The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and its 17 member states will meet at the 15th Forum Fisheries Committee Ministers Meeting in Rarotonga, Cook Islands from 3 to 5 July to discuss fisheries issues concerning the Western Pacific Ocean, the source of over half of the worlds tuna catch.
The meeting is expected to address several issues agreed to at its forum in Rarotonga, which took place 7 to 11 May. These include developing a regional longline strategy to ensure stronger economic benefits for FFA members, including a focus on albacore, and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which is problematic with the longline fishing industry.
In addition, to improve compliance, the FFA will be implementing the Pacific Maritime Surveillance Program, with two King Air aircraft replacing the current Cessna Skymaster currently used to monitor IUU fishing in the South Pacific. The program will be funded by the Australian government. In addition, the FFA is adopting a new Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) Framework that will give it emerging technologies including e-reporting, e-monitoring, and enhanced satellite surveillance.
At the May meeting, FFA members also agreed on priorities for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s work on tropical tuna. The focus will be harvest strategies and work on a new Compliance Monitoring Scheme, slated to be ready by the end of 2018.
Average fresh tuna prices per kilogram at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market at the end of June were around JPY 1,000 (USD 9.03, EUR 7.76) for yellowfin; JPY 1,300-1,842 (USD 11.74-16.64, EUR 10.09-14.30) for bluefin; JPY 1,990-2,896 (USD 17.98-26.16, EUR 15.44-22.47) for southern bluefin; JPY 2,000-2,567 (USD 18.07-23.19, EUR 15.52-19.92) for bigeye.
According to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement’s Tuna Market Intelligence report, skipjack prices have continued to drop, and as of 13 June, the price in Bankgok, Thailand, is USD 1,550 (EUR 1,330) per metric ton, while the price in Manta, Ecuador isprice at USD 1,650 (EUR 1,415) per metric ton.
“While supply into Bangkok has improved in recent months, cold storages are still full, preventing canners from buying large volumes of tuna,” the PNA wrote in its 25 June newsletter. “As availability of storage improves and the July-September FAD ban comes into effect, prices are predicted to increase.”
