Japan and members of the Forum Fisheries Agency have agreed to sustain targeted cooperation in the fisheries sector within the Pacific Islands region.
Senior fisheries officials from Tuvalu and Kiribati together with senior officers of the Forum Fisheries Agency met this week in Honiara with a high-level team from the Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation of Japan (OFCF) and Fisheries Agency of Japan.
Discussion focused on the review of progress to date and on new development funding for regional fisheries in the 2016/17 year. The talks fall under the Japan Promotion Fund (JPF) agreement with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, FFA.
“We very much welcome the sustained engagement by OFCF in the development of regional fisheries capacity and in the priority that OFCF places on its fisheries relationship with FFA member countries” said FFA director general, James Movick. “We also welcome the continued participation of Japan in many aspects of the regional tuna fishery.”
Areas discussed and earmarked for cooperation included support for the analysis of industry trends in the tuna fishing and processing sector, the collection and verification of key statistics, support for training of fisheries observers, public information and outreach activities within the region, investment facilitation and maritime boundary delimitation between member country EEZ’s.
The Japan Promotion Fund generates project funding for FFA members of approximately USD $1 million annually. This supports fisheries projects for FFA island member countries. The JPF Joint Committee, a representative group of senior officials from FFA member countries and OFCF agrees on which projects receive funding support in any given year.
Mr Movick noted that the Pacific region placed a very high emphasis on its fishing industries and that Japan and the region shared the common objective of sustainable utilisation of the region’s valuable tuna resources.
