Fisheries
$210 Million Deal Gives U.S. Fishing Rights
But Fear of Over-Fishing Rises In Region
A new 10-year deal worth $210 million was signed in mid-March, giving up to 45 American purse seine fishing vessels access to the Pacific region. The treaty—which still must be formally approved by Island members of the Forum Fisheries Agency and the United States government—has been praised effusively by Pacific and American leaders alike.
“The United States views the economic assistance to the Forum Fisheries Agency as the cornerstone of its broader economic and political relationship with Pacific Island countries,” U.S. Ambassador to the Marshall Islands Michael Senko told fisheries officials meeting in Majuro. The agreement is really a 10-year extension of a treaty that’s been in place since the late 1980s. FFA Director Feleti Teo says, “The agreement is a sign of the healthy state of the U.S.-Pacific fisheries cooperation.”
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While the FFA countries wanted more than the $21 million finally agreed, they’re still happy with a deal that benefits all, not just the areas—principally Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia and Kiribati—that account for most of the fish. Under the deal, $1.7 million is split equally among FFA members for fisheries development projects, injecting about $110,000 to each. Of the balance of the $21 million, 15 percent is divided equally and the rest goes to the countries in whose 200-mile exclusive economic zones the fish are caught. The U.S. government is providing $18 million annually, while the American tuna industry adds another $3 million.
“The value of this treaty for the U.S. goes far beyond access of fishing vessels,” says William Gibbons-Fly, deputy director of the State Department’s Office of Marine Conservation.
But amid the rhetoric surrounding the new deal, there are increasing concerns about the growth in the number of purse seiners fishing in the region. While the Americans are licensed to have up to 45 boats a year fish, they currently have just 25 deployed, largely as a result of the low price of tuna on the world market in recent years. The U.S., Japan, Taiwan and South Korean seiner fleets have about 140 vessels. Spain and some Island-owned companies account for several dozen more.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community says the U.S. and the three Asian nations account for more than 70 percent of the total catch of skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye. Catches have ranged from 800,000 to 1.2 million metric tons annually.
Skipjack is the prime target of purse seiners, which employ huge nets to scoop out hundreds of thousands of tons of fish annually. The growth in fish catches is nothing short of astounding as technology has improved and the number of vessels fishing has risen. In 1981, fewer than 200,000 metric tons of skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna were caught by purse seiners. Twenty years later, according to statistics from the SPC, nearly 1.1 million metric tons were hauled in.
“The biggest concern is the increasing fishing capacity of purse seiners in the region,” says Gibbons-Fly. “It’s not in anyone’s favor to see unchecked growth in Pacific fisheries.”
Fisheries experts believe that skipjack and yellowfin are being fished at or just below maximum sustainable levels. But the sheer volume of tuna now being caught has caused tuna prices on the world market to plunge. In 1987, with under 600,000 tons caught, the price peaked at more than $1,300 per ton. In 2000, with almost double that volume, the price plummeted to about $400 per ton. Many seiners simply stopped fishing in 2000 and 2001 because world market prices were so low they lost money by fishing—so world prices may act as a conservation tool of sorts.
Fewer fish caught both translates into better conservation and higher prices. And since the landed value of tuna not only impacts fishermen but also affects the price countries pay to Islands with which they have licenses, it’s important to “control fishing to keep the price up,” Gibbons-Fly says. “A lot of countries feel the same way. They’re concerned with the price drop.”
The expansion of purse seine fleets is one of the prime reasons why FFA countries and the U.S., in particular, are pushing the establishment of a new tuna management and conservation commission that is to regulate fishing in the Pacific. FFA member countries and the major fishing nations are in the final stages of implementing a new conservation and management commission that will be based in Pohnpei, Federal States of Micronesia.
“It’s important to get the conservation mechanism in place before the crisis stage is reached,” Gibbons-Fly concludes.
