GIFF JOHNSON
For decades, the Marshall Islands and other Pacific Islands struggled with how to generate more revenue from the commercial tuna industry.
Now, a three-nation agreement signed Monday in Honiara, Solomon Islands, could be the latest game-changer for Pacific fisheries cooperation.
Beginning in the 1980s, island nations for the first time began selling licenses to distant water fishing fleets to fish in their waters. But this generated only a tiny fraction of revenue from the multi-billion dollar industry.
From 2010, the Parties to the Nauru Agreement organization established and implemented the Vessel Day Scheme, which transformed management of tuna fishing in PNA waters, including the RMI. As of last year, the value of selling fishing days (as opposed to the old system of licensing individual vessels to fish) was generating close to $500 million annually — compared to $60 million in 2010.
But this is still a small fraction of the overall value of the fishery. This issue was the focus of discussions in Honiara, Solomon islands this week during a regional fisheries summit that included the launch of the East New Britain Initiative.
Natural Resources and Commerce Minister Tony Muller said this initiative by PNA member Papua New Guinea has the “potential to reshape the economic trajectory of our region’s fisheries sector.”
For decades, the 64-dollar question has been: How do Pacific Islands maximize economic benefits from their tuna resources?
“We have been asserting sovereign rights, strengthening governance frameworks, and negotiating access agreements,” said Muller. “Yet, despite these efforts, the economic reality remains a paradox…How is it that we, the custodians of the largest and most valuable tuna stocks on Earth, receive the smallest share of the economic benefits?”
While tuna is caught in waters of the RMI and other Pacific Islands, the bulk of the value-added processing, branding, marketing, and retail profits have been captured by entities outside the region.
“Our primary revenue source — access fees — has generated hundreds of millions of dollars annually, but this is only a fraction of the wealth generated from our fishery,” Muller said. “The true economic windfall from our tuna is realized elsewhere, beyond our shores, in the canneries, processing hubs, and retail shelves of distant markets.”
Through the East New Britain Initiative, however, “we have an opportunity to change this trajectory.”
He called the East New Britain Initiative “a blueprint for a transformative shift in the way Pacific Islanders participate in the tuna industry.”
“It is built on the principle that we must move beyond just selling fishing rights, but to also take greater control over processing, branding, and market access,” he added.
This initiative “is about breaking the cycle of external dependency and reshaping the economic geography of our fisheries.” Muller said the initiative “is about creating jobs for Pacific Islanders, fostering private-sector growth, and ensuring that the wealth from our ocean remains within our economies.”
The strength of the Pacific Islands management of the tuna industry is in its multi-layered fisheries governance, through the PNA, the Forum Fisheries Agency, and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
“Now, we must apply this same collective power to the economic dimension of our fisheries,” Muller said.
What is the East New Britain Initiative launched by Papua New Guinea?
“This initiative aligns with the broader aspirations of the Republic of the Marshall Islands’ fisheries development strategy,” said Muller speaking in Honiara.
Muller explained the basic concept between the East New Britain Initiative that aligns with the RMI’s vision for the commercial tuna fishery:
- Increasing dockside offloading and domestic processing capacity in the region to capture more economic value from our tuna.
- Establishing strategic processing partnerships that allow Pacific Island nations to collaborate, rather than compete, in developing processing infrastructure.
- Aligning national and regional policies to create a framework that supports value-chain investment.
- Promoting sustainability and traceability, ensuring that our region remains the global leader in responsible and ethical tuna fisheries management.
- Supporting Pacific Island Tuna’s initiative with Walmart as a domestic development model.
Muller said that these foundations for management of the tuna industry in the Pacific must include “strategically aligned investment policies, processing regulations, and trade agreements to ensure that we, the Pacific Island nations, become the primary beneficiaries of the tuna industry.”
This leads to three core requirements to ensure both expansion of Pacific Island benefits from the tuna industry and the sustainable use of tuna:
- Securing regional trade agreements that prioritize Pacific processed tuna in global markets.
- Harmonizing national policies to attract investment in domestic and regional processing hubs.
- Ensuring that sustainability and traceability remain at the core of our fisheries value chain.