Fisheries

Caretaker Fisheries Minister Solan Mirisim said the sector has the potential to enhance national economic growth and deliver prosperity to the wider community.

“Fisheries sector has enormous potential for growth that remains untapped and must be harnessed, especially in the area of downstream processing,” he stated.

“We cannot rely only on revenue from access fees paid annually to fish in our waters but we must fully implement measures that will increase processing in our six factories onshore.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has announced, this new system rewards those companies who support development and employment in the national fisheries sector.

Effective January 1, the Government will end the discounts to fishing fees, which has grown to more than excess of US$100 million (K330 million) each year.

Based on current levels of processing, under the new rebate system it is anticipated that US$70 million (K235 million) in revenue will be generated in the tuna sector in 2018.

Instead, the final Call to Action adopted by leaders the first UN Oceans conference in June ‘continues to perpetuate the myth that we are weak and small and need to be treated differently’.
 
Dr Aqorau, who is a former CEO of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), said Pacific and other Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) need to change this mindset because the current myth of smallness and we need special help is ‘undermining’ the value of their natural capital.
 

The project, which runs from June 2017 to May 2020, is being led by the FAO, with a total budget of US$508,336.

The FAO is also providing in-kind support to the project alongside the government and the Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access Program (PHAMA), backed by Australia and New Zealand.

Support will help the National Public Health Laboratory to achieve ISO 17025 certification, which is required for fish exports to access the EU market.

Mao Zeming said the agreement between the two countries strengthens ongoing efforts in the region to combat illegal and unregulated fishing.

He added that the NFA would continue its collaborative efforts with Police, PNG Defence Force and Customs to prevent illegal fishing in the waters of PNG.

Vietnam’s Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Vu Van Tam, was in Port Moresby last week to hold talks with National Fisheries Authority and other government officials.

High Seas are pockets or corridors outside of the exclusive economic zones of countries in the region, which are targeted for tuna by fishing boats from Asia and the US who consider fishing in the zones two expensive.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) based in Federated State of Micronesia is the body responsible for the management and conservation of tuna in the 17 Forum Fisheries Agency member countries.

Despite PNG having an abundance of fertile land capable of growing various agricultural crops and is also home to one of the largest tuna populations in the world, the development of this sector remains stagnant.

‘The Report: Papua New Guinea 2016’ by the Oxford Business Group expects growth in these two areas of the sector based on increasing global commodity prices.

However, there needs to be investment in in priority areas such as infrastructure, technology, and logistics.

A third party independent auditor, Acoura Marine, has been contracted by the PNA to undertake the reassessment.

Pacifical c.v., the global tuna marketing company jointly set up by eight PNA countries in 2011 to promote its MSC certified sustainably caught tuna, said that the process should go smoothly and that deliveries of Pacifical MSC tuna will continue uninterrupted through 2017.

The customary landowners of Amanab 1-4 and Imonda consolidated forest management area (FMA) will provide seed capital for the development of the Vanimo Coastal Fishery Development (VCFD) project.

VCFD chairman Kevin Yehiura Muriki said the K18 million project will be managed by Paradise Tuna Corporation Ltd.

The project site will be at Ningra Village, about 2km outside Vanimo town.

Muriki said the project’s main aim is to reinvest and diversify the landowners’ revenue.

Lolo Moliga has asked the US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to reject the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council's resolution to allow longliners access.

If the council's resolution is approved it would temporarily allow vessels of 15 metres or longer to fish within 20 kilometres of the territory's shores.

At the moment the area up to 80 kilometres offshore is reserved for alia fishing.