A Pacific journal editor has praised an independent London judge’s approval of a Pacific nation fishing management programme as a world first that would encourage sustainable fishing of tuna in the region.
The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) will provide financial incentives for fishing nations, which Marshall Islands Journal Editor Giff Johnson said nations in the region could benefit from.
“They’ve got a lot of work to do, but they’ve got the green light to move forward on it,” Mr Johnson told Pacific Beat.
“This is a remarkable development for the PNA countries in the Pacific.”
Mr Johnson said the independent judge’s decision was a landmark win for PNA and will pave the way for its plans of action in the tuna industry.
PNA was already negotiating with wholesale and retail industries in Europe and US, a sign of the programme’s international support, he said.
“In the long-term, it suggests they could really develop an interesting and higher priced product of big value to the region.”
But Mr Johnson said PNA still needed to address challenges to its scientific evidence that supported sustainable tuna harvesting in order to prove itself to the fishing industry.
“You’ve got PNA as elbowing its way into an industry that’s long been controlled by Asian, US and Europe fishing companies,” he said.
