Fisheries earns for govt

By NATHAN WOTI
NATIONAL Fisheries Authority (NFA) has been a significant revenue generator for the Government, mainly through resource rents totalling to about K5.4 billion since 2010, with K1.7 billion paid in dividends to the State.
In 2023, about K203.9 million was collected through the Non-Tax Revenue Administration Act (2022).
However, resource rent, particularly from Vessel Day Scheme (VDS), peaked in the same period, posing challenge for future direct revenue maximisation.
Fisheries and Marine Resource Minister Jelta Wong said NFA was pursuing structural reforms by entering the commercial space, aligning with the Government’s interest to invest in the fisheries sector.
“Legislative reviews are underway to enable the NFA to open up additional revenue streams,” he said.
“It is anticipated that promoting sectoral state owned enterprise (SOE) will achieve focused effort, resourcing and results will better leverage strategic assets like fisheries as compared to traditional SOEs.
“Several programmes are being implemented to enhance international market access.
“These initiatives include facilitating access to the Chinese seafood market, with 77 seafood companies registered to export frozen and dry products, and eight companies approved for exporting live fisheries products,” Wong said.
He added that consideration was also given to obtaining Marine Stewardship Council Certification for crab, lobster, and prawns.
Wong said there were also plans to include establishing an export market and distribution platform in Singapore with channels to Southeast Asia seafood markets, as well as promoting PNG seafood products internationally at exposition and trade affairs.
Furthermore, according to Minister Wong, several initiatives were underway to increase the productive capacity of commercial scale aquaculture. These include formulating a National Aquaculutre Development Plan, promoting large scale feed production, and acquiring and refurbishing inland and mariculture research facilities to support commercial aquaculture species.
Meanwhile, the fisheries sector intends to become a significant contributor, aiming for its own SOE to drive gross domestic production (GDP) contribution from 2.7 per cent to 10 per cent by 2030, equating about K20 billion from fisheries and marine resources.
Meanwhile, NFA key performance indicators for 2023 showed that about K460 million in revenue was generated from access fees of VDS, which of that amount, about K45 million came from licenses.