Tuna benefits potential high

THE PNG Fishing Industry Associating (FIA) says there has been a breakthrough in the maximisation of economic benefits from the tuna resource.
FIA president and managing director of Madang-based RD Tuna Cannery Pete Celso said, as long as tuna was migratory, there was a need for the fish to be properly managed.
Through this, he said, the issue of sustainability and co-operation with other members will take place taking advantage of proper management and development plans  where PNG and fellow Pacific Island countries (PICs) would maximise the economic returns of the resource.
“To some extent we have been achieving that,” he said.
About 200 participants, including 31 speakers from 28 countries in the Pacific, Asia, Europe, and the US, are in Port Moresby for the two-day second Pacific Tuna Forum which started yesterday at the Crowne Plaza.
Mr Celso said the more the tuna species moved from location to location on their normal migratory patterns the more they should be managed properly.
He said it was only through good management  that sustainability and co-operation with other members would succeed.
Director of Manila-based Inforfish Dr S Subasinghe also said the Pacific region contributed more than half of the world’s tuna stock (about 56%) but it did not have high economic response to the tuna exports.
Fisheries Minister Ben Semri noted that some distant water fishing nation partners of the PICs had recognised a wind of change in investment in the region and were in favour of it.
“Others are beginning to see the rationale and the opportunities available and are considering investing into the region,” he said.