Press Release, Regional Tuna Association

A newly formed tuna industry association says that tuna stocks in the Pacific are coming under too much pressure from poorly regulated foreign fishing fleets. It wants Pacific Island governments to be stricter about the number of licenses that are issued to fishing vessels.

The Chairman of the regional tuna operators association, Mr James Movick, said many of the foreign fishing fleets provided minimal benefits to Pacific Island economies.

"Due to their low operating costs, they are able to keep fishing even when tuna stocks fall to low levels, making a bad situation even worse," he said.

Other economic pressures for Pacific Island tuna operators were a weak US dollar, increasing fuel prices, high freight rates and rising costs of compliance with consumer standards.

"A growing number of Pacific Island tuna fleets are tying up their vessels or are close to bankruptcy, and this has caused the loss of jobs in the fishing fleets and the service industries. The tuna association, which was formed earlier this month, has agreed to work more closely with Pacific governments to help resolve the issues facing the development of domestic tuna fishing capacity.

"Our members noted with appreciation the initiative of the Government of Samoa to help its domestic fleet by funding interest repayment liabilities on tuna vessel loans for a period of months," he said. Mr Movick said the association urged Pacific Island governments to note the difficult economic climate for domestic tuna fisheries and to look at avenues to further support the industry.