Seven Fisheries Ministers and Heads of Fisheries Departments from the Pacific Region converged into East New Britain at the start of this month led by the Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources of Papua New Guinea, Jelta Wong for the Pacific Island Ministers East New Britain Initiative.
The Ministers and departmental heads were all invited to sit in on two high-level meetings to discuss key issues related to fisheries management, conservation, and sustainable development in the Pacific region.
The Forum Fisheries Committee meeting based on the U.S treaty distribution of funds was the first on the agenda. This meeting provided the platform for all heads of Fisheries in the Pacific to dialogue on how best to distribute the US$6million provided by the U.S Government to island nations that are members of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) treaty.
Managing Director of the National Fisheries Authority, Justin Ilakini said: “the aim of this meeting is to broker a deal amongst all parties involved to reach an agreement on an equal distribution of the funds to aid in development of the sector in smaller island nations of the Pacific Region.
The second meeting, the Pacific Island Ministers East New Britain Initiative saw PNG take the lead in providing the platform for Pacific Ministers across the region to create dialogue in addressing two key issues.
The first being climate change and the second, to tap into opportunities to maximize economic returns from the Pacific’s shared tuna resource.
Mr Ilakini in a press conference in Kokopo expressed hope that the leaders will identify practical ways of implementing the forum leaders’ development aspirations as contained in the Blue Pacific Continent.
“We are leading the initiative and providing the platform for our Pacific Island leaders to have the opportunity to have a voice in speaking from their own National Levels to see how we can collaborate as a region to drive the Pacific Island interest going forward in this multi-million-dollar industry which we have come to know as one of the most lucrative industries that we have; the tuna industry.”
To this, PNG’s Minister for Fisheries explained that the whole meet was to create a purpose for the region and showcase what the region is capable of doing in this space.
He further elaborated that the focus is on creating more wealth for the Pacific and controlling the stocks of the Pacific’s shared tuna resources against world players in the global tuna market.
“It’s better that if we stand united as one, the world will know that they can’t come and pick us off one by one”
Minister Wong said, that the initiative further aims to foster dialogue on better ways to mitigate Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing; capitalize on the tuna resource; and ensure that the Pacific gets the best value from its shared tuna resource.
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