MEDIA RELEASE
5 June 2007
For immediate release
AUSTRALIA MOVES TO SECURE TUNA FISHERY
Australia has joined with 16 other Pacific island nations and territories, including Papua New Guinea, to secure the future of the world’s last great tuna fishery.
Attending the annual Forum Fisheries Committee meeting in Wellington, New Zealand, this week, Australia’s Minister for Fisheries and Conservation, Senator Eric Abetz, said that the Western and Central Pacific Fishery was worth more than $2 billion annually and supplied more than half of the world’s demand for tuna.
Senator Abetz said: “Not only is it vitally important for the future supply of the world’s seafood, but it’s a fundamental cornerstone of Pacific island economies.
“In that context it’s critical for the future of the region that we get the management right.”
Both Australia and Papua New Guinea are members of the Forum Fisheries Committee. The other members are Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau (Territory of NZ), Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
One of the key outcomes of the meeting was a resolution by regional fisheries ministers to support the development of a regional fisheries management strategy, including measures to eliminate over-fishing of bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
Senator Abetz said that the planned strategy would also look at ways to address the threat to healthy tuna stocks in the western and central Pacific posed by distant water fleets displaced by the over-fishing of tuna stocks elsewhere.
He said the strategy will be put to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting in December this year.
Other key outcomes of the Wellington Commission meeting included support for interim measures to conserve high seas biodiversity and support for the development of a comprehensive monitoring, control and surveillance plan to ensure compliance by all fishing nations with conservation measures.
Media Inquiries: Raymond Palangat, Public Diplomacy Officer, T: 325 9333 ext 454