NFA to set policies against regional benchmark

Business

THE policies and achievements of the fisheries sector will be measured against the regional benchmark outlined in the regional roadmap for sustainable fisheries, an official says.
National Fisheries Authority (NFA) managing director John Kasu told the Pacific Tuna Forum in Port Moresby yesterday that this would happen during the current five-year term of the government.
“We will continue to pursue onshore investment-oriented policies and work with tuna processors towards meeting their processing capacities,” he said.
“The government is committed to building support infrastructure so that fishers and processors are able to bring fish into ports in a timely manner for processing at reasonable costs.”
Kasu said they were looking for funds to build the Wagang fisheries port in Lae.
“There is no easy way. We need to build competitiveness by increasing productivity and reducing costs of production,” Kasu said.
“We will work with our industries to ensure creation of more jobs and spin-off business opportunities.
“We will also work with countries within the region and their respective partners who are interested to invest in the PMIZ (Pacific Marine Industrial Zone) project and together improve the competitiveness of our region.”
He said the Pacific region had more than 50 per cent of world tuna supplies.
“The major markets for tuna are however, not in our region.”