Pokajam: Assist with loans

PNG Fishing Industry Association president Sylvester Pokajam has appealed to financial institutions such as Nasfund and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help Papua New Guineans seeking loans to buy fishing vessels.
Pokajam said in a recent forum that most banks were unwilling to lend to businesses who sought loans to buy fishing vessel because they considered fishing a high-risk business.
He said despite PNG being a major contributor to the world tuna catch in the Pacific region, few Papua New Guineans owned fishing vessels.
“Banks are reluctant to loan to business especially fishing companies because they are classified as high risk,” he said.
“I would like to appeal to Nasfund and IFC, who are here in PNG, to perhaps look at helping people who want loans to buy fishing boats.
“More than 12 to 15 per cent of the world’s tuna catch is found in the waters of Pacific Islands countries and PNG is a major contributor.
“However most of us do not own fishing vessels compared to countries such as the Solomon Islands,” he said.
“We have here a resource that is sustainable unlike other resources that are much talked about.
“Fish is highly sustainable because it is well managed through our own domestic rules, laws, regulations and policies.”
Pokajam said the country needed to consider addressing the agenda of fishing before processing because most PNG-flagged vessels, who are fishing in PNG archipelagic waters, are foreign owned.
“We should really look at fishing first and maybe processing later because up to now, we have PNG-flagged vessels that are domesticated but the owners of the vessels are not Papua New Guineans.