Abel plans to increase capacity of tuna processing onshore

ONLY about 20 per cent of total fisheries stock caught in Papua New Guinea waters by foreign companies are processed onshore, says Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel.
“We are going to bring the tuna industry onshore as can be seen with measures taken by the prime minister with concerns raised by the industry,” he said.
“Under the previous regime we give concessional access to our fishing grounds but they use that access to take the tuna offshore anyway.
“They are getting discounted access to our tuna grounds and they are processing it offshore. Even though they have built tuna processing factories in Papua New Guinea, those factories are only operating at 20 per cent capacity.
“They utilise the system by investing in a factory but really they are after access to the grounds and then they take the tuna and process it in the Philippines and Thailand.
All the jobs are created over there and we import the processed tuna products.
“We need to look at the project agreements so that when tuna is processed in Papua New Guinea then you get the rebate based on actual production onshore and not based on some theoretical production where you get the discount and then send 80 per cent of the tuna offshore anyway.
“We are looking at the way we do things so that we can drive local value, drive local jobs and part of that is having adjustments to the tariff regime.”