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By FRANK ASAELI
Papua New Guinea has continued to manage its tuna fisheries on a
sustainable basis, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare said.
Sir Michael said this at the inaugural two-day Pacific tuna forum which
he officially launched at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby on
Wednesday.
He acknowledged and welcomed the participants, especially INFOFISH, an
international fishing organisation, for bringing the tuna forum to PNG
and the Pacific region for the first time.
“In 2005 we agreed to work with our distant water fishing nations
partners to widen the scope of management of the tuna and other
straddling stocks particularly in the high sea pockets with the
establishment of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC),”
Sir Michael said.
He said PNG as a member of WCPFC recognised that most of the water in
the Pacific was within the jurisdictions of the Pacific island
countries, resulting in the push to manage stocks throughout their
range.
“We are aware of the importance of the tuna resources and all fisheries
resources for that matter,” Sir Michael said.
He said not only were these resources a means to earn an income or
create employment but also as a food source throughout generations.
Sir Michael said it was based on that understanding that “we (WCPFC)
have worked together to manage the tuna fisheries in the Pacific, which
is by-far the best managed tuna fisheries in the world”.
“Having said this, we do note the concerns on bigeye and yellowfin tuna
stocks in the Pacific and are cooperating with fisheries scientists and
managers in the region and with industry players to put in place better
approaches of managing this important resource,” Sir Michael said.
While WCPFC has been managing tuna resources within its ocean, it has
unfortunately not derived an equitable level of benefits from the
harvesting of these resources.
Pacific catches in 2005 accounted for 63% of the world catch of 4.3
million metric tonnes.
The 2.7 million metric tonnes of tuna caught within the Pacific equates
to over US$2.5 billion however, Pacific island countries collectively
earned around US$100 million as resource rent or access fees from
fishing fleets, that is almost 5% of the value of the catch.
 
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