact the world’s appetite for fish has been so insatiable that alarm about fears of it being overfished has repeatedly been raised in the past few years. It is true that big share of the commercial benefit from tuna trade has gone to distant waters fishing nations. Now it has been realized that the islands have the potential to earn much more were they to take some decisive steps in several areas ranging from basing sophisticated fishing vehicles in their own islands to establishing downstream processing facilities.
These new processing facilities would open doors directly to the huge seven billion cans per year global processed tuna market. It is no secret that real profits lie in value addition that can come only from activities like downstreaming processing.
It is said that the Third Implementation Arrangement addresses these issues in that it incorporates clauses that prevent foreign purse seiners from fishing in pockets adjacent to the signatory nations’ exclusive economic zones as a condition of the licenses given to them by these islands nations. It also prevents the use of technical gadgetry used to attract tuna, as it tends to attract juvenile tuna.
