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Pacific Island Ministers East New Britain Initiative

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Pacific Island Ministers East New Britain Initiative meeting

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.

Pacific Island Ministers East New Britain Initiative meeting
Justin Ilakini, NFA Managing Director.

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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Education

Journalists complete media training on Tuna

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Media training on tuna resource complete

ABOUT twenty media practitioners from Port Moresby and East New Britain completed a three-day media training course on the importance of the fisheries sector in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Region.

The aim of the media training is to ensure that journalists are better prepared to report on the  8th Pacific Tuna Forum that will be hosted by Papua New Guinea in the capital city, Port Moresby.

Training participants in discussion.
(From left) Carolyn from the Wantok Niuspaper in discussion with Godwin and Wasita from EMTV.

Part of the learnings included the growth of the National Fisheries Authority over time, their operating procedures and authoritative regulations and fishing. Among the topics of fishing was the most important, shared tuna resource of the Pacific region.

The training fostered interactive discussion between facilitators and journalists about some of the issues impacting the tuna market directly, such as Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and the impacts of external forces such as climate change and COVID-19.

Discussions about preservation and sustainable management of the resource for the future of the country and the wider Pacific and its people were some of the key indicators of the workshop.

President of the Papua New Guinea Media Council, Neville Choi, who was one of four facilitators of the training, encouraged journalists to do more research on tuna and the industry after the workshop in order to effectively report on the topics.

“Tuna is a global market and it impacts some of the major countries who deal with business and economics in the Pacific and a key to understanding all of that is knowing about the fish. The fish in itself is important and where it’s going to be in the next 50 years is important to our own Pacific livelihoods.”

Another facilitator and long-time Pacific journalist, Lisa Williams-Lahari, who’s been covering and following the Tuna stories globally shared her experiences as a Pacific islander and a journalist covering tuna; a resource that is closer to the heart of the pacific people.

“As a journalist following the tuna story worldwide, PNG has really represented the tuna tigers of this region (Pacific) to the world; in terms of leadership and development; and in terms of following the dollars that our people will benefit from in the terms to come.”

The three-day media training ended with a presentation of certificates to all participants and training facilitators.

The training was initiated and funded by the National Fisheries Authority in preparation for the 8th Pacific Tuna Forum which will be hosted by Papua New Guinea at the Stanley Hotel from the 6th-7th of September in Port Moresby.

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