August 10, 2015 — A one-year transitional arrangement for United States vessels for 2016, agreed to on 5 August this year is expected to bring greater benefits to all Pacific Islands.
Dr Transform Aqorau, CEO of Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), said the one-year deal was sealed after a negotiating session in Australia confirming the value of the PNA’s vessel day scheme (VDS) for managing the skipjack tuna fishery in the western and central Pacific ocean.
The islands will receive higher fees for fewer fishing days than in the current agreement for 2015.
He said a positive development reflecting the value of rights based fisheries management for the Pacific Islands, the deal for one-year however underscores the increasing difficulties in getting agreement on longer term access for U.S vessels as they enjoyed, until PNA introduced the VDS.
PNA had set US$8,000 as the minimum fee for VDS days for 2015 and 2016 while capping the number of fishing days for 2015 and 2016 at fewer than 45,000. Many fishing nations in 2015 are paying significantly more than this benchmark price to secure fishing days for their fleets.
The eight PNA members including the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua new Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu will receive US$12,600 per finishing day, a 34 percent increase over the US$9,380 currently paid by the U.S purse seine fleet.