Honolulu 3 December 2018 — Following the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) officials session Sunday, the Forum Fisheries Agency opened its four-day briefing Monday in Honolulu for fisheries officials in preparation for the upcoming Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission annual meeting.
At the opening session for officials from the 17 member Pacific islands, FFA Director General Manu Tupou-Roosen welcomed PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru and PNA Office staff participation in briefing session.
“The PNA officials session Sunday and this week’s FFA briefing is an important part of our commitment to ensuring sustainable management of the fishery in the Pacific,” said PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru. He recognized Dr. Tupou-Roosen for ongoing collaboration between the FFA and PNA on the wide-array of fisheries management issues on which Pacific islands are engaged.
Mr. Kumoru made the point that these briefing sessions are essential for fisheries officials from the islands to effectively advocate for measures promoting sustainable management of fish stocks at the WCPFC. Mr. Kumoru noted, too, that the briefing sessions provide for discussion of the layers of detail that go into developing proposals and positions for “best practice” governance in the fishery.
“The FFA Director General reminded us that we are doing this work for the benefit of our people,” said Mr. Kumoru. “We are the resource owners. This is why we work together to promote effective measures at the WCPFC for sustainable management of our fisheries resources.”
Mr. Kumoru emphasized that ensuring tuna stocks remain healthy for the long term is the highest priority of the islands. This requires ongoing and effective conservation measures on both the high seas and in the exclusive economic zones of the islands, he said. “This is why the PNA and the FFA put so much effort into preparing for the WCPFC,” said Mr. Kumoru.
While zone-based management has been effective in maintaining purse seine fishing at sustainable levels, there continue to be challenges with the management of the longline sector, including on the high seas that need to be addressed by the WCPFC to ensure sustainable management of all tuna stocks, he said.
“There are many management issues we are working through this week in preparation for next week’s WCPFC annual meeting,” Mr. Kumoru said. “PNA members are part of the FFA membership. PNA may emphasize some issues over others, but we are on the same page with the FFA going into the WCPFC.”
The WCPFC annual meeting opens Monday December 10 and continues through Friday December 14 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.
NOTE:
The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) are eight Pacific Island countries that control the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery supplying 50 percent of the world’s skipjack tuna (a popular tuna for canned products). The eight members are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. Tokelau is a participating partner in implementing the Vessel Day Scheme together with the eight member nations.
PNA has been a champion for marine conservation and management, taking unilateral action to conserve overfished bigeye tuna in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, including closures of high seas pockets, seasonal bans on use of Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD), satellite tracking of boats, in port transshipment, 100 percent observer coverage of purse seiners, closed areas for conservation, mesh size regulations, tuna catch retention requirements, hard limits on fishing effort, prohibitions against targeting whale sharks, shark action plans, and other conservation measures to protect the marine ecosystem.
For more information, contact Mr. Ludwig Kumoru, CEO, PNA Office, on email: ludwig@pnatuna.com, or ring PNA media coordinator Giff Johnson at (808) 699-1690 to arrange interviews with the PNA CEO.
