The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has announced its intentions to increase local Tuna catches for Pacific Islanders in order to improve food security. The plan is to expand the use of Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) to improve the local capacity for Tuna catches.

The SPC is currently discussing investments required for the project with regional governments and prospective partners.

The SPC stated that it “is now discussing the investments required to greatly expand the number of nearshore FADs, and to develop the small businesses and infrastructure needed to distribute small Tuna and bycatch offloaded by purse-seine vessels at regional ports during transhipping operations”.

The SPC also stated its support for a recent study that calls for the allocation of sufficient Tuna for local consumption. According to Moses Amos, the Director of the SPC’s Marine Ecosystem’s division, “A gap is emerging between how much fish can be harvested sustainably from well-managed reefs and the quantity of fish recommended for good nutrition.” 

He added “Pacific Island countries and territories derive significant benefits from tuna in terms of government revenue and in the way fishing fleets and canneries contribute to their GDP.  We now need to diversify the benefits by taking steps to allocate a suitable portion of the tuna catch to feed our people.” 

The SPC is a regional organisation consisting of 26 member states in the Pacific. It includes all Pacific Island states and territories as well as the United States, New Zealand, Australia and France.