Bumble Bee Foods is in talks to build a fish canning operation in Vanuatu, according to an article in the Vanuatu Daily Digest.
Vanuatu is located in the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 miles east of Australia and 350 miles west of Fiji.
The article offers no additional details about the status of discussions between Bumble Bee, a United States-based tuna canning company, and the Vanuatu government, from which Bumble Bee requires a building permit if it wishes to proceed.
The Digest also reports that the Vanuatu government is now requiring all Vanuatu-flagged fishing vessels to unload all fish caught within the Vanuatu Exclusive Economic Zone in Port Vila, the nation’s harborside capital. Vanuatu has accepted the help of U.S. surveillance vessels in enforcing the new requirement, the news site reported.
According to the Vanuatu Daily Post, the move will mostly affect Sino-Van Fisheries Ltd., which holds 47 of Vanuatu’s 70 foreign fishing licenses. Sino-Van Fisheries is a joint venture between the Vanuatu government and Chinese conglomerate China National Fisheries Corporation. The company recently reopened a previously-shuttered processing plant at Blacksands, near Tagabe, to meet the requirement that all fish caught in Vanuatu waters be processed locally.
