The initiative is due for implementation at a time when the European Union fishing fleet, in particular French and Spanish vessels, is about to enter western and central Pacific waters, increasing the number of fishers competing to catch valuable tuna stocks.
Tuna fisheries have become of increasing importance to Pacific island nations in recent decades. The number attaining independence has grown since the 1960s, prompting the new nations to exploit their limited available natural resources to promote economic development.
Existing agreements controlling tuna fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific region focus on fish ownership, fishing boat access and controls on the annual tuna catch. The new programme will adopt a different approach and encourage cooperation between Pacific Island nations and foreign fishing fleets to jointly develop and improve the economic benefits from sustainable exploitation of the region's tuna stocks.
New projects
Tuna fishing is already a major industry and generates revenues of about US$2 billion annually in Western and Central Pacific. However, the region's tuna fisheries resources have not yet begun to provide Pacific island nations with the economic returns that many Pacific island governments have been hoping for. Fishing costs for fleet owners, in fact, absorb a large proportion of the tuna catch value but leave many Pacific islands with the feeling they are being robbed by fishing fleet owners.
"The Pacific islands own the tuna stocks but 80 per cent of the tuna fisheries revenue is spent on catching tuna," commented Thomas Gloerfelt-Tarp, senior natural resources specialist in the Pacific Department at the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), "Most Pacific fisheries people do not understand the tuna industry. They started their careers as scientists. Fishing companies are constantly improving their efficiency and may be smarter than the fisheries officials."
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is grant-financing consultancy costs to support the tuna fisheries development initiative as part of its poverty alleviation programme in the Western and Central Pacific region. Gloerfelt-Tarp noted the Bank also supports various fisheries projects in a number of other countries as part of its wider social and economic development funding and technical assistance activities across the Asia-Pacific region.
The key to the new Pacific tuna fisheries initiative is the encouragement being given to foreign tuna fishing companies and Pacific island governments to work together for their mutual benefit and promote profitable sustainable development of the region's tuna fishery resources. The ADB is promoting successful ideas used in Australia, New Zealand, Namibia and Iceland where carefully managed alliances with commercial fishing enterprises have restored the value and economic benefits of these countries' previously threatened fisheries industries.
Long-term fishing licences
The arrival of French and Spanish fishing boats in Western and Central
Pacific in 2005 will increase the number of vessels fishing in the region, but is expected to decrease the productivity and revenue generation of individual fishing vessels operating in the region.
ADB experts believe that one way to improve fishing companies' profitability and to increase their revenue sharing potential with Pacific countries would be to increase the length of selected companies' fishing licenses and tuna catch allowances to encourage them to invest in local fish processing facilities and create job opportunities for Pacific islanders.
Many Pacific island nations could benefit from better managed relations with foreign fishing companies. Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Pulau, the Marshall Islands and the Solomons, which together have about 60 per cent of the Western and
Central Pacific stock of skipjack, yellow fin and big eye tuna, in
particular could exploit their resources more advantageously.
"The ADB is urging Pacific government finance and treasury people to meet with foreign fisheries people," Gloerfelt-Tarp said, noting the potential benefits, "If they combined fishing zones, talked about exclusivity to a few fishing companies, operate a total allowable catch and grant long term fishing rights over five years, maybe seven to 10 years."
"Currently there are just one year licenses, so long term rights would help fishing companies. If they give 10 year licenses it could favour companies doing semi processing like tuna loining that is now done in Thailand. It would help economic development. Also, countries could give fishing companies stock information on tuna resources which is not given now."
Expensive
Fisheries in the Pacific have been traditionally confined to inshore waters. None of the Pacific island nations has its own tuna fishing fleet and consequently relies on the distant waters fleets of countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and the Philippines.
Fishing in the Pacific is an expensive enterprise for foreign fishing companies as there is a general lack of fisheries support facilities and services. Fuel costs are high as tuna fishing and transporting the catch involves marine travel over large distances.
The fact that most tuna fishing access contracts are for a one year period only prevents fishing companies from developing a long term commitment with any Pacific country. The economics of local processing also vary from country to country.
According to official figures the total tuna catch in Western and Central Pacific totalled about 1.85 million tonnes (mt) in 2003 of which purse seiner fishing accounted for 1.16mt equivalent to 63 per cent of the total catch while other fishing methods produced 690,000t or 37 per cent of the tuna catch. Skipjack is the major tuna species captured with 1.3mt caught in 2003, accounting for 70 per cent of the total catch. The Yellowfin catch totalled 438,000t accounting for 24 per cent of catch while Big Eye tuna production totalled 108,000t or 6 per cent of the total catch.
Meanwhile, about 74 per cent of Skipjack is caught by purse seining, compared with 39 per cent of Yellowfin and 20 per cent of Big Eye tuna.
"When you look worldwide most fisheries are down. Only the North Sea herring has bounced back," Gloerfelt-Tarp said, noting the potential benefits, "The Pacific tuna is in the only place where it has not happened. Maybe we can make it sustainable. It would be an achievement. We must make sure they invest in onshore development.
"We want to work with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). If we get them in and get the big tuna spawning grounds protected. It will be assurance of long term viability for the fishing investor.
"WWF has helped with the green label. We would like to tap into WWF marketing as a boost for the Pacific islands. This is an original idea to cope with the lack of transparency and profit management."
Plans call for a regional meeting of fishing nations and tuna fishing fleet owners to take place shortly. The Forum Fisheries Agency is the executing agency for the ADB's regional technical assistance initiative. All findings, conclusions and recommendations will be published. One suggestion that has been made to arrange a fair division of revenue from tuna fishing between each Pacific coastal nation and each foreign fishing company is to use an auction system to allocate fishing licenses, and then set a benchmark revenue figure. When tuna prices increase, fishing companies would be required to share more of their increased revenue with the host Pacific nation. However, when tuna prices are low, the fishing companies would pay out less as each will have fewer profits to disburse.
