How do you manage a multi-billion dollar fishery in nine distinct fishing zones with multiple nations fishing? Five years ago, it was mostly done with a hand calculator and pencil, and by transmitting data by email or fax. Today, the fishery that is generating $400 million a year to nine Pacific islands is managed by […]
Majuro is the busiest tuna transshipment port in the world. As much as 600,000 tons of tuna is now being off-loaded from purse seiners to carrier vessels a year, Parties to the Nauru Agreement Commercial Manager Maurice Brownjohn told a workshop in Majuro Monday. About 1.7 million tons of skipjack is caught in PNA waters […]
The first regional training for small-scale tuna canning entrepreneurs in the Pacific started Monday in Majuro. The training aims to certify prospective canners so that commercial tuna canning operations can be successfully launched in several island member nations of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA). PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru told participants from RMI, Papua […]
Starting this week, there is a new man at the helm of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA). Ludwig Kumoru, former deputy managing director of Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority, is scheduled to arrive Majuro Friday to take up his post as Chief Executive Officer of the Majuro-based PNA Office. Dr. Transform Aqorau, […]
An Asian Development Bank report on Pacific island economies recognizes the Parties to the Nauru Agreement’s vessel day scheme (VDS) as “an outstanding global example of coastal states taking control of a fishery based on highly migratory stocks” that resulted in a more than tripling of revenue to PNA members from 2010 to 2014. But […]
A new US government fishing regulation that went into effect late last month violates a conservation measure for high seas fishing approved last year by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), said the Parties to the Nauru Agreement Chief Executive. “This new US fishing rule seeks to allow its purse seine fleet to […]
World Tuna Day was celebrated in New York City earlier this week, with dozens of Pacific island leaders, industry and others gathered for the event. This is the sixth year of tuna day that was launched by Parties to the Nauru Agreement in 2011. “This was our first time to celebrate World Tuna Day in […]
A Pacific island fisheries bloc has unanimously decided to maintain a management system that has increased revenue to the islands by over 500 percent in the past six years. Despite criticism by countries outside of this western and central Pacific fishery of a management system used to regulate the tuna industry, fisheries officials from the […]
GIFF JOHNSON The fishing treaty between the United States and the Pacific islands has collapsed. For the first time in nearly 30 years, the American tuna fleet will not be authorized to fish in the western Pacific starting New Year’s day, this Friday. The US government last week told the nearly 40 American purse seiners […]
YVETTE MONDAY Fisheries observers have been hailed for the work they do as the eyes and eared of Pacific countries. They are the frontline officers collecting catch data vital to understanding how many fish are left and how to ensure sustainability of the stocks. Transform Aqorau, the CEO of the PNA group of countries, says […]
