listening to the tuna commission, or what we can access at Faleata, I reckon the issue is very simple.. Our tuna, our call By Tupuola Terry Tavita There are some interesting data coming out of the Tuna Commission underway at Faleata. One of them is, the return rate for tuna caught in the Pacific at the moment is 24 percent. What that simply means is that, if a can of tuna is sold at the shop for $1 tala, only 24 sene is paid to Pacific Island countries. You look at a can of Japanese-processed Tayo tuna which sells at $10 at any store and you can exponentially calculate how much money these canning companies are making. It beggars the question, why are we letting these foreign countries exploit our resources? We use a lot of canned tuna in Samoa. Not only for consumption but cultural exchanges during funerals. We virtually buy them by the thousands. Another interesting fact coming out of Faleata is that, tuna – after they are caught - travels an average 14,000 miles before it ends up in a can at your nearest store. It means, they are caught on our doorstep then taken to canneries in either Asia or North America, put in a can and then sold back to us. Something is certainly not right here. It appears that all Pacific Island governments are doing is farming out licenses to these foreign fishing fleets to take out this precious resource - of ours – from our oceans. It is time we started playing some hard ball and aggressively take full ownership of our tuna. It’s time we proportionately take the lion’s share of the US$9 billion tuna industry. Why are these American, Spanish American and Asian boats fishing in our oceans and taking our tuna away? Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) Executive Director, Mr Transform Aqorau touched upon it the other day. That Pacific Island countries need a complete rethink of our tuna policies. Papua New Guinea has taken the lead in some way by demanding that all tuna caught in its waters should be unloaded in Papua New Guinea. There is no reason why other countries should benefit from our tuna. It is not like we go over to their backyards and meddle in their resources. If they want our tuna, then come build and invest in canneries in the Pacific Islands, thereby giving us not only the financial windfalls, the jobs and the multiple spinoffs to the wider economy from cannery operations. This column understands these issues are not all cut and dry. Several Pacific Island nations rely heavily on fishing licenses – which is purchased at an average US$9000. For an atoll nation like Kiribati, nearly a 100 percent of national income. But amid the complex jargon, the alphabet acronyms thrown around at Faleata and the big deep-pocketed distant fishing players congregating there, the tuna issue is very simple. Our tuna, our call.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 06:57:18 +0000