PNA: Key to RMI Economy
The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) is a wonderful success story for the Pacific region, including the Marshall Islands.
A minor factor is that PNA’s HQ is in Majuro… The major one is that RMI’s earnings from fisheries used to be relatively paltry, despite the value of the fish floating around in its waters. That picture has changed … and looks set to continue on this positive path.
For example, in mid-2016, the Asian Development Bank described PNA’s vessel day scheme (VDS) as “an outstanding global example of coastal states taking control of a fishery based on highly migratory stocks”. This is based partly on the fact that fisheries revenue to PNA members tripled from 2010 to 1014.
PNA’s website has the basics of how it works on its home page:
“The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) controls the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery. PNA Members are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
“Global leaders in tuna conservation and management, many PNA conservation measures are world firsts – such as high seas closures to fishing, controls on Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), protection for whale sharks and the 100% coverage of purse seine fishing vessels with observers. No dolphins are caught in PNA waters and the PNA is actively involved in limiting by-catch of other species.
“In 2011, the PNA skipjack tuna caught without using FADs was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable, creating the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery.
“PNA controls around 50% of the global supply of skipjack tuna, the most commonly canned tuna.
“The focus of PNA efforts to sustainably manage tuna is the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS). PNA members agree on a limited number of fishing days for the year, based on scientific advice about the status of the tuna stocks. Fishing days are then allocated by country and sold to the highest bidder. In this way, Pacific Islanders reap economic benefits from their sustainable management of tuna.”
Check out more good news on PNA’s site (see below):
PNA Headlines | www.pnatuna.com
SPEECH BY DR. TRANSFORM AQORAU ON THE OCCASION OF THE CONCLUSION OF THE 11TH ANNUAL PNA MINISTERIAL MEETING, KIRISIMASI ISLAND, KIRIBATI
More useful info on this topic can be found on Wikipedia.
