U.S. flagged purse seiners will continue to have fishing access in the EEZs of 17 Pacific Island nations after a last minute $90 million tuna treaty was negotiated Wednesday in Honolulu.

Under the agreement, the member countries of the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) will receive the $90 million from the U.S. government and its tuna industry in return for 8,300 fishing days in 2015 for U.S. flagged purse seiner vessels.

Touted as a big win for the Pacific Nations James Movick, FFA director general said, “We have been renegotiating this treaty since 2009, when its total value was in the order of $21 million.”

Movick put the region's negotiating success down to collective bargaining and to the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS), introduced by the eight Pacific nations that are parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA).

(The VDS sets a region-wide quota for fishing days and a minimum price per day. It aims to reduce the number of days on offer and ratchet up the price.)

ABC News Australia points out in their report that since the VDS began in 2005, “it has been successful in improving economic returns for Pacific Island nations but not in halting the decline in fish stocks.”

Bluefin and bigeye tuna should no longer be harvested, as stocks were dangerously depleted while yellowfin tuna stocks are now down to 38 per cent of their original numbers according to Professor Glenn Hurry, the outgoing executive director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in an interview published in Islands Business earlier this month.

Pacific countries are due to meet with the distant water fishing nations in December to attempt to agree on a new conservation measure and Movick says the new deal with the US sends a strong signal.

"It will point out to the other distant water fishing nations the seriousness with which the Pacific countries take both conservation and the economic maximization of their tuna resource," he said.

Describing the outcome of the negotiations as a “superb example of regional cooperation and team effort and testimony to the increased expertise and capabilities of regional officials,” the Director General especially recognized “the high degree of commitment and cooperation of the national participants in the negotiating process, supported by the very hard work and excellence of advice provided by Deputy Director Norris and the technical team from FFA secretariat, and the PNA Office.

Movick was heavy in his praise for both the U.S. and the U.S. fishing industry saying, “It would be remiss not to acknowledge the role of the US in being able to reach this agreement. Both the Government and Industry have been active in the negotiation and we all hope to bed down a longer term arrangement in the future.”

But all is not rosy and agreeable between all members of FFA and PNA since all Pacific Island members of the FFA, including those with no tuna, benefit from the current arrangements with the U.S.

That does not sit well with some of the tuna-rich nations, which have to forgo income to help their neighbors while talks to decide on allocating revenue from the US deal are difficult and time-consuming.

"These internal negotiations among ourselves place a lot of stress on the regional co-operative mechanisms and relationships and I don't think that is necessary or beneficial," Movick told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat this week.

While he recognizes that the treaty has been an important diplomatic tool, he is calling for a new approach, although he did not elaborate on what direction it would take.

BACKGROUND

The US treaty with the Pacific Islands nations first started in 1987. Since that time, the Pacific Island parties secured an increase to $42 million in 2011, and then again to $63 million in 2012.

More than 60 per cent of the world's tuna is caught in the Pacific by vessels from powerful distant water fishing nations such as China, Japan, Taiwan South Korea, Spain and more from North and South America.

For many Pacific Island nations, tuna license fees are a budget mainstay.

According to information on their website, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) strengthens national capacity and regional solidarity so its 17 members can manage, control and develop their tuna fisheries now and in the future.

Based in Honiara, Solomon Islands, FFA's 17 Pacific Island members are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. 

Since 1979, FFA has facilitated regional cooperation so that all Pacific countries benefit from the sustainable use of tuna – a multi-billion dollar resource important for many people’s livelihoods in the Pacific.

The parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

(Sources: FFA, PNA, ABC Australia News, Pacific Islands News, Islands Business)