Fishing in PNG waters

I AM commenting on the question raised by East Sepik Governor Alan Bird in Parliament on Papua New Guinea nationals going missing at sea.
Those missing are employed by the National Fisheries Authority as observers of the lucrative tuna fishery in our fishing grounds and high seas.
Look into the whole ecosystem and value chain of tuna fishery from harvesting, marketing, processing and sales at different
market segments and consumer targets.
One would then understand the total lucrativeness of the industry, and why there are charter flights or freight carriers using wide-body aircraft on a daily basis to markets around the globe.
It has to do with high marginal profits and big cuts and deals.
Politicians and policy-makers have to visit the Philippines or Thailand to know why there are daily charter flights of fresh fish departing their airports and heading for lucrative market destinations.
They host so many have large processing canneries and source or fish raw materials from South Western Pacific waters, including PNG.
Without supplies of raw materials, those billion-dollar operations and profits will be at stake.
Papua New Guinea is risking its own citizens on board to comprise or sacrifice their lives to report on catches by volume, species and so on.
That’s why it is important to ensure PNG does its part in controlling the tuna fishery happening in its waters.
This is so all catches are landed on shore and auctioned to
domestic and international processes.
Plans to have Pacific Marine Industrial Zone to host the biggest cold storage in the Southern Hemisphere should be supported at all cost.
Countries like Indonesia have taken tough measures to sink vessels fishing illegally in their territorial waters.
Papua New Guinea has to go one step further to land all
catches onshore and host the largest tuna auction spot market every day.
We have to think outside the box and be a step ahead to create something from the ‘blue gold’ we already have.

Observer
NCD