The United Nations General Assembly voted last week to establish World Tuna Day as an internationally-recognized event.
The event initiated by the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) in 2011 has now gained international ratification for the annual celebration of tuna on May 2.
The United Nations General Assembly voted without objection to ratify a resolution on World Tuna Day that had been endorsed by nearly 100 nations prior to last Thursday’s vote at UN headquarters in New York City. Ambassadors from PNA nations attended the vote, including RMI Ambassador to the UN Amatlain Kabua.
“We are delighted with United Nations ratification of World Tuna Day,” said PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru, who was in Fiji attending the 13th annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) at the time. “It confirms the world’s appreciation of the value of tuna.”
Among Pacific islands, and particularly PNA members that control the world’s largest sustainable skipjack tuna fishery, tuna is a primary source of revenue for governments and a key part of food security for island populations, Kumoru said.
“The UN’s adoption of the World Tuna Day resolution underlines the importance of conservation management outcomes we are trying to achieve at the WCPFC annual meeting,” said Kumoru. “Increasing management control over the longline industry and particularly on the high seas is of critical importance to sustaining tuna resources for the long-term,” he added.
Read more about this in the December 16, 2016 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.