The South Pacific Tuna Treaty transitional agreement reached last week in Brisbane, Australia is valued at just over $89 million and the agreement is a positive development reflecting the value of rights-based fisheries management for the Pacific islands, according to a news release over the weekend by the eight Pacific island nations which are Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA).

The Brisbane meeting was held Aug. 3-5 but the parties failed to reach a long term agreement, which is of great importance to American Samoa because of our local canneries.

Negotiations for a long term agreement were between the U.S government and 17 Pacific Island nations — as members of the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) — which allow the US purse seiner fleet to fish in the exclusive economic zones of FFA members. The current agreement, worth $90 million, expires at the end of the year 2015.

In the news release over the weekend, PNA chief executive officer Dr. Transform Aqorau said the one-year deal brings greater benefits to all Pacific islands and confirms the value of the PNA’s vessel day scheme (VDS) for managing the skipjack tuna fishery in the western and central Pacific ocean.

The deal, however, is only for one year, which underscores the increasing difficulties in getting agreement on longer-term access for U.S. vessels, which they enjoyed until the PNA introduced the VDS.

According to the release, the islands will receive higher fees for fewer fishing days than in the current agreement for 2015. Total cost of the 2016 agreement to the US is $89.27 million — with the US tuna industry to pay about US$68.27 million and the federal government to provide a subsidy of US$21 million.

The eight PNA members will receive US$12,600 per fishing day, a 34 percent increase over the US$9,380 currently being paid by the U.S. purse seine fleet. PNA 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, the news release said.

Many fishing nations in 2015 are paying significantly more than this benchmark price to secure fishing days for their fleets.

The 2016 agreement will, for the first time, see the Cook Islands receive significant payments under the VDS, and the U.S. fleet will begin “exploratory” fishing opportunities in the exclusive economic zones of five South Pacific nations.

“This is a deal that is good for Pacific Island peoples and reflects the value of access to the world's last remaining healthy tuna resources,” Dr. Aqorau said. “It is an excellent deal for PNA and non-PNA nations alike, it shows how the VDS has worked, and how Pacific Islands have transformed the fishery.”

The U.S. also agreed not to fish in two high seas “pockets” located in the PNA region, the news release says.

PNA has enforced the VDS for the purse seine industry for over five years, setting a minimum fishing day fee now at US$8,000. Since 2010, revenue from the VDS to the eight-member PNA has increased more than five-fold, from US$64 million in 2010 to an estimated US$350 million this year.

Since the access and financial terms of the Treaty lapsed in June 2013, the U.S. and the Pacific Islands have agreed on a series of one-year or 18-month interim arrangements to maintain the treaty, which gives U.S.-flagged vessels access to the region for fishing while negotiating extension of the Treaty.

Although there continue to be challenges — issues such as the U.S. desire for more fishing days in the waters of particular countries; or a request for exemption of a few large purse seiners from the requirement that a fishing day be defined as 1.5 days for vessels with significantly increased capacity and sophistication — Dr. Aqorau said these “are just issues to be worked on in the future.”

“The result of the Australia negotiation session is another positive gain for the Pacific Islands in our work to both increase benefits to our members and conserve the tuna resource for future generations,” said Dr. Aqorau.

The PNA member countries control the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery supplying 50 percent of the world’s skipjack tuna (a popular tuna for canned products). More information about PNA is found on: www.pnatuna.com