Zeming wants tuna processed in PNG

 Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Mao Zeming, pictured, says all tuna catches in Papua New Guinea waters will be processed in the country by next year.

Zeming said this was part of Government’s policy to support off- loading of tuna in ports for processing into value-added products for export.

Zeming said that during the signing of an agreement between the Government and Korean fishing firm Dongwon Industries for a tuna project in Lae.

He said the National Fisheries Authority had undergone policy reforms.

“The National Fisheries Authority has undergone major policy and legislative reforms in our response to the European Union yellow card,” Zeming said.

“Starting in 2016, all catches in the archipelagic waters will be landed and processed in Papua New Guinea.

“No raw fish will be taken out of the country and processed or value-added outside from the archipelagic waters.

“The Government will allocate sufficient fishing days under the vessel day scheme to companies like Dongwon, who are committed to investing in shore-based value-adding and processing facilities.

“The more a company processes, the more fishing days will be allocated to it as an incentive.  

“And also there will be discounted price of fishing days.”

Zeming said the Government was pleased with Dongwon Industries as the first Korean company to invest in a shore-based tuna processing facility in Papua New Guinea.

According to the NFA website:  “The new National Tuna Fisheries Management and Development Plan sets a strategy for the sustainable development of domestic  tuna  processing  and  fishing  activities  and  it  will  come  into  effect  on  1st January 2015?. Currently, the PNG processing sector sees a very  generous  access  regime  where  excessive  concessions  to  fish  and  process  have  been  rendered  to  fishing  and  processing  companies and are reflected in the terms of the fishing licences and concessional.”