Deep-sea fishing, at the depth of between 500 and 2000 meters could offer a new source of fish for the Tonga Fisheries.

'Aleki Mataele, the Operations Manager of G & J Fisheries Co. Ltd., a Nuku'alofa-based fishing company with Tongan and Korean interests, said that G &  J had invested US$2 million to refurbish two fishing boats to carry out a survey in the Tongan waters to identify the kind of fish, shrimps, sea eels and other sea creatures which live at this depth of the ocean.

The president of G & J, Song Tae Jung, a Korean fisheries expert with 50 years of fishing experience, said the fish that lived in this depth of the ocean had been untouched by Tongan fishermen. Song had been fishing in various parts of the world, in the USA for 30 years, in Russia for 10 years and in the Indian Ocean for 10 years.

To catch fish at this depth of the ocean Song said they would be using fishing traps, which are lowered and then pulled up mechanically.

'Aleki said that G & J was initially aimed at doing Long-line fishing, and they were given the four ships by government for that purpose. These second hand ships were donated by the South Korean government to the Tongan government, which in turn offered them to the Private Sector under the conditions that they repaired them, and then moved them away from South Korea. Four of the five ships were given to G & J and one to South Seas Fisheries.

Noble Vaha'i, one of the three directors of G & J, said that the Minister of Fisheries had given them the go-ahead with their research program, and the crew were eager to find out what kind of fish were down there so that they could renovate the two more ships which were still in Korea.